State wrestling: Few disappointments among area medal winners

There were plenty of interesting story lines involving local wrestlers who earned medals Saturday at the IHSA finals in Champaign.

A total of 24 earned all-state status by placing among the top six in their weight class, including nine who competed in title matches and five who won state championships.

Two Coal City wrestlers got to the Class 1A title mat, but three-time medalist junior Alex Friddle (45-2) lost a 4-2 heartbreaker to Aurora Christian’s Cameron Johnson in the 120-pound final, and two-time placer sophomore Daniel Jezik (42-7) fell to unbeaten and 2017 champion Danny Braunagel of Althoff by technical fall in the 160 title match.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Jezik, who was sixth last year. “I did better than last year, which is what you try to do every year. I tried to keep myself confident in the hype of everything. This one was a little more stressful on the head than last year. It was really fun.”

Another area finalist was Lemont sophomore Kyle Schickel (40-5), who advanced to his second straight Class 2A title match. After dropping a 5-2 decision in 2017 at 106, Schickel fell, 4-2, in overtime on Saturday to Brother Rice’s Hassan Johnson in the 120 finals. He joins 2009-10 champion Angel Cabral as the only two-time finalists for the Indians program.

After finishing fifth last season, Lockport junior Matt Ramos (48-6) bounced back from a quarterfinal loss to win his final four matches to claim third in 3A at 113.

“I feel like this could have been one of the hardest brackets in this tournament,” Ramos said. “You had three ranked guys and any one of us could have won it. It’s awesome how well our team did. We have a tough schedule and wrestle the best people, which gets us better.”

His Porters teammate, senior Zach Reese (33-12), captured his first medal after falling in the 152 semifinals to the eventual champion before taking fourth place.

"My goal was to get top three,"
Reese said. "We have a good group this year and I'm just proud of everyone who made it down here, especially Anthony [Molton]. It took me a little while to figure myself out but once I gained my confidence back, it all built up to this."

Providence senior Cole Smith (42-5) was hoping to follow up on fifth- and second-place medals but lost his last three matches and took sixth in a loaded 160-pound bracket. Still, he joined only 12 others as three-time Celtics medalists.

“I’d say that 160 was probably the hardest weight class,” Smith said. “Any one of the top six easily could have won it, just certain things happened in the tournament. It was really hard coming off the semis with a loss. He was playing the edge a lot and I fed into his game.”

Joliet West senior Jonathan Pullen (44-6) closed out his career on a high note by claiming his first medal after advancing to the 170 semifinals and then taking fourth place.

“It’s been a really good season,” Pullen said. “It didn’t end the way I wanted since I took a loss at the end, but honestly, this is far more than I expected, so I’m very proud of it. No one really knew who I was at the beginning of the season. In my freshman year, coach [Chuck] Rumpf came in and since then, the program has turned and it’s good that people notice us.”

And while Joliet Catholic freshman DJ Hamiti captured his program’s first state championship since 1967, his classmate and training partner Jack Finnegan (35-9) also was helping to make some history when he finished fifth in Class 2A at 113. As a result, the Hilltoppers had two medalists for only the second time, with the other being back in 1966.

“In the match to get the medal, I got a reversal to win it in the last couple seconds and that felt great,” Finnegan said. “And DJ’s win helps the school and helps the program. This was very important and hopefully it will open some eyes to people that JCA is on the rise. This was a good first experience and was really exciting. Winning a medal is a great feeling.”

The rest of the area’s medalists will be featured in a story that will appear later this week.