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Libertyville ready to rumble in Bloomington By Mike Garofola | Chicagoland Wrestling After a 62-point thrashing of New Trier on Super Tuesday to guarantee its 6th appearance in the dual-team state tournament series, NSC champion Libertyville turns its collective attention towards quarterfinal opponent Barrington, which stands in the way of its bid for a second team trophy in school history. Click HERE for final brackets from the IHSA Class 3A Team State Dual Touranment. |
So what lies ahead Saturday morning in Bloomington for the 'Cats?Ronne, Bystol claim all-state honors for Wildcats By Curt Herron | Chicagoland Wrestling Matt Bystol realized that there wasn't much difference between him and the other top 125-pounders in the state this season. And when the Class 3A state finals concluded on Saturday, the same thing could be said of his teammate Josh Ronne at 160.
Bystol is just the fifth Wildcat to be a two-time all-stater, joining the likes of Jim Friend, Dan Cysewski, Phil Gulsvig and Dan Holm. This is also just the sixth time in Libertyville's history that two or more individuals have earned all-state honors at the same meet. Two other Wildcats also competed at state, junior Luke Miller (215) and sophomore Pat Fitzgerald (103), who each posted 0-2 marks. Here's a breakdown of the Wildcats who participated in the Class 3A state meet: Josh Ronne, 4th place at 160 Settled for fourth place at 160 to Neuqua Valley's Nick Proctor (41-3) due to the result of a 3-1 quarterfinal defeat on Friday. Ronne (44-10), in his second state trip, advanced to that match after winning 6-2 over Bartlett's Eric Moreno (39-5), who took fifth. The senior assured himself of his first medal following a 1-0 win over Crystal Lake South's Kean Loupee in Saturday's first wrestleback. Following a 4-2 win over Mount Carmel's Nick Gelsosomo, Ronne lost to Proctor and claimed a 6-2 victory over Lockport's Joe Litoborski.
Claimed fifth place honors at 125 over Lincoln-Way East's Kyle Langenderfer (40-10) thanks to an 8-5 victory in Friday's quarterfinals. Bystol (42-5), who was third at 112 last season, lost his other wrestleback match 3-2 to Deerfield's Josh Katz (43-5), who was fourth. In Saturday's semifinals, the Wildcat senior fell 2-1 in an overtime tiebreaker to the eventual champ, Glenbard North's Joey Gosinski (48-0). The three-time state qualifier opened up this year's meet with a 6-2 win over Plainfield North's Nick Dinardo before facing Langenderfer. Click to hear Matt Bystol interview Luke Miller, DNP at 215 The junior fell 2-1 in an overtime tiebreaker in Friday's wrestleback to Collinsville's Daniel Mueller (44-5), who finished in fourth place at 215. In his opening match, Miller (33-12) dropped a 4-0 decision to Schaumburg's Josh Marchok (41-3), who placed third. Pat Fitzgerald, DNP at 103 The Wildcat sophomore fell 3-0 in Friday's wrestleback at 103 to Fenwick's Matt Garelli to conclude his initial state trip. Fitzgerald (31-16) got pinned in 3:36 by the fifth place finisher, Plainfield Central's Nathan Davis (37-10), in his opener. |
The two Libertyville seniors were right there with the very best that the state's largest class had to offer in Champaign. And when all was said and done, Ronne wound up claiming fourth place at 160 while Bystol finished in fifth place at 125.
Matt Bystol, 5th place at 125Thrilling bouts shake fieldhouse at Barrington
An aftershock rocked the house one more time when No. 1 Luke Smith of Wheeling was dealt his first defeat (39-1) of the season when No. 3 Blaise Buter (Boylan, 39-1) held on for a 2-1 victory in the 135-pound final. Smith's teammate Chris Johnson nearly moved the Richter Scale late in the evening when the junior pushed Hecox (34-1) to the brink before falling 7-6 in the 189 final. Munster rebounded easily to advance into the 3A state tournament Friday in Champaign, where he will begin defense of his title and will be joined by a terrific area field at the Assembly Hall in Champaign. The noisy crowd, which had sat on its hands for most of the first two-plus hours of competition - came to attention when the Munster-Hecox match was called. By the shift of hundreds toward mat No. 2, it was clear who would be stepping on for his first bout of the sectional after a first-round bye and quarterfinal forfeit Friday. The two-time state champion Munster appeared to have recorded a takedown in the early stages, before Hecox set up his trademark move to a headlock - then caught Munster when the door opened and sent the Grant senior onto his back. With every move to defend by Munster, Hecox's grip tightened like a vise until he registered the fall to become an instant internet matinee idol and create a roar which wouldn't subside untio well into the 215-pound matches. "I relaxed for a second and didnt' see (it) coming and that was about it," said Munster, who credited his foe but warned Hecox and all others that this weekend will be different. "Lee is in great shape for the state tournament, and, in fact, (that) result just wipes the slate clean in advance of next weekend," said Grant coach Ryan Geist.
