Wauconda duo among area wrestlers headed to title bouts

CHAMPAIGN - The path to glory, however difficult it can be, is filled with knowledge that all the hard work, dedication, training, detention to detail, and a belief in one self will be well worth the reward in the end.

The area will have its version of a Magnificent 7 Saturday night in the state finals when the 84th boys state wrestling tournament comes to a close here at State Farm Center in Champaign.

Anthony Alanis (106) and Matty Jens are back in the 2A finals for a second consecutive year, while the Wauconda dynamic duo of Gavin Rockey and Nate Randle advanced as well - Randle after a major upset at 113.

Over in 3A, it will be the third appearance in the 3A final for Conant senior Ethan Stiles, who will seek his third championship, with Prospect star Will Baysingar looking to earn his second title.

The dream season for Cole Matulenko (43-4) continued for the Libertyville senior whose late season charge sent him into the 195-pound final after his hard fought

6-2 decision over Dominic Thebeau (Belleville East, 14-2) to set up a match with No. 1 Peter Marinopoulos (21-0) from Marist.

"This is just an amazing feeling right now," said Matulenko, who had 2022 state champion Josh Knudten on hand, who drove in from the University of Michigan to support his former teammate and workout partner.

"Thebeau was big and strong - he was tough with those blast and doubles - but I felt like I defended him really well, particularly in the third period," offered Matulenko.

Baysingar (132, 50-1) and Stiles (31-0) both delivered master-class performances to reach their final, Baysingar against No. 1 Sergio Lemley (Mt. Carmel, 34-1) who survived in overtime against No. 2 Vincent Robinson (Homewood-Flossmoor, 32-3) to advance.

"The plan all along once I saw how the bracket(s) looked was to stay focused on each opponent ahead of me and let Lemley and Robinson go after each other, and get myself ready for whomever wins," said Baysingar, second a year ago at 132, while Lemley will go in search of his second straight title.

Stiles, nationally ranked, and the top man at 160 in Illinois, will face No. 2 Logan Swaw, the Illinois-bound senior from Lockport, who is now 46-1.

"Last year Ethan just wanted to dominate people (defensively). This year he's opened up his game, and is just outscoring everyone," said Conant coach Andrew Guilde after Stiles pinned Owen Uppinghouse 42-2) from Quincy in his semifinal.

Both Alanis (42-1) and his Grayslake Central teammate (Jens, 30-0) admitted to a slight case of nerves prior to their semifinal. But once on the big mats, and with the Central faithful cheering them on, each navigated around and through their opponents.

"I was a little nervous beforehand, but the goal has always been to get back into the state final - and this time, win it all to put that second place finish from a year ago behind me," admitted Alanis, No. 1 at 106, with league rival, Gavin Rockey (Wauconda, 29-5) standing in his way of glory.

Jens took an early lead (2-0) and slowly built it to 3-1 after two periods, before conceding an escape to Steven Marquez (Rock Island, 38-5) before insuring victory with a takedown with 30 seconds from time, and a hard ride to finish things off.

"My legs felt a little slow tonight - just wasn't 100% - but I did what I had to in order to grind this one out to get into the match that I've been pointing to after finishing second last season," admitted Jens, who will face Joliet Catholic Academy sophomore Nico Ronchetti (32-16) who upset No. 2 Brennan Houser (Mahomet-Seymour, 49-3) in his semifinal.

The result by the aforementioned Randle (31-8) was an emphatic win for the Wauconda freshman who would stun No. 2 Deven Casey (Aurora Christian, 38-8) in overtime, 4-3, to give first year coach Trevor Jauch two from his regional championship club into the finals.

"There is just no 'give' in both Rockery and Randle. They each have prepared all year long for this moment, and when it was there for them, they each took advantage of their opportunity," said a proud Jauch.

Next up for Randle will be reigning state champion Drew Davis (48-2) from downstate Glenwood.

The number of seven into the finals could have swelled to double if not for several heartbreaking semifinal defeats, all of which were contests that could have ended in favor of men from the area who came close to advancing.

Brady Phelps (Schaumburg, 113, 39-1), Teddy Flores (Maine South, 120, 39-4), Evan Gosz (Fremd, 126, 41-2), Lorenzo Frezza (Stevenson, 40-1) and Warren freshman Aaron Stewart (152, 41-2) will all need to dig deep on Saturday in order to claim a third place medal.

The Antioch trio of Edgar Albino (132, 33-4), Anthony Streib (138, 25-4) and Caleb Nobiling (145, 36-9) all would have liked to have given the program a state title to go with its first since Patrick Schoenfelder did so in 2017, but each will now chase a third-place medal also.

Day No. 3 will begin with third round wrestle-backs at all three classes, followed immediately by another round in advance of the third, and fifth place medal bouts.

The always entertaining Grand March will send an already raucous audience to another level of excitement beginning at 5:30 p.m., with finals set to begin soon thereafter.