Conant used experience gained from last weekend’s state individual finals to succeed in the Class AA dual-meet sectionals Tuesday night.
The Cougars downed York 35-28 in Hoffman Estates to earn a berth in Saturday’s state team finals at Redbird Arena in Normal.
Dan Weber, who won a state championship at 152 pounds, wrestled at 160 and pinned Kevin Baer in 1 minute 9 seconds. Weber improved to 46-0.
Matt Goldstein, who finished third at state at 119, wrestled at 125 pounds and improved to 44-1 with a technical fall over Aaron Gregory.
In all, Conant recorded five pins, including one from freshman Aran Esposito. The Cougars will be making their first state team finals appearance since 1989.
“Finally, the right team won,” joked Conant coach Jim Cartwright. “We wrestled hard tonight.”
Bremen: Mt. Carmel’s big three–T.J. Williams, Milton Blakely and Malik Elliott–led the Caravan to a 30-21 victory over Andrew.
Williams, who won his fourth straight individual state title last weekend, earned the 152-pound title by forfeit after an impressive 19-5 triumph over Sandburg’s Mike Trahey in the semifinals.
Blakely, who finished third in the state at 125, won the 130-pound title. And Elliott, a third-place state finisher at 135 pounds, captured the 145-pound title.
In all, the Caravan won seven of 13 matches. Heavyweight Matt Potocki took a double-overtime victory over Andrew’s Bob Barth, 2-1.
Public League: Lane rallied for a 31-28 victory over Collins as 103-pounder Tony Martinez had a key victory with a five-point technical fall. Following at 112 pounds, Durand Hodges pinned Derien Samuels at the 1:30 mark of the first period for six points.
“We didn’t come to lose,” said Lane coach Rudy Salinas. “We have seven sophomores on our team. I knew they had potential, but they had to execute on the mat.”
Waukegan: Fremd (21-2) blitzed Libertyville 37-12 with nine victories in 13 matches. The Vikings will be making their first state-finals appearance.
“The wrestlers wrestled way beyond what I expected tonight,” said Fremd coach Ray Cortez. “Our state qualifier, Frank Novelli, matched up with Grant’s state qualifier, Wally Reyes, (in the semifinals) and beat him 4-1, which set the tone for the rest of the team the rest of the night.
“I’m very proud of our kids. From the first day of the year, they set this goal and they reached it.”
Novelli (40-3) also went on to beat Libertyville’s Brian Farr in the finals.
Hinsdale South: Lyons Township (20-3) roared back from a 24-0 deficit to defeat Glenbard North 29-27. The Lions wouldn’t be advancing if it hadn’t been for Caleb Svoboda and Peter Schultz, who came into the meet with a combined record of 1-1.
Svoboda is a senior who was 1-1 coming into the day and lost his match in the semifinal victory over Argo. In the finals, he was matched against Glenbard North junior Brian Vogel. Svoboda got the fall to put Lyons within 24-10 and keep its hopes alive.
Schultz, who spent the season on the junior varsity, defeated Joe Grazzini 8-5 in the finals.
Glenbard North, which finished with a 22-2 record, got a great start when the draw started the meet at 275. Chad Ludwig got the pin at 275 as did Kevin Nakamoto at 112 as Glenbard won the first five matches.
Lyons’ Mike Castillo, third in the individuals’ state meet at 130, defeated Dana Holland in a rematch of their consolation final last week. Lyons then won six of the next seven matches.
Bremen: Mt. Carmel’s big three–T.J. Williams, Milton Blakely and Malik Elliott–led the Caravan to a 30-21 victory over Andrew.
Williams, who won his fourth straight individual state title last weekend, earned the 152-pound title by forfeit after an impressive 19-5 triumph over Sandburg’s Mike Trahey in the semifinals.
Blakely, who finished third in the state at 125 pounds, won the 130-pound title. And Elliott, a third-place state finisher at 135, captured the 145-pound title.
In all, the Caravan won seven of 13 matches. Heavyweight Matt Potocki won a key 2-1 double-overtime victory over Andrew’s Bob Barth.
Public League: Lane rallied for a 31-28 victory over Collins as 103-pounder Tony Martinez scored a critical victory with a five-point technical fall. Following at 112 pounds, Durand Hodges pinned Derien Samuels at the 1:30 mark of the first period for six points.
“We didn’t come to lose,” said Lane coach Rudy Salinas. “We have seven sophomores on our team. I knew they had potential, but they had to execute on the mat.”
