Three New Trier Wrestlers Compete in State Meet

Michael Palolan of Loyola Academy finished sixth in the 182-pound weight class as he opened the State Meet in Champaign with an 11-0 shutout over Jaime Jones of Lyons before suffering the same fate, 3-0, to Wheaton Warrenville South’s Evan Welsh.

Palolan bounced back in the in the consolation round with wins over Faraan Brantley of Homewood Flossmoor, 8-3, and Jameer Thurman of Proviso West, 3-2, in overtime before being pinned by Joshua Symbal of Huntley in 3:09, of the fifth place match.

Thurman ended the tournament for New Trier’s Scott Schwartz, 3-0, as all three Trevians in the tournament lost their initial matches.

M.J. Pritchard of New Trier was ousted by Chris Gonzalez of Glenbard North, 4-2, at 113 while Jack Conner (152) was pinned in 40 seconds by the undefeated champion, Max Schneider of Lane Tech.

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Deerfield

Deerfield High School senior Artie Bess closed out his high school wrestling career Saturday, taking third place at the meet.

Bess battled Mount Carmel junior David Denne through three rounds to collect the third-place medal.

The 220-pound match got underway with both wrestlers refusing to give an inch as the first period with no score. Bess used the second period to put a point on the board, collecting an escape with 1:20 left.

The third period is where Bess sealed his victory. Starting the period on top, he prevented Denne from getting an escape and recorded a takedown, pushing his lead to 3-0.

Despite allowing an escape to Denne, the crowd was chanting, “Artie, Artie,” as the clock ticked and his third-place win was clinched.

Once the third period ended and his 3-1 victory was official, Bess ran around the mat and picked up Coach Marc Pechter in celebration. He finished the season with a 40-2 record.

Also completing his career for Deerfield Saturday was senior 145-pounder Lenny Bloom. He concluded his season with a 40-3 mark. He won a pair of matches at the State Finals.

Cary

Top Seeded Freshman 106 pounder Mike Cullen took his 42-2 record to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Kris Williams of Thornton Friday.

Cullen bested Bobby Alexander of Hoffman Estates in a major decision, 12-1, and Mike Burke of Homewood-Flossmoor, 4-1, to reach the final four.

Rebounding from the loss he recorded a 4-2 decision over David Kasper of Marist to move into the third place match before losing, 3-2, to Brian Rossi of Lockport to finish fourth.

Libertyville

All three Libertyville wrestlers dropped their first round matches Thursday. At 113, Steve Polakowski took a 31-9 mark against Angelo San Juan of Glenbard East and was pinned in 3:52.

At 120, Pat Fitzgerald took Roderick Smith of Glenbard West to overtime before losing, 2-1. Wildcat Kayne MacCallum dropped his opening round match in the 152-pound class to Peter Andreotti of Marist, 3-2.

Stevenson/Buffalo Grove

Bison Jordan Rathje was the dean of the area wrestlers for Buffalo Grove or Stevenson with a fifth place finish in the 145-pound weight class.

Running through his first two matches, Rathje blanked Colin Griffin of Oswego East, 8-0, and edged Rico Zayas of Maine West, 5-4, to reach the semifinals before losing to Bryce Brill of Mt. Carmel, 14-4.

Once in the consolation round, Rathje dropped the semifinal round to Corbett Oughton of Minooka, 4-0, before registering a 6-2 victory over Coord Wiseman of Barrington for the fifth place medal.

Ratje’s teammate, Brian Eagan won his opening round match at 132, 5-1, over Troy Valdez of York before falling in the quarterfinals to Robbie Mikenis of Lincoln Way Central, 5-2, and then dropping his first consolation round bout, 3-2, to Austin Graham of Metea 
Valley.

Buffalo Grove’s other entry, Matt Zabrin, was eliminated in the first round, 6-5, to Dan Rowland of Willowbrook.

Stevenson wrestlers Justin Weber and Mark Jalcover were eliminated early but not before Weber moved into the consolation quarterfinals of the 152-pound weight class.