Hecox steered clear of the upset bid by Johnson (39-3) by holding off the Wheeling junior, who slowly gained confidence after a first-period flurry led to a reversal. Later in the second period a takedown brought the talented Wildcat even at 5-5. "I got a little nervous, and maybe lucky when (he) almost caught be with a couple of his famous headlocks, but I really felt a shift as the match went on, and I really believe that I gave it everything that I could against him," said Johnson. His teammate Luke Smith was unable to break through against Butler, who had lost to the top-rated Wildcat last year at the state tournament but rebounded during the off-season with a freestyle victory. "No doubt I had revenge on my mind (today) after my loss to Luke at state," said Butler, who did little in the way of attacking for six minutes while frustrating the offensive-minded Smith with superb defense and the ability to stay away from any penalty points due to stalling. Cousin Mike Smith fell to long-time friend Travis LaSchiava (32-5) in an all-MSL final at 140 pounds to give the Fremd senior his first state appearance, while his opponent heads down for a second consecutive season.
He joins teammate Ronnie Hauser (22-10), who survived a wild state qualifier bout against J.P. Hough of Carmel (9-4) before closing out Juan Jaimes (Mundelein, 35-10) in the third-place match. The Corsairs' duo of Frankie Swindell (145, 31-5) and Shane Siefert (160, 32-4) advanced the hard way, through the consolation bracket, with the senior Swindell outlasting Sayad Banifazl (Libertyville) 11-7 to book his trip. He later pinned Jimmy Wallenberg (Notre Dame) to capture third-place honors. "I am going to Champaign hoping to surprise some people who don't know a whole lot about me and seeing what happens after than," said Swindell. One of the most impressive figures throughout the 14 divisions was Libertyville's Matt Bystol (39-3), who was magnificent on his way to his sectional title against Manny Silva (Hononegah, 38-8) 9-1. "Matt just practices and works at a higher level and greater pace than anyone else, and he does it all the correct way each time out," said Wildcats coach Dale Eggert of the three-time state qualifier. The Wildcats' Josh Ronne (160, 40-8) will accompany his teammate and two others (Pat Fitzgerald, Luke Miller) after surviving one battle after another en route to third place at 160.
The NSC had several bright stars, including 130-pound champion Jason Montemayor (Grant, 39-1) and freshaen teammate Cameron Kennedy (28-8) who qualified at 103 pounds. "The goal has to be obvious (for) me, it is to get downstate and win a title," said Montemayor, who defeated Lucas Rogers (35-8) of Huntley in his final. Lake Zurich senior Anthony Pace (35-3) went through at 152. But his post-tournament celebration for qualifying after a loss to Josh Anthony (Machesney Park) in the final followed a season-ending injury to two-time state qualifier and Bears teammate Cameron Schaffer. "It was tough knowing that Cameron was injured, and done and that he was in a great place in his (135-pound) bracket and poised to go through and downstate for a third time," said Pace. Schaffer (31-3) suffered a disclocated elbow during his first match of the day against Chaz Alex of Grant, and he was carted off to an ovation appreciative of his four years of effort. Stevenson's Danny Sabatello suffered his second straight fall to eventual 119-pound champion Joe Schwartz (Highland Park) in a morning semifinal, but the Patriots junior roared back just as he did last season to earn another trip downstate. "I lost focus for a brief moment, and (Schwartz) took advantage, it was just that simple," said Sabatello, who will be with Jordan Sherman (37-7, 135) in Champaign. Warren senior Robby Schultheis (38-5) made a recent move from 119 to 112 pay off when he grabbed a third-place medal and a trip downstate along with junior heavyweight Josh Dust (32-7), Dust came aboard only after Carmel senior Steve Lester was ruled out because of an injury. "I wasn't going to leave anything out on that mat in my qualifier, because I didn't want to have any regrets afterwards," said Schultheis following his 5-2 decision over 2009 state medalist Matt Ornoff (Mundelein) - who will not have the chance to earn another medal next weekend. |
The nation's best, Lee Munster (Grant, 31-1), was defeated via a fall just 1:10 minutes into his semifinal bout against No. 2 Sterling Hecox (Machesney Park) to send a capacity crowd into such a frenzy that it moved the fieldhouse from side to side.
"I don't want to discount the win, and it doesn't bring any special momentum-building type of thing heading into the state tournament, but it certainly would have if it came (down) in Champaign," Hecox said.
"I just refused to let up today, and from the very beginning (here) I was going to go all-out to get downstate for the first time," said LaSchiava.
