Area wrestling roundup: Minooka rolls to Berman title

By SUBMITTED REPORTS

Dec. 29, 2019

PALATINE – Minooka’s wrestling team had four champions, seven finalists and 11 who placed in the top six to lead them to a decisive championship at Palatine’s 65th annual Al Berman Invitational on Saturday. Coach Bernie Ruettiger’s Indians scored 234.5 points, while Fremd finished second with 155 points in the 15-team field.

Winning titles for Minooka were Dylan Harder (106 pounds), Jack McClimon (145), Jake Mensik (152) and Drew Gutknecht (220), while Joey Cecala (113), Justin Lechelt (195) and Jake Shipla (285) took second. Elijiah Munoz (132) and Dalton Ferguson (138) placed third, while Anthony Sartori (160) was fourth.

Griffins second at Ewoldt: Lincoln-Way East took second place at Wheaton Warrenville South’s 16-team Ed Ewoldt Invitational with 167.5 points to finish behind Lyons Township, which took first with 224.5 points. The Griffins had one champion and five finalists. Taking first place was Noah Alsguson (160), while Ari Zaeske (126), AJ Lizak (132), Anthony Urquijo (152) and Jake LaMonto (195) all placed second, and Connor Koehler (113) took third.

Lemont fifth at Flavin: The Indians won the Gold pool and went 5-1 in dual meets to take fifth place in DeKalb’s 32-team Don Flavin Invite, which featured six teams from the area. Lemont beat Plainfield Central and Sycamore in its bracket before falling, 35-29, to Oak Park-River Forest. Then it defeated Prospect, Deerfield and Naperville Central in its pool. Going 6-0 for the Indians were AJ Heeg (138), Grant LaDuke (152), Kyle Zator (160), Apollo Gothard (220) and Mo Jarad (285), while Kyle Schickel (145) went 5-1.

Joliet Central went 4-2 and beat Glenbard East, St. Rita, Moline and Stagg and lost to Glenbard West and York. Hunter Mack (126) went 6-0, while Jayden Perez (182) and Helliot Santana (220) both were 5-1. Providence Catholic went 3-3 with Billy Meiszner (106/113), Kevin Countryman (145), Liam McDermott (182/195) and Ryan Boersma (285) all going 6-0.

Plainfield South went 2-4 with John Pacewic (195/220) going 6-0 and James Pierandozzi (160/170) and Nathan Stoffle (182) going 5-1. Plainfield East went 2-4, with Barry Stevenson (145/152) going 6-0 and Ryan Graff (138) and Jabril Sims (170/182) going 5-1. Plainfield Central’s Nick Minnito (126/132) and Mathieu Arsenault (170/182) also went 6-0, while Joey Ahern (152) went 5-1.

Coalers take fourth at Abe’s Rumble: Coal City went 7-2 to finish fourth in the 60-team Abe’s Rumble in Springfield, which was won by Lena-Winslow/Stockton coop. Connor Huston (138/145) and Daniel Jezik (195/220) both went 8-0 with Huston getting his 100th career win.

Tigers, Knights at Schmitt: Plainfield North’s Jacob Macatangay took second at 113 after going 6-2 and suffering his first defeats at Granite City’s 24-team Red Schmitt Holiday Tournament. North’s Jared Gumila (138) went 7-2 to take fifth, Josh Macatangay (145) also placed fifth, and Dylan Amico (126) took sixth after two injury defaults. For Lincoln-Way Central, Andrew Hesse (182) was fifth, and Joey Malito (106) finished sixth.