It was Mark Bybee’s second grand march, and the stirring parade of the Class A and Class AA wrestling finalists had a much different effect than it did three years ago.
“I was a lot more relaxed,” said the St. Laurence senior after he defeated Sandburg’s Ben Gerdes for the Class AA 145-pound championship Saturday at Assembly Hall. “I was a lot more prepared. I wasn’t star-struck at all. When I was a freshman, I could barely walk.”
Bybee needed a plan against Gerdes. He also needed overtime for a 5-3 victory. The two wrestlers, in their fourth meeting of the season, moved cautious, yet purposefully during the match and the only takedown came in the overtime period.
Gerdes, who had won the first two matches between the two before being pinned a week ago in the Andrew sectional, made two good shots at single-leg takedowns early in overtime. He made a third move, attempting to throw Bybee, but didn’t have the position and Bybee scored the takedown.
“He was working an inside trip, but he didn’t have his hips in far enough and I pancaked him,” said Bybee, who finished the year 42-4. “I got my hips back and got the takedown.”
Gerdes seemingly had his first state championship in hand, 3-2, with seconds to go when he was penalized a point for locked hands. Bybee was nearly in position for an escape when the penalty point put the bout into overtime.
“With 5 seconds to go, I think I was going to go crazy, do anything to win,” said Bybee. “I would scratch, bite, anything to score a point.”
For Gerdes, the loss was a terrible disappointment. He had placed three times at state, finishing third at 130 pounds last season, fifth at 125 as a sophomore and third at 112 as a freshman. Both his father, Ken, and brother, Ken, had won a pair of state titles, and three uncles were state placers for Oak Forest. This was to be Ben’s year.
“I just didn’t wrestle well,” said Gerdes, fighting back the tears as he slowly got dressed.
“We needed a little luck,” said Sandburg coach Mike Polz, who has coached Gerdes all four years, two each at Providence and Sandburg. “I don’t know about the locked-hands calls. That’s beside the point. He had chances in the overtime.”
It was the second grand march for Palatine’s 135-pound Dan Collins, Mt. Carmel’s 140-pound T.J. Williams and Conant heavyweight Pete Marx. Each of them came away with a second state title.
Collins enjoyed his second state championship a lot more than he did his first. Last season, he suffered a broken nose and a concussion, and spent most of the night in a local hospital. He didn’t know what he missed.
“I’ll have a lot more memories after this,” said Collins, a 11-6 winner over Bolingbrook’s previously unbeaten Luis Silva. “Last year it wasn’t until 4 in the morning until I realized what I’d done. This is great. I’m the only two-time state champion at my school. I wanted to walk out the door as the best wrestler in Palatine history. I won 59 straight and broke the school record for takedowns.”
Williams matched his brother, Steve, with his second title. He’s on track to match brother Joe, who finished with four Class AA titles. Williams was a 7-6 winner over Washington’s previously unbeaten Matt Webster.
“Was I worried? Not really,” said T.J. Williams, who joined 125-pound teammate Tony Davis with a gold medal.
Marx won his 88th straight match with a 7-6 victory over Belleville West’s Jan Yates. Marx had to rally from an opening-period takedown to win.
Seven Class AA wrestlers finished the season with state titles and unbeaten records. Conant’s Matt Goldstein (40-0) won at 103, Davis (22-0) won at 125, Collins finished 42-0, Waubonsie Valley’s Jim LeDuc (44-0) won at 160, Oak Park’s Mike Powell (41-0) won at 171; Providence’s Karl Roesler (40-0) won at 189 and Marx finished 43-0.
Mt. Carmel, Waubonsie Valley and Conant each had two champions. Davis and Williams represented Mt. Carmel, Javier Quintanilla (119) and LeDuc were Waubonsie titlists, and Goldstein and Marx were Conant’s winners.