"That long OT match on Friday with (eventual champion) Jeff Koepke really drained me, but we train hard all season in order to get through the tough matches that you'll get at a sectional like this one," said Ronne, heading to Champaign for the second time.
Click HERE for brackets and teams scores from the IHSA AAA Individual Regional Tournament A little bit of a slow start was not going to stop host Libertyville on Saturday. When all was said and done, the Wildcats captured their 26th regional championship in school history - including 10 in a row and 21 in the past 23 seasons. En route to the Class 3A title, the Wildcats took a comfortable lead over Grant heading into the final round and went on to toppled the Bulldogs 209.5-182.5 for the crown of the 10-team regional. Winning the regional title meant that Libertyville advanced to the Class 3A Barrington dual-team sectional Feb. 23 against New Trier.
Third-ranked 125-pounder Matt Bystol (36-3) was one of four regional champions for Libertyville, as Bystol captured a 6-1 decision over Grant's Jose Jimenez for first place. At 135 pounds, Sam Shay was also a champion for the Wildcats - along with teammates Ryan Mertz (16-4 at 171), and Luke Miller (31-9 at 215). "They all gave me some good matches and it's really good competition out here," said Bystol, who placed third in the state last year. "I just have to keep focused, stay healthy and make sure I'm doing what I've been doing all season and prove I'm the best guy for six minutes." The Wildcats also have four regional runner-up's advancing, including 103-pounder Pat Fitzgerald, 145-pounder Sayad Banifazl, 152-pounder Nick McDowell and 160-pounder Josh Ronne. Luke Gaeth also advanced with a third at 119. "It was very close for a while, and half way through the semifinal round we put a lot of good matches together," said Wildcats coach Dale Eggert. "Sam Shay beating Chaz Alex 8-1 was an incredible match for us, and we won five more semifinal matches after that. We did well in the wrestlebacks, so that was the turning point for us."
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Featuring nine top-three finishes, the Wildcats have nine wrestlers advancing to the Class 3A Barrington individual sectional this weekend.Libertyville takes command, nails down NSC crown But with a commanding 65-point lead over Grant headed into the final round, the outcome was decided early on in the 14-team tournament as the Wildcats rolled to back-to-back NSC championships by a comfortable 251 to 181.5 margin over the runner-up Bulldogs. Stevenson came up big Saturday to capture third place 165 to 146 over Mundelein while Warren (119.5 points) placed fifth in coach Mark Tiffany's 27th and final conference meet. The host Bears placed sixth in the powerful field with 112.5 points while Antioch (102 points) had a very solid seventh-place showing. Libertyville's road to the title featured five individual champions including Pat Fitzgerald at 103, Matt Bystol at 125, Sayad Banifazl at 145, Nick McDowell at 160 and Josh Ronne at 171. Despite having his finals match against Antioch's Zach Epker stopped on numerous occasions due to a cut on his forehead, Libertyville senior Nick McDowell held on to win the 160-pound crown with a narrow 3-2 decision. The Wildcats will see Grant and Mundelein at its own Class 3A regional next Saturday. "I knew I had to just stay active and not back off on him (Epker) in the last minute so I wouldn't get called for stalling," said McDowell. "You've just got to go out and wrestle your hardest (at regionals), and you just have to wrestle like it's your last match."
"I started with high goals and my goal was to be state champ, of course," Montemayor said. "We didn't wrestle to our seeds today, but next week we're going to go into regionals more aggressively and we have a lot of potential." After upsetting Mundelein's Matt Ornoff 8-4 in the semifinals, Libertyville's Luke Gaeth dropped a 6-1 decision to Stevenson 119-pound standout Danny Sabatello (29-3) in the finals. Libertyville's Luke Miller also placed second after Warren's Chandler Sperry posted a 2-1 decision for the 215-pound title. "All in all, everybody chipped in and we had a real good day so this should help us heading into the regionals," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert, whose team won its 14th NSC crown and sent 12 wrestlers to the semifinals. "The regional should be tighter because it won't be as big a tournament so you never know." |
Heading into the 2010 North Suburban Conference wrestling meet, people were expecting Libertyville to receive a pretty tough challenge from a number of different teams Saturday at Lake Zurich. 
