Crystal Lake Central accomplished a lot at last week’s Dvorak Memorial Wrestling Tournament. The Tigers can also take pride in what they almost accomplished.
Junior Gage Harrah and senior Austin Marsden helped announce Crystal Lake Central as a state wrestling power with championships at 189 and 215 pounds, respectively, and the Tigers finished second to Marmion at the tournament.
It wasn’t a flawless tournament for the Tigers. Senior Joey Kielbasa lost a 3-2 title bout at 152 pounds to Montini’s Stephen Robertson, and Trevor Jauch lost a 140-pound semifinal to Glenbard North’s Brian Murphy 7-4 in overtime.
But Central received surprising performances from junior Jason Fugiel, who took second to Providence’s four-time champ Edwin Cooper at 145 pounds, and junior Clayton Lutzow, who captured third place at 130. If things had gone differently for Kielbasa and Jauch, Crystal Lake Central might have walked away with the Dvorak title instead of just surprising the field as the runner-up.
As a result of its Dvorak finish, Crystal Lake Central moves to No. 2 in a major shakeup in the Tribune wrestling rankings.
“We had a goal at practice to go top five, and the kids really bought into that,” Crystal Lake Central coach Justin Lehr said. “We needed to get points out of everybody and we needed bonus points when we could get them. All of a sudden things started clicking and rolling for us.
“We had guys winning matches, and you see where it got us. I know some guys are pretty happy with their finish in the finals. It was a pretty good showing for the toughest tournament in Illinois.”
More rankings shakeups:
Sandburg handed Glenbard North its first dual-meet loss of the season Tuesday morning. The Eagles scored significant victories at 125, 160, 189 and 215 pounds in a 30-22 victory. With the win Sandburg vaults to No. 4 in the Tribune rankings.
“We talked about that in team meetings this week. Those weights could single-handedly determine the dual,” Sandburg coach Eric Siebert said. “You look at those alone, and we went 4-0. Those were the areas where we knew we needed to have good performances. Can we count on 4-0 each time there? I don’t think so.”
Dan Garcia (125), Kyle Hughes (160), Matt Strzelczyk (189) and Brenden Pindel (215) all scored decisions of fewer than two points. The Eagles rallied from a 19-14 deficit midway through the match to win five of the next six matches. Twins Brandon and Chris Lopez also recorded wins for Sandburg at 171 and 285 pounds.
Glenbard North’s Bryan Gonzalez (21-0) at 119 and Brian Murphy (17-0) at 140 followed up their Dvorak title performances with decisive wins.
Berman update:
Hinsdale Central, Lyons, Downers Grove North and Hersey will be the feature teams this week at Palatine’s 56th Annual Berman Holiday Wrestling Classic. The 285-pound weight class could have the best matchup. Hinsdale Central’s top-ranked and unbeaten Jack Allen could head for a potential battle with Warren’s 15-1 Josh Dust.
Jack Windmoeller (135), Luke Polka (145), Matt Nora (152), Joe Gonzalez (215) and Brian Pieroth (285) all advanced to the quarterfinals for Lyons, which took a first-day lead with 121 points. Allen and the Red Devils were in second place with 101 points, led by other quarterfinal qualifiers Ernest Battaglia (130), Terry Ward (145), Brian Allen (215). Downers Grove North was a distant third (94.5), followed by Lincoln-Way East (93) and Warren (83).
Championship semifinals begin at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and the finals are at 3 p.m.
Another Marmion show?:
Top-ranked Marmion will have another opportunity to show off this week when the Cadets travel to Kaukauna, Wis., for the Cheesehead Invitational on Thursday and Friday. In addition to seeing teams from Georgia, Minnesota, Ohio, New Jersey and California, some familiar faces will make the trip north, including Lockport, Montini, Plainfield Central and Yorkville.
More tournaments:
No. 3 Minooka, Lincoln-Way West and West Aurora travel to the Granite City Holiday Tournament. No. 10 York and New Trier head to the 12th Annual Don Flavin Tournament at DeKalb. Lane and No. 2 Crystal Lake Central are at Lincoln.
