Grant has perfect day at its own triple-dual meet
After a tough loss at Grayslake Central Thursday night, host Grant wanted to end the regular season on a positive note Saturday afternoon in nonconference wrestling action in Fox Lake.
And by sweeping the triple-dual meet it hosted with a perfect 3-0 record on the day, the Bulldogs did just that.
They started off the competition with a lopsided 66-7 victory over a short-handed Palatine squad.
Round two proved to be quite a dogfight from start to finish against Crystal Lake South (10-11). But Grant 15-9 put the Gators away at the upper weights to secure a hard-fought 40-26 triumph.
West Chicago (8-9) built a 22-12 lead over the Bulldogs after six matches. But Grant proceeded to score 37 unanswered points en route to a 49-22 win to close out the day, including pins in three of the final four bouts.
Crystal Lake South toppled the Wildcats 56-21 in the first round before West Chicago captured a 63-12 victory over the Pirates (5-9) in round two. The Gators also rolled to a 59-3 win over Palatine in the third round.
Senior leadership was very effective for the Bulldogs as Justin Brown (33-2 at 195 pounds), Ethan Geist (32-6 at 182), and Dylan Rinkenberger (160) all went 3-0 for the day. Grant also got three wins each from Justin Warmowski (132) and Logan Bricker (220).
"Thursday was a tough one (a 42-30 loss at Grayslake Central) so they bounced back pretty well, and it was nice to see some of our young guys get wins today," said Grant coach Lenny Grodoski, whose team hosts a Class 3A regional next Saturday.
"This was the last home meet for our seniors except for the regionals and hopefully we put our best foot forward and surprise some people next week."
The Gators were led by defending Class 2A state champion Christian Olsen (22-3 at 113) and fellow two-time state qualifier Peyton Timmons (30-3) with three wins apiece while teammates Amador Castro (106) and Shane Moran (18-3 at 152) also picked up three victories.
Olsen is one of the top-ranked wrestlers in the state, but the junior standout knows the road to another title will not be an easy one by any stretch of the imagination.
"I've just got to wrestle to the best of my abilities because that is all I know how to do," said Olsen. "For me, I just have to make the match not bigger than it is, and I've just got to wrestle the same whether it is a triple-dual meet here or in the state tournament."
Starting at 220 pounds, CLS led Grant 26-22 with four matches left. But the Bulldogs won the final four bouts, including a 2-0 decision by Eddy Tregenza at 170 to seal the 40-26 win.
"It's the same issue we've had all season, we're not finishing our matches, but the silver lining is that we have a lot of young kids so we're still learning," said CLS coach Ross Ryan. "He (Olsen) is a tough kid. If he wrestles his match and gives everything he can he's going to be tough to beat."
The Wildcats' troops were led by Ryan Hannah (30-3 at 285) and Eduardo Cholula (27-2 at 126) with 3-0 records Saturday while 113-pound teammate Pierre Baldwin (22-5) went 2-1 on the day.
"Crystal Lake South had some really good kids, and we came out a little bit sluggish for some reason," said West Chicago coach Jamie Philips, whose team is at the Lake Park regional.
"We've got a couple of guys out so hopefully we'll get healthy and be ready to go next week."
Enrique Vital (19-11 at 106) and 120-pound teammate Manny Rocha (20-12) both went 2-1 for the Pirates. But teammates Jose Ramos (14-1 at 285), and Josh Brown (19-11 at 152) did not wrestle for injury-decimated Palatine.
"Recovering from Christmas break has been an issue, and we're still learning how to win those close matches," said Palatine coach Chris Winter, whose team is at the Stevenson regional.
"Eddie Portilla (113) hurt his shoulder in the Grant match so we held him out of the last meet to get him ready for the regionals next week."