Grant had two champions in the meet, including third-ranked senior Jason Montemayor (34-1) at 130, and top-ranked senior Lee Munster (24-0) at 189. Grant's Izzy Montemayor was a state-runner up in 2008, and Jason is hoping to go the distance and bring home a state crown this February in Champaign.Libertyville sweeps powerhouse quad The Wildcats stood firm in the final stages of their matches against a couple of state-ranked opponents Saturday afternoon - defeating both Lyons and DeKalb to complete a three-match sweep at the Conant quad in Hoffman Estates. In recent action, the Wildcats narrowly edged North Suburban Conference Lake Division rivals Mundelein (27-26 on Jan. 8) and Warren (26-21 Friday). At Conant, the Wildcats (16-5) made sure all eyes stayed focused on the orange and black when Nick McDowell and Josh Ronne won the final two matches in a come-from-behind 25-24 victory over No. 15-ranked Lyons. Later in the quad, Ryan Mertz, who had just returned to the starting lineup against Warren after missing 6 weeks with a torn ACL, came through for coach Dale Eggert's Wildcats when his fall at 1:36 sealed a 35-28 triumph over Class 2A power DeKalb. "We've had quite a few close, tense matches this season, haven't we?" said Eggert, who watched the Wildcats fall behind to young, rebuilding Conant (7-8) before roaring back to defeat the Cougars 43-18. "We even had to chase a deficit against Conant in our final dual today, but it turned into quite a day for us." The marquee match of the day - between the Wildcats and Lyons - lived up to its billing. Both sides were tactically smart and stayed away from dreaded bonus points - as the final score indicated. Neither team was ever ahead by more than 6 points. There were seven lead changes, including that final bout in which Ronne (27-6) - who bumped up from his No. 4 spot at 160 pounds in state polls - earned man-of-the-match honors after his 3-0 decision over Mike Rende at 171 pounds. "The way we're coached is to always wrestle hard and to be prepared when the opportunity is there to be the difference-maker in a match, and that's what happened with me against Lyons," said Ronne, a 2009 state qualifier.
Lyons showed its strength and power in the middle of the lineup as Jack Windmoeller, Matt Nora, Lucas Polka and RJ Dilcher exploded for 14 unanswered points to give the Lions a 24-19 edge. But unheralded work from Sam Shay (145) and Sayad Banifazl (152) helped keep the Wildcats within striking distance. "We were in a position to earn (bonus) points with at both those weights, and we didn't finish their guys off," said Lyons coach Griff Powell. "But credit (them) for hanging in there to stay away from giving up those extra points." "Sam was able to keep (Polka) from a major decision, and Sayad looked to be on his way to, at the very least, and tech-fall if not worse," Eggert said. "That was great team wrestling for both of those guys." The Wildcats received four pins - from Luke Miller, Fitzgerald, Shay and Mertz - to finally put away DeKalb after trailing 19-12. The Wildcats broke open their tight match trailing 18-11 against Conant with a strong finish to prevail 43-18. "There was some terrific competition out there for us today, and at times, our inexperience caused far too many tech falls and pins, which slowly took us out of each match," said Cougars coach Chad Hay.
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Ronne pushed the pace early, and in the process, picked up a point from Rende for stalling - and that was all the Wildcats captain would need. The senior rode out Rende for a full two minutes during the second period, then closed out his opponent with a reversal at 41/2 minutes. As the two sides traded decisions, the Wildcats gained a few extra points during this nearly 21/2 hour battle. The first came from Pat Fitzgerald and his 14-3 major decision, followed by 119-pounder Luke Gaeth's technical fall at 5:04. Gaeth helped put his team back on top at 13-10, before Charlie Meyer and Matt Bystol added to the lead with victories.Libertyville tops Warren, stays on track for Lake title The Blue Devils stayed within striking distance the whole way in this dual-meet showdown, but Libertyville (13-3, 5-0) captured a 26-21 victory to get one step closer to capturing the Lake Division crown outright with a win over Lake Forest next week.
Libertyville 145-pounder Sam Shay led his bout against sophomore Aaron Brewton, but Brewton recorded a pin in 4:36 to give Warren (12-2, 3-2) an early 6-3 lead. "It shows that you can't afford to be losing matches that we should win because that sets the whole dual meet out of kilter," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert, whose team beat Mundelein by 1 point last week. "We won eight matches to their six, but that pin at 145 just turned everything on its end because we were winning that one late." Sayad Banifazl at 152 pounds got the Wildcats headed in the right direction with a 5-0 decision over Will Beinlich. Then 160-pounder Nick McDowell's 6-3 decision over Warren's Brenden Frank gave the host Wildcats a 9-6 advantage. Libertyville 171-pounder Ryan Mertz made a successful comeback from a torn ACL with a 9-5 decision over Mike Patterson before state-ranked teammate Josh Ronne (25-5) held off Shakheim Chapman 4-3 at 189.
