Sandburg sparkles at Wheeling; Maine West’s third
There was a lot of tough wrestling competition Saturday at the 27th Annual Wheeling Wildcats Invitational — none tougher than Sandburg, which proved to be the class of the field as the Eagles had seven individual champions to roll to the title of the nine-team meet with 248 points.
Lane Tech locked up second place with 163 points while Maine West was able to edge Lake Zurich 136-131 for third place.
Wheaton Warrenville South took home fifth place with 113 points followed by the host Wildcats (85 points) in sixth. Stevenson (63.5) edged Grayslake Central (48.0) for seventh place.
Maine West had six individuals reach the finals, but only 138-pound senior Jake Korbecki (15-1) was able to capture a first-place finish with a 9-5 decision over Sandburg’s Dan Garcia.
“There were some pretty hard matches, but I’m glad I got the win,” said Korbecki, who had to injury default at last year’s regionals. “As a team we want to win conference and we’re looking to be regional champs, too. I hope to win regionals and maybe get downstate out of sectionals.”
The Warriors got second-place finishes from Colin Gratz (132), Rico Zayas (145), Ben Kindle (160), Rogelio Rodriguez (220), and Robbie Jones (285).
“It’s always good to come here and see where you stack up against some of the good teams so I was happy with our kids,” said Maine West coach Lance Weber. “Jake (Korbecki) is a leader, he works hard, he leads by example, and we’re really happy with him.”
Lake Zurich senior Scott Hoff (13-3) was able to win the 160-pound title by nipping Kindle 4-3 in the finals.
“There’s always good teams here and I think my first takedown kind of set the tone for the (finals) match,” said Hoff. “I felt pretty good, and I kept being aggressive and listened to my coaches.”
The Bears had five third-place finishes, including Jerry Nigro (106), Emilio Nava (113), Gresh Henderson (120), Michael Peters (126), and Brandon Arteaga (132).
Wheeling was led by 285-pound senior Igor Romanowski (11-0), who had a pin in 17 seconds in the semifinals before pinning Jones in 22 seconds in the finals.
“I’m very proud of this, I prepared a lot, and I really wanted this,” said Romanowski. “I would like to thank our freshman coach (Anthony Magana) because we trained a lot in the off-season, focusing on technique and small things.”
Brandon Jagielski placed second for Wheeling at 195 after dropping a tough 4-2 overtime decision to Sandburg’s Bill Gore in the finals.
“We kind of had an off day overall, but I thought my heavyweight (Romanowski) wrestled great,” said Wheeling coach Neal Weiner. “Jagielski had a great tournament at 195 and his effort was tremendous so I’m proud of him.”
Stevenson got second-place showings from Mark Jolcover at 106 and Justin Weber at 152.
“We’re a young team and for many of our guys it’s their first year in the varsity lineup so we’re going to have some growing pains,” said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. “Both of our guys who made the finals wrestled very well and obviously they met very tough competition in the finals.”
Grayslake Central’s Dylan Hay posted an 11-2 major decision over Lake Zurich’s Zeke Honegger for third at 152. The Rams’ Jimmy Molitor beat the Bears’ Alex Kubes 11-0 for third at 182.
“It’s a very tough tournament, and Dylan had a rough 30 seconds (in semifinals) where Weber took advantage of his mistake,” said Grayslake Central coach Dan Catanzaro. “Molitor has improved greatly, and at 6-foot-5 he gives people a lot of issues at 182.”
Sal Dominguez placed third for Wheeling at 220 while teammate Leo Giordano placed fourth at 160.
Maine West’s Adeel Afshar placed fourth at 113 as did Grayslake Central’s Jonathan Makey at 126.