A little bit of everything on opening day at state
CHAMPAIGN - It was a good day for Crystal Lake South and all of the No. 1 guys in the area at the state tournament, but it was an especially good day for Chris Moore of Aurora Christian.
The 113-pound freshman stunned No. 1 Chad Bellis (Bloomington, 49-4) in his 2A quarterfinal to take one step closer to earning a spot in the finals late Saturday night.
"We knew Chris had a chance because he works so hard, and he's always prepared, but (he) even surprised me a little with such a dominating performance," said AC coach Justin Pearch after watching Moore (41-8) record his impressive 9-3 victory.
Pearch received some bad news in advance of the tournament when two-time state champion Cameron Johnson was ruled out due to an illness that hospitalized the three-time state medal winner.
Bad news traveled over to 3A where No. 2 Jake Harrier (Jacobs, 138, 39-2) suffered a torn ACL in practice earlier in the week, ending a brilliant four-year career for the Old Dominion-bound Harrier. Among several program records set is his 158 career victories.
With the 138-pound weight class sans Harrier, and No. 3 Danny Pucino to a concussion, things have opened up for Huntley junior Jeremy Jakowitsch who advanced into Friday's quarterfinals after a hard fought 3-1 victory over Coby Lopez of Mt. Carmel.
"It's hard to see both Jake and Danny going out to injuries, they're great guys who made our weight class one of the best in the state," said Jakowitsch, now 41-7.
Reigning 3A state champion, David Ferrante (Huntley, 170, 44-2), looked sharp as he moved on, as did 2020 2A champions, Christian Olsen (Crystal Lake South, 113, 29-3) and Noah Villarreal (Aurora Christian, 39-4) who's in search of a third state title.
Olsen, along with teammates Peyton Timmons (145, 36-4) and Shane Moran (152, 26-3) are here for the third time, are all one victory away from competing for a state title.
Moran's road will be the most difficult with the Gators sophomore taking on two-time state champion DJ Hamiti (43-0) from Joilet Catholic Academy.
Marmion junior Diego Sotelo (113, 41-3) admits his sectional final loss to Sergio Lemley (Mt. Carmel) last week was the best thing that could have happened.
"It's always a wake-up call when you lose this late in the season, but I'd rather lose last week (than) this weekend," said Sotelo, also a 2019 state champion.
Batavia junior Mikey Caliendo (39-1), who beat No. 1 Fidel Mayora (Montini Catholic) in his 145 sectional final, turned in a solid six minutes to move into the quarterfinals Friday against Cameron Hargrove 43-6) of Bolingbrook.
The tournament is back in action Friday at 8:30 a.m. with 3A quarterfinals, followed immediately by wrestle-backs across all three classes.
At 7 p.m. semifinals begin, setting up what promises to be another exciting final session Saturday night.