Weber lost his first-round match to Devnote Mahomes of Oak Park, 9-3, and then outpointed Chad Whitford of Granite City in the initial consolation round, 6-4, to earn a shot at a medal. Weber then lost to Anderotti, 4-1, before he could earn a spot at an individual award.

Jolcover dropped his first match, 5-1, to Carlos Jacquez of Aurora West.

Prairie Ridge/Crystal Lake

Crystal Lake Central brought home plenty of Class 2A hardware with a championship, a runner-up medal and a third-place finish from its five wrestlers.

At 195, Gage Harrah needed only 1:44 to dispose of his first three opponents. He pinned Andrew White of Nazareth Academy in :21 in the opening round, Trey Pempilton of Freeport in :35 of the quarter finals and Oliver Newton of Geneseo at :48 of the semifinals.

In the championship bout, Joey Valdivia of Grayslake Central made Harrah work for his crown as the Crystal Lake Central champion earned a 6-2 decision.

Clayton Lutzow took his first three matches at 138 to move into the championship bout before earning a second place medal. In the preliminary match, he pinned Rob Lane of Mt. Zion in 4:46 before stopping Sean Havlovic of Fenton in the quarterfinals, 5-3.

Lutzow had a major decision over Kyle Graumenz of Troy in the semifinals before falling in the title round to Angelo Silvestro of Marmion, 7-3.

Jason Fugiel worked his way through the consolation round to finish third at 152. After pinning Alex Alvis of Bloomington in 5:16 and Sam Kellett of Marmion even quicker at 1:20, he fell to Austin Culton of Sycamore, 7-4 in the championship semifinals.

Once in the consolation bracket, Fugiel pinned Clayton Bass in 1:43 to earn the right to fight David Frazier of Cahokia for third place. He won that match with a fall at 2:59.

Central’s two others wrestlers, Michael Zalesco at 145 and Kyle Fugiel at 126, lost in the first round.

In the Class 3A Meet, top seeded Prairie Ridge senior Zach Synon did not have to wait long to avenge his only loss of the year.

After an opening round victory over Jonnhy Gahagan of Oak Park to run his season record to 43-0, Synon lost for the first time to Mech Spraggins of Belleville West, 6-2, to put him in the consolation round.

Synon made short work of his next three foes besting Sean Murray of Wheaton North, 13-4, Austin Schoen of Lake Park, 8-2, and Jon Marmolejo of Glenbard North on an injury default to get his rematch with Spraggins in the third place match.

The margin of victory was the same in the rematch with Synon winning the third place medal, 6-2.

Mike Romanelli of Crystal Lake South ended his high school wrestling career, falling 3-2 to eventual sixth-place winner Greg Cameron of Plainfield Central.

Romanelli began the tournament with a first round win over Vince Ambrose of Providence Catholic, 12-2, before being pinned in the quarterfinals by Josh Marchok of Schaumburg at 1:55.

Before facing Cameron, Romanelli took his first consolation match, 6-4, over Ben Threloff of St. Rita.

Fremd

Senior Ronnie Hauser of Fremd earned fourth place honors at 132 after losing to eventual state champion Sal Annoreno of Bartlett, 11-3, in the quarterfinals.

Hauser had an easy time with Cameron Harris of Oak Park in the first round with a 15-5 victory before running into Annoreno in the quarterfinals.

Once in the consolation bracket, Hauser ousted Austin Graham of Metea Valley, 10-4, and Johnny Gosinski of Glenbard North, 4-2, before falling in the third-place match, 17-6, to Mike Mizaur of Mt. Carmel.

Lake Zurich

Senior Scott Hoff was the best Bear of the tournament as he grabbed sixth place at 160 while sophomore Sean Lynch has two more seasons to build off this year’s experience.

Hoff dropped his first match, 8-0, to Farai Sewera of Lake Park putting him on a four-match road to the fifth place bout. He stopped Justin Valencia of Granite City, 3-2, in the preliminary consolation round and then defeated Tom Mitrenga of Naperville Central, 8-7 to move into the wrestleback semifinals.

