Libertyville claims yet another regional crown
It was a battle of the orange and black when a powerful McHenry squad and host Libertyville were among the combatants in a Class 3A wrestling regional Saturday.
The eight-team meet was close the whole way with the host Wildcats taking a 163.5 to 155.5 lead over the Warriors heading into the final round.
But Libertyville was not to be denied its 32nd IHSA regional championship in school history as the Wildcats built a 15.5-point lead after eight weight classes before pulling away to win the title by a 208 to 181.5 margin over runner-up McHenry. Mundelein (128 points) placed third while Warren (112.5) was fourth.
With the regional crown, the Wildcats advance to the Stevenson dual-team sectional Feb. 22 against Fremd. The top three wrestlers in each division advanced to the Barrington individual sectional next weekend.
Libertyville's road to the title started off with 120-pounder Caelan Riley (33-3) pinning Warren's Jose Ordonez for first place at 120 pounds.
Libertyville's Trevor Jean also got a pin for the 132-pound crown before teammate Matt Kubas shutout Mundelein's Isaiah Robles 5-0 for first place at 152.
Libertyville's Austin Gomez edged McHenry's Brody Hallin (36-2) 4-3 at 170 for the title before Libertyville's Josh Knudten (32-3) pinned his opponent in 31 seconds for first at 182.
The upper weights were fantastic for the Wildcats as 195-pounder Cole Matulenko, and 285-pounder Caleb Christensen also earned first-place medals.
"I just wanted to fine-tune myself for the state series, and I think we did well as a team too," said Riley. "We have to be consistent with what we've done throughout the course of the season and not changing anything other than minor things."
McHenry junior Chris Moore (42-0) remained undefeated with a 5-0 win over Grant's Justin Warmowski at 160 while the Warriors also got a first-place finish from Pedro Jimenez (34-12) at 126.
Mundelein's Bryce Durlacher (34-1) nipped Round Lake's Alejandro Cordova 5-4 for the 113-pound crown while the Mustangs also got first-place finishes from Erik Nova (29-8 at 145), and Henri Ortiz (30-8 at 220).
"I definitely wrestled a little slower (against Cordova). It was just one of those kind of days, but I found my way out of the hole," said Durlacher, who trailed 3-0 early on. "I think I definitely can (win a state title), I just have to put in more work and wrestle smarter."
Durlacher has had an injury-plagued career as he did not wrestle at all as a sophomore while seeing limited action as a freshman.
"Every week he's getting a little better," said Mundelein coach Craig Stocker. "He's right where he needs to be, and he's peaking at the end of the season."
Evan Onstad was a champion for Warren at 138 while Round Lake's Grayson Kongkaeow defeated McHenry's Ryan Hanson 8-3 for the 106-pound title.
"It's always an awesome job to win a regional, and (Onstad) didn't get a lot of mat time last year so he's making up for it this year," said Warren coach Brad Janecek. "We've grown a lot this year, and we're going to continue to grow and get better."
Other second-place finishers were Libertyville's Luke Berktold (126), Mundelein's Ethan Thomas (132), Libertyville's Scott Wiegold (138), McHenry's Rocky Piehl (145), Round Lake's Aidan McCain (182), Grant's Alex Gomez (195), McHenry's Luke Zunkel (220), and Warren's Reyes Gonzales (285).
"A lot of our guys have shown a lot of improvement, and it's nice to see where they are compared to three months ago," said Grant coach Lenny Grodoski. "Six of those eight guys (in the final round) are returning. They're fun, and we like having them around."