Wrestling: Lamar Bradley’s 3 pins power DeKalb to 3-0 start to season

DeKALB – Three matches into the season, and Lamar Bradley still hasn’t wrestled for six total minutes.

Bradley got first-period pins in all of his matches as DeKalb won three meets at home Wednesday.

“I felt good today. I felt quick. I felt fast,” Bradley said. “I’m just trying to get to the point where I can be my best self and go for that state run.”

DeKalb beat South Elgin 57-22, Lake Park 67-9 and Moline 49-30. Bradley, Jacob Luce and Eduardo Castro each had three pins on the day.

On the girls side, the Barbs opened the season 4-0-1, the lone blemish coming against Burlington Central with wins against Dundee-Crown, Lake Park, Moline and South Elgin.

Alex Gregorio-Perez, a state qualifier last year for the Barbs, won all four of her matches Wednesday as she looks to not only get back to state, but medal this year. She finished a win shy of the podium last year.

“I’m so proud of my team, especially the amount of girls we have and how the sport is growing,” Gregorio-Perez said. “Any team, you can see the numbers have duplicated since last