Wrestling: Cole Pradel, Oswego claim program's first team regional title since 1989

PLAINFIELD – Cole Pradel viewed Saturday as the first step on his road to state.

It came with quite a team prize.

Pradel, an Oswego junior, was one of four regional champions and eight sectional qualifiers from Saturday's Class 3A Plainfield North Regional.

It all added up to the Panthers winning the program's first regional championship since 1989. With it Oswego qualified for the team dual sectional later this month. The Panthers' individual qualifiers, top three finishers Saturday, are headed to next Saturday's sectional at Quincy.

"It's a big achievement for us as a team to win it. We're excited," Pradel said. "The coaches were stressing to us all week to fight for every point. They believed that we had a chance to win this and tried to put that in our heads. I believed we had a chance. It feels great."

Oswego's regional title is its fourth, joining championships won in 1985, 1987 and 1989. This group entered the season ranked No. 23 in the IWCOA Class 3A rankings, but it's been an up and down year with several injuries.

Through it all, Oswego coach Andrew Cook kept this date circled on the calender.

"We've had some really good teams come through here, been in great situations," Cook said. "We started the season high, had some ups and downs in December and January. To finish it off with a regional title is unbelievable. We finally got our guys back, we're healthier and we wrestled well. Every single person on the team scored points. We're pretty ecstatic about this."

Oswego scored 178.5 points, beating out Plainfield North (133.5) and Plainfield South (125) in a regional that doesn't currently have a ranked team. Oswego East (79) was seventh.

Oswego regional champs included Logan Guerrero (120), Pradel (170), Aidan Griffin (195) and Michael Sturm (285). Zach Sato (second, 138), Luke Barron (third, 132), Derek Torza (second, 145) and AJ Johnson (third, 152) also advanced.

Pradel, second in regionals as a sophomore, won his first regional title. Pradel (34-6), ranked eighth in the state, still is after his first state meet.

"It's a good achievement; my goal this year is to make it to state. This is the first step toward that goal," Pradel said. "I'm excited where I'm going, looking forward to the next couple weeks."

Pradel won a 9-5 decision over Plainfield North's Evan Smith in the final, his third win over Smith this season.

"The second time he was beating me most of the match; I won the last one in the last seconds by throwing him," Pradel said. "He's a very good wrestler and I have a lot of respect for him. I tried to be smart and used the things I thought would work."

Sato lost a 10-5 decision to Neuqua Valley's Bryce Boumans in the 138-pound final, a match in which Sato led well into the second period.

But it felt good just to wrestle.

Sato injured his meniscus on Monday, wasn't cleared to wrestle until Thursday and didn't practice until that day. But he reached the final Saturday with a 12-4 major decision over Plainfield North's Jared Gumila.

"Honestly, I wasn't even going to wrestle in the final," Sato said. "The whole week for me has been kind of frantic. It's been a long process to get here, but after these last two matches I feel back to normal. It's a blessing that it's healed this fast."

Sato also lost a close match to Boumans last year, but felt better about Saturday's result. And he's already looking ahead.

"I'm hoping to study up and learn for sectionals," Sato said. "Next week is big, the biggest. This match here isn't really what matters, it's more a preview."

Oswego East sectional qualifiers included Evan Brauer (second, 132), Justin Crawford (third, 160), Lucas McCarty (second, 182), and Adam Ingalls (third, 195)