"I felt good after the first period and he (Patterson) was tough so I have to work on my conditioning," said Mertz, who had not wrestled since Dec. 4. "The other teams are tough, but Coach E gets us prepared well." 285-pounder Josh Dust started the Blue Devils' comeback with a 3-0 decision over Jorge Arreola, before teammate Martin Martinez posted an 8-4 decision over Kyle May at 103 to cut the lead to 18-12 with five matches remaining. Libertyville 112-pounder Pat Fitzgerald's 6-4 decision over Kevin Buensuceso made the score 21-12, but Warren was not dead yet. At 119 pounds, Robby Schultheis (22-4) almost recorded a first-period pin before settling for a 6-0 decision over Luke Gaeth. Then trailing 4-3 late in the third period, Warren 125-pounder Colin Seebach pulled out a 6-4 decision over Charlie Meyer with a near pin to cut the gap to 21-18 with two bouts left. Libertyville's Matt Bystol (24-3) sealed the Wildcats' win with a technical fall in 5:58 to make the score 26-18. A 6-2 decision by Warren 135-pounder Brandon Tyler accounted for the final score. "Our kids showed up, they pulled together as a team, and I couldn't be prouder of them," said Warren coach Mark Tiffany, who is in his final season. "We knew it was going to be tough coming in, but you can never sell our kids short." |
Starting at 140 pounds, the 13th-ranked Wildcats took a 3-0 lead when Kevin Tavakoli opened the meet with a 5-3 decision over Kyle Grogan.
Then a 4-0 decision by Libertyville's Luke Miller over Chandler Sperry boosted the lead to 18-6.Box Scores from January 9th Quad at Oak Park River Forest High School |
No upset for Mundelein, but darn close
Starting at 112 pounds, the Mustangs (15-2, 3-1) fell behind 3-0 when Libertyville's Pat Fitzgerald posted a 7-4 decision over Jake Pickering to open the meet. Mundelein sophomore Matt Ornoff (23-1) gave the hosts a 4-3 lead with a 10-2 major decision at 119 before 125-pound teammate Payton Cruz posted a 7-0 decision for a 7-3 advantage. The Wildcats regained an 8-7 lead on 130-pounder Matt Bystol's technical fall. But the Mustangs would take the lead right back at 10-8 on a 9-4 decision by 135-pounder Juan Jaimes (23-2). The next two bouts were huge for Libertyville as Sam Shay captured a 1-0 decision over Tanis Arcos to give the Wildcats the lead for good at 11-10.
"We knew all of those middle weights were going to be close," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "It takes a lot of guts to cut a guy with 30 seconds to go and then he (Tavakoli) got the win with the takedown." Aranda was cut loose with about 30 seconds left to give him a 5-4 lead, but Tavakoli's late takedown secured his 6-5 decision. "I was trying to go for the winning takedown and we were both very tired, but I gutted it out in the end," said Tavakoli. "This is the biggest meet of the year and it was either us or them going for the conference title." Trailing 14-10, Mundelein's Pablo Mata outlasted 152-pounder Sayad Banifazl 3-2 in overtime to cut the gap to 14-13.
Jake Hertel's 12-4 major decision at 189 kept Mundelein's hopes alive, but a huge pin by Libertyville 215-pounder Luke Miller in 2:42 gave the Cats their biggest lead at 27-17 with two bouts remaining. Mundelein 285-pounder Dion Livas posted a 6-2 decision over Jorge Arreola to make the score 27-20. Then Mundelein freshman 103-pounder Nick Dudzinski recorded a pin in 3:28 to end the meet, but the Mustangs had to settle for a one-point loss. "We knew we would have to win some of those close ones and we lost two of them by a point," said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik. "If we would have won one more it would have been huge, but Libertyville is always tough and they were very prepared for us." Libertyville 171-pound senior Ryan Mertz is still out of the lineup due to injury, but he is expected to return to action before the end of the season. |
The North Suburban Lake Division dual meet was pretty close the whole way, but Libertyville (9-2, 4-0) was able to hold on for a narrow 27-26 victory over Mundelein before a fired-up Mustangs' crowd.
Then Libertyville 145-pound junior Kevin Tavakoli got a late third-period takedown to ultimately post a 6-5 decision over Brandon Aranda in the wildest match of the night.
