Barrington junior wrestler Alex Crook was aware that moments don’t get much bigger than the one he encountered during his third-place match against Prospect’s Lucas Reinhardt at 220 pounds on Saturday, Jan. 30.
With just a minute left in the final period, Crook was hanging on to a 6-3 lead. He repeatedly looked up at the scoreboard to see how much time remained as the final seconds ticked away.
He knew that if he held on for the victory, the Broncos would win the Mid-Suburban League wrestling tournament, held at Palatine. That’s exactly what happened, which prompted a huge celebration among his teammates near the mat as the final horn sounded.
Barrington finished first with 205.5 team points, just 1.5 points better than second-place Prospect. Conant (185.5), Wheeling (172.5) and Schaumburg (152.5) rounded out the top five.
After his victory, Crook sported a cut that spanned the length of almost his entire left bicep as he tried to catch his breath while speaking to reporters.
“That was the first time I’ve wrestled Lucas in two years,” Crook said. “He was a lot less aggressive and physical when I faced him as a freshman. That wasn’t easy. I knew what was at stake, and I’m just so thankful I was able to come through and help get our team the title. What an amazing moment — this in unbelievable.”
There were several other key victories by the Broncos. Sophomore Jarit Shinhoster rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Wheeling’s Mason Skloot in the 113-pound championship match for a 10-4 decision. He’s one of eight underclassmen on Barrington’s varsity roster.
“I’m just trying to learn and grow every time I’m on the mat,” Shinhoster said. “I lost in the championship match last year in [the 113-pound] weight class, so this is a bit of redemption for me, personally. But just being able to help the team is what it’s all about.”
In the 126-pound championship match, Markus Hartman pinned Fremd’s Cole Riemer to improve his individual record to 33-4. Then, in the 160-pound title match, senior Max Guhde needed overtime to eek out a 3-1 decision over Prospect’s Bobby Jarosz.
“He gave me one heck of a battle,” Guhde said. “I ended up winning on a single-leg or high-crotch move, I’m not really sure which, but I’ll take the points either way. He started to go out of bounds thinking he could get a fresh start and go into double OT, but I was able to draw him in a little and grab his foreankle.”
Second-year Barrington coach Dave Udchik said his team used people counting it out as motivation.
“There were people in the media and elsewhere who publicly talked about how they didn’t think we’d finish real well this season,” Udchik said. “That made us kind of wrestle with a chip on our collective shoulders all year long. It makes this moment even sweeter because so many people counted us out before we even got started.”
Tim Froehlig is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @TFroehlig
