Scouting the state individual wrestling meet for Lake County
83rd annual IHSA individual state wrestling meetWhere: State Farm Center, Champaign
When: Thursday 2:15 p.m. Class 2A preliminaries, 4:30 p.m. Class 3A preliminaries, 6:45 p.m. Class 2A winner's bracket quarterfinals. Friday 8:30 a.m. Class 3A winner's bracket quarterfinals, 7 p.m. Class 1A, 2A, and 3A semifinals. Saturday 9 a.m. quarterfinal wrestlebacks, 11 a.m. semifinal wrestlebacks, 1 p.m. third- and fifth-place matches (1A/2A/3A), 5:30 p.m. Grand March, 6 p.m. championship matches (1A/2A/3A) on three mats starting at 106 pounds.
CLASS 2A
Area qualifiers: 106 - Antioch freshman Caleb Nobiling (38-4); 113 - Antioch freshman Anthony Streib (33-10), Grayslake North senior Alex Castiglia (30-11); 120 - Antioch senior Alex Barbarise (40-2, four-time qualifier), Grayslake Central senior Jayson Weidman (32-13); 126 - Grayslake North senior Jake Jozwiak (29-6), Antioch senior Luke Menzies (32-8); 132 - Antioch senior Danny McPherson (34-6, three-time qualifier); 138 - Antioch senior Elijah Reyes (27-4, two-time qualifier), Grayslake North senior Nick Kozanecki (30-14); 145 - Carmel Catholic senior Vince Swindell (28-12, two-time qualifier); 152 - Antioch senior Devin Nobiling (35-11), Grayslake Central freshman Aaron Cramer (26-15); 170 - Grayslake Central junior Joey Jens (37-6, three-time qualifier), Lakes senior Kurtis Smith (38-8); 182 - Grayslake Central junior Adrien Cramer (35-1, third in 2019, three-time qualifier); 195 - Antioch senior Niall Schoenfelder (39-3, two-time qualifier); 285 - Antioch junior Max Ness (26-13), Lakes senior Isaiah Perrin (35-13)
Outlook: After placing third in the state as a sophomore, No. 1-ranked Cramer will try to bring home a state championship for the Rams just as his older brother Alex did when he was a junior at Grayslake Central. Rams coach Matt Joseph is confident that Cramer can get the job done if he stays of the offensive and keeps racking up points on a consistent basis.
Barbarise has already won two sixth-place medals in his three appearances at state, and he leads a contingent of nine Antioch individuals. Like Barbarise, Jozwiak, McPherson, Swindell, Jens, Schoenfelder and Ness all took runner-up honors at the sectional meet. After the individual state meet this weekend, Antioch will face host Fenton in the dual-team sectional on Feb. 25 where the Sequoits have a good chance of qualifying for their sixth Elite Eight meet since 2010.
CLASS 3A
Area qualifiers: 106 - Libertyville sophomore Caelan Riley (39-5); 113 - Stevenson freshman Lorenzo Frezza (36-5); 120 - Stevenson sophomore Cole Rhemrev (36-5, two-time qualifier), Lake Zurich senior Logan Neurauter (36-9); 132 - Warren senior Cameron Domke (37-4, two-time qualifier); 138 - Warren junior Joel Vandervere (29-1, second in 2019, third in 2018, three-time qualifier); 152 - Libertyville senior E'lan Heard (26-1), Warren junior Isaiah Parker (29-11, two-time qualifier); 160 - Libertyville sophomore Josh Knudten (32-14); 182 - Grant senior Ethan Geist (32-7, two-time qualifier), Lake Zurich senior Joey Mrazek (39-5); 195 - Stevenson senior Matt Millman (12-5); 285 - Mundelein senior Jason Guadarrama (40-2), Stevenson junior Keegan Houlihan (30-9)
Outlook: After winning regional and sectional championships the last two weekends, top-ranked Vandervere is still the wrestler to beat at 138 pounds after No. 2-ranked Libertyville senior Danny Pucino (second in 2019) had to bow out of the sectional tournament last weekend due to injury. Vandervere will still face plenty of tough competition at 138 if he wants to reach the top of the podium Saturday as he pulled out a 3-1 decision over Huntley's Jeremy Jakowitsch for the sectional crown. During the regular season, Vandervere and Pucino split the two matches they wrestled against each other. Heard was impressive in winning regional and sectional titles with pins in the finals, and the transfer student from Ohio is trying to become the first Libertyville wrestler to capture a state title since Mike Baumann in 1991.
Rhemrev and Guadarrama took first place at Barrington last weekend, and both of them are contenders to capture a medal on Saturday. Geist took second place for Grant at sectionals. After the individual state tournament is over, Libertyville will face Huntley in the dual-team sectional meet Feb. 25 at Glenbrook North with a berth to the Elite Eight meet in Bloomington on the line. Pucino is still eligible to compete in the dual-team tournament if he is healthy.