Then the Wildcats created a little bit of breathing room as a 7-2 decision by 160-pounder Nick McDowell and an 11-3 major decision by 171-pounder Josh Ronne boosted their lead to 21-13.Libertyville rolls to 3 impressive victories The host Wildcats (8-2), rated No. 12 in the state, would sweep No. 16 Schaumburg and No. 20 Naperville Central as well ever improving Maine West to begin the new year right for coach Dale Eggert, whose club has been idle since the mega-Dvorak tournament on Dec. 22. "What a terrific group of teams that we had (here) today," said Eggert, who watched his team open with a strong effort to defeat Naperville Central (13-4) 33-25, before the 'Cats roared back from a 10-point deficit to score 32 unanswered points to stun MSL power (Schaumburg) 42-22, then finishing off the day by rolling over Maine West. "There were a lot of big (wins) during that stretch (to) get back in the match against (Schaumburg) but perhaps none bigger than those back-to-back pins from Luke Gaeth (119) and Charlie (Meyer) at 125 pounds," offered Eggert. After Josh Ronne would upend Danny Malik in a bout between a pair of state-ranked seniors (6-4) in OT to pull the 'Cats even at 9-9, Schaumburg flexed its upper weight power with a fall from Joe Lamanna (189) and dominating performance from sophomore Josh Marchok, who would validate his No. 1 ranking at 215 all day long. Heavyweight Sean Pottow would follow with a pin of his own to help push the Saxons' lead to 19-9. "Our strength is clearly at the top of our lineup, but today (you) could see we need to solidify (things) on the other end because we couldn't hold onto our lead," said a disappointed Saxons head coach Matt Gruszka, who couldn't bare to watch his club give away a 22-point lead to Central in its final dual of the day. Pat Fitzgerald would stop the Saxons' run when he recorded a fall at 5:47 over Nick Rud, and from there on out, it was all Libertyville. The Wildcats would win the next 8 matches, including the third of 3 headline bouts in this dual, with Matt Bystol defeating Patrick Scully 5-1 at 130 pounds as the Wildcats extended their lead to 30-22. Cody Olsen, Sam Shay and Kevin Tavakoli would be perfect after the Bystol victory to put an exclamation mark on the Wildcats' comeback. "Our guys in the middle of the lineup really came through for us (against) Schaumburg, and it was good to win all 3 matches today, but we cannot rest on our success today because we have a big dual against Mundelein next week before going to Oak Park-River Forest on Saturday to wrestle one of the best in the state," said Bystol, who put his No. 3 state ranking (at 125) up against Scully, who entered the day No. 3 at 119 pounds. |
Libertyville places 14th in a brutally tough Dvorak field “I’m pretty tired right now,” Ronne said, after wrestling 8 matches in the tournament. The Wildcats placed four wrestlers at this year’s tournament and finished in 14th place, in one of the toughest Dvorak fields in memory. Libertyville’s Luke Miller, Matt Bystol, Josh Ronne, and Luke Gaeth all brought place medals home for coach Dale Eggert, whose boys had a rough first few rounds of wrestling on Monday. “It was a disappointing first day, to be honest. We had a lot of 0-for-2’s,” Eggert said. “But it’s as tough a tournament as it’s been, and that will only help us.” Here’s a recap of the Wildcats’ place-winners. Luke Gaeth, seventh place at 119 Gaeth (16-5) started with an 8-0 decision over St. Rita’s Johnny Anderson (11-4) in the wrestlebacks before losing to Mt. Carmel’s Mike Mizaur (14-5), which sent him to the seventh-place mat. Gaeth shined in a 6-3 decision over Iowa City West’s Jon Skarda (15-5) to win his medal. “I’m thrilled with that guy,” Eggert said of Gaeth. “The first match today determined if he would make the final eight, and he went against a kid (Anderson) that he went overtime with at Barrington.” “I would say he had as good a match as you can have. He came out gunning, put about five shots in on the guy, and had a textbook defensive takedown. Then he had another defensive takedown, perfect execution, and then put him on his back for three in the third period.” Matt Bystol, third place at 125 Trailing 3-2 to start the third period, Bystol reversed Ambrose for the second time in the match and rode him out for the win on the third-place mat. “He was a tricky guy,” Bystol said of Ambrose. “One second he acted gassed, and the next second he was exploding at you. He was good with his legs, and good at tripodding out on bottom.” Bystol (17-2) posted a pin against Plainfield Central’s Terry Kubski (12-8) and a major decision win over Barrington’s Connor Mannina (13-7). The top-seeded senior then faced fourth-seeded Joey Gosinski (21-0) of Glenbard North in a semifinal match. Gosinski won an 8-1 decision in a rematch from two years ago in Champaign. “I got out-positioned by him three times, and he burned me,” Bystol said of their Dvorak semifinal. “It wasn’t very smart wrestling by me.” Bystol won a 2-1 decision over Joey Vogelsberg (21-7) of Bishop-Lynch (TX) in a consolation semifinal before topping Ambrose for third. Josh Ronne, sixth place at 160