Once there, Hoff was blanked by Willie Anaya of Downers Grove South, 12-0, to be denied a chance at the third place medal before losing to Hunter Rollins of Hersey, 9-0, to finish sixth.

Lynch lost his first round fight to Tim Crose of St. Rita, 6-4, and was eliminated in the opening consolation round, 12-10, by Belleville East’s Skyler Procasky.

Niles North

Junior Cameron Pascoe of Niles North looks to next season as he fell in his first two matches at 220.

In the opening round, Pascoe dropped a 7-1 decision to David Denne of Mt. Carmel before losing 5-1 to Max Triveline of Prospect.

Grayslake

Five wrestlers from Grayslake Central and Grayslake North went downstate and came away with a second and fifth place between them in the Class 2A Meet.

In the 195-pound class, Joey Valdivia of Grayslake Central took runner up honors while teammate Dylan Hay was fifth at 145.

Valdivia won his first three matches defeating John Tomala of Lemont, 23-9, pinning Demario Walker of Galesburg in 1:12 and edging Jake Davis of Sycamore, 5-3, before losing to Gage Harrah of Crystal Lake Central, 6-2, in the title bout.

Hay captured his first two matches getting by Steve Lalowski of Sycamore, 6-3, and Xavier Montalvo of Montini, 8-2, before dropping his semifinal bout to Lavion Mayes of Mascoutah, 12-6.

Cast into the consolation bracket, Hay fell to Connor Bass of Yorkville in the semifinal, 6-0, before taking the fifth place medal with a victory over Johnny Major of Burlington Central, 7-6.

Central’s third wrestler in the tournament, Jimmy Molitor at 220, scraped by Alex Fritz of Marmion Academy, 3-1, before losing in the quarterfinals to Edgar Ruano of Montini, 14-3. He won his first wrestleback, 4-2, against Patrick Bennett of Chatham before bowing out before Daquence Goodman of Bowen, 2-1.

Kasan Christensen gave the best performance for Grayslake North when he won his opening round match against Jacky Dezir of Bowen, 6-4, before losing his next two bouts, to Seth Gonzalez, 3-2, of Yorkville and a pin to Copache Tyler of Springfield Southeast in 1:45, for elimination.

Jimmy Prince of North dropped his first round fight, 4-3, to Cody Snodgrass of Marmion Academy.  

Barrington

Coord Wiseman led the Barrington five-man Barrington contingent to the State Meet with a sixth place finish in the 145-pound division.

Wiseman blanked Javie Hopson of Joliet West, 4-0, before falling to Bryce Brill of Mt. Carmel, 19-3 in a technical fall at 2:58 of the match.

In the consolation round, Wiseman bounced back with wins over Jack Carlson of Glenbard West, 6-3, and Rica Zayas of Maine West, 3-0, before being pinned by Colin Holler of Sandburg in less than a minute and dropping a 6-2 decision to Buffalo Grove’s Jordan Rathje in the fifth place bout.

Jared Parvinmehr started out quickly in the 113-pound weight class with a 9-0 decision over Brad Mertens of Geneva and a 10-4 drubbing of Joliet Central’s Trayvon Zabala of Joliet Central before suffering an injury and defaulting to Mark Duda of Marist.

At 106, Adrian Gonzalez made short work of Jake Drew of Glenbard East, pinning him in 1:43 before being overcome by Lockport’s Brian Rossi in 3:43 in the quarterfinals. He was eliminated in his first consolation match by Dave Kasper of Marist, 5-4.

Cameron Thompson at 170 and Ben Calamari at 285 both lost their first two matches for an early departure.

Thompson was blanked by T.J. Sally of Hinsdale Central, 5-0, and then lost to Joe Caprio of Rolling Meadows, 7-2. Calamari ran into Brian Allen of Hinsdale Central in the first round, falling 9-0. In his initial consolation match, he was edged by Andrew’s Gary Chojnowski, 2-1.