“He had a great match against Anthony, and that’s a guy that has beaten Josh before,” Eggert said. A decision loss to Oak Park-River Forest’s Sammy Brooks sent Ronne to the fifth-place mat, where Koepke beat him in a straight decision. “I’ll see Koepke again at sectionals, so I now I know what I have to beat. Against Brooks I like how I wrestled but I just didn’t finish my shots,” Ronne said. Ronne was happy with the level of pressure he applied in his matches at Dvorak and the way he capitalized when scoring opportunities were presented. “When I came in here I just wanted to make the second day. Once I won a few matches and knew that I was going to medal, I wanted to keep going,” he said. Luke Miller, second place at 215 “I’m pretty happy. I didn’t place last year, and my goal was to just take it one match at a time,” Miller said. “I was pushing my offense a little more and getting back points where I could get them.” “We’ve been on him about shooting, and he has responded,” Eggert said. “He was in matches where’s he’s totally in control, but the match is close. Today he got some takedowns in, and now he’s starting to get a couple of takedowns in until the other guy has had it.” Miller lost a 4-2 decision to Bolingbrook’s Robby Bain (21-1) on the title mat, but a second-place medal at Dvorak is something to hang your hat on for any wrestler. “He was a strong guy, it was tough getting in on his legs, and he had a nice cradle,” Miller said of Bain. Miller’s most impressive match may have been his 5-0 quarterfinal decision over Ryan Jackson (11-5) of Springsboro (OH), who went on to place sixth. “I was very impressed with that match. He wrestled very well,” Eggert said of the win. “He had two good takedowns against a good guy.” “In the finals I think (Bain) kind of caught him off guard with a double. And at that point he had to get out, and he got caught with a cradle.” |
Ronne opened with a decision win before losing by 6-4 decision to Hersey’s Jeff Koepke (25-4). The senior then reeled off four decision wins in the wrestleback round, which included a 10-6 win over Plainfield Central’s Jordan Ellingwood (10-4), a 1-0 win over Providence Catholic’s Brian Walsh (3-3), and a 3-2 win over Harlem’s Josh Anthony (15-5).
Miller (15-5) steamrolled his way to the title mat, posting two pins, a decision, and then an 11-0 major decision in a semifinal match against Iowa City West’s Mickey Pelfrey (16-5). Pelfrey went on to place fifth in the tournament.
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Depth nets Libertyville title at Hawk Invite Libertyville captured the team trophy with a score of 180 points. Lincoln-Way Central and Naperville Central tied for second with 164. Libertyville coach Dale Eggert credited the Wildcats' victory to his competitors who battled for points in wrestle-backs after losing early, instead of to his individual champions. "We had some guys lose matches I thought we'd get," Eggert said. "In the wrestle-backs we had several guys come back and get a lot of big wins."
What ultimately led to Libertyville's victory was 13 of a possible 14 wrestlers finishing in the top six of their weight classes. "That's where we got it," Eggert said. "I'm sure a lot other teams had as many champs as we had and as many finalists as we had. But that's what did it, our all-around performance."
"I just felt like I had a good chance to come back in the wrestle-backs and do something," Arreola said. Arreola said it is always a good feeling to come away with a team crown at an invite. "It shows we've got a really solid team," Arreola said. "We've got a couple champions, but we've got a lot of people placing in the top five." The Wildcats' individual champions were senior Matt Bystol at 130 pounds and senior Josh Ronne at 171. |
Depth prevailed in the Hawk Wrestling Invite on Saturday at Hoffman Estates.
Eggert pointed out that the Wildcats' two individual champions were not the most for one school at the meet. Harlem, which finished fourth, had three while Lincoln-Way Central and Naperville Central each had two.
Eggert commended the performance of senior 285-pounder Jorge Arreola, who although he dropped his second match, picked up 3 pins en route to a sixth-place finish in the weight class.Libertyville serves notice with big Lake debut Starting at 103 pounds, Libertyville sophomore Kyle May posted a 6-0 decision over Mark Jolcover to open the dual meet. Sophomore Pat Fitzgerald followed with a 1-0 decision in a real defensive struggle with Alec Berger before teammate Luke Gaeth recorded a pin in 3:29 to stake the hosts to a quick 12-0 lead. Stevenson (5-1, 0-1) cut the gap to 12-5 when 2009 state medalist Danny Sabatello (6-0) posted a technical fall at 125. Libertyville 130-pounder Matt Bystol (third in state in 2009) pinned his opponent in 3:13 to boost the lead to 18-5 before Sherman (6-0) won a hard-fought 6-5 decision over Cody Olsen cut the lead to 18-8 to keep the Patriots' within striking distance. "Lake Division duals always bring out the best in us," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert, whose team is ranked ninth in Class 3A. "103 was a key match after that guy beat (May) twice last year."
Libertyville's Ryan Mertz added a 9-1 major decision over Nate Rubenstein at 171 for a 32-11 advantage before Josh Ronne's added a pin at 189 for a 38-11 lead with two bouts left. "Coach E. trained us really well to pick up extra points and not let them score late," said Mertz. "I think we did real well and we don't underestimate anybody." Luke Miller's 7-1 decision over Josh Kolman at 215 closed out a streak of four straight victories for Libertyville to make the score 41-11. Stevenson 285-pounder David Woodstein closed out the meet with a 9-1 major decision to account for the final score. "They're one of the best teams in the area and I have a lot of respect for coach Eggert," said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. "We're just going to keep working and get after it until we can get to that level." |
The 152-pound bout was another dogfight as Stevenson's Kristian Meyer captured a 6-5 decision over Sayad Banifazl in double overtime to make the score 25-11. Libertyville rolled to the victory after that point as 160-pounder Nick McDowell's 5-2 decision over Stevenson's Jed Stone started a big Wildcat rally.
Grant held third place earlier in the day Saturday, but the Bulldogs settled for fourth place with 166 points. The host Broncos placed sixth in the huge field with 132.5 points while Lake Zurich (81 points) and Wauconda (78.5 points) placed 13th and 14th, respectively.
"He was a shorter, more compact guy and on the top he gave up a key reversal," said Bystol, who placed sixth in the state last year. "It was a good building experience against some good competition and this tough competition will definitely make me improve for later in the year." The Wildcats also had four third-place finishers, including Luke Gaeth at 119, Josh Ronne at 160, Ryan Mertz at 171 and Luke Miller at 215. Libertyville's Sayad Banifazl added a fifth-place finish at 145 with an exciting, 10-9, overtime decision. "It was a great tournament for us, we had a lot of guys get a bunch of wins obviously, and everybody but Bystol lost at least one match," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "Bystol is very cool under pressure and the guy he beat (Harrison) was the Class A state champ last year." |
Plainfield Central rolled to the championship of the powerful 32-team tourney with 210 points while Neuqua Valley held off third-place Libertyville, 174 to 1701/2, for runner-up honors.
With nine top-eight placewinners, Libertyville had plenty of bright spots this weekend starting with 125-pound champion Matt Bystol, who captured a hard-fought 2-1 decision over Stillman Valley's Nick Harrison for the title.Libertyville Pins Loss on Grant in Showdown The host Wildcats faced long-time rival Grant in a crossover dual meet between the two defending NSC divisional champions who are once again expected to challenge for the overall conference title this winter. And Libertyville came through with a hard-fought 27-22 victory on its Fourth Annual Alumni Night as the Wildcats' middle weights won five straight matches at one point to help carry the team to the win. Starting at 112 pounds, Libertyville (1-0) took a 3-0 lead when Pat Fitzgerald posted a 5-2 decision over Ben Soumar.
Round Lake transfer student Jose Jimenez got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with an 11-4 decision at 125 before a battle of 2009 state qualifiers took place at 130. Libertyville's Matt Bystol moved up from 125 to 130 to face Jason Montemayor, who captured a 9-5 decision to tie the team score at 6-6. Grant kept the momentum going at 135 when state qualifier Chaz Alex recorded a pin in 3:39 to give the visitors a brief 12-6 lead. But the Wildcats came storming back with decisions by 140-pounder Sam Shay (9-4), 145-pounder Kevin Tavakoli (5-3), 152-pounder Sayad Banifazl (8-5), 160-pounder Nick McDowell (6-3) and 171-pound state qualifier Josh Ronne (9-2) giving Libertyville a 21-11 lead with the benefit of a team penalty point on Grant for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Northwestern-bound senior Lee Munster (47-0 in 2009) cut the lead to 21-16 with a technical fall in 5:29 at 189. But Libertyville 215-pounder Luke Miller recorded a pin in 3:22 to boost the lead to 27-16 with two bouts left. "This was the first varsity match for a lot of our guys at the middle weights and I expect them to get better and so will Libertyville," said Grant coach Ryan Geist. "It was a great dual meet to start the season and there were a lot of good matches." Grant 285-pounder Justin Lalanda made things very interesting with a near pin in the final seconds, but he had to settle for a 6-0 decision to make the score 27-19 and clinch the Wildcats' team victory. Grant freshman Cameron Kennedy closed out the meet with a 12-5 decision to account for the final score. "Against guys like (Grant) you have to take the wins when you can and they were close matches at the middle weights," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "Both guys had their chances (at 119) and our guy (Gaeth) coming back at the end of the second period and getting the five points helped him with the match." 1956 graduate Dick Fischer was one of the many former wrestlers in attendance along with Ted DeRousse (1958), Dave Eggert (1972), Kirk Christensen (1989), Margaret LeGates (1994), and Mike Lopez (2002), to mention a few.
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Libertyville junior Luke Gaeth followed that win with a wild 11-10 decision over Jack Kramer at 119 as both wrestlers had two near pins in the bout.
"Grant is a very tough team and you've just got to be ready when you face a team like this," said Banifazl, who was chosen alumni night wrestler of the meet. "I think we came out good after the first few matches and we're just looking for a good season."
Updated on 03/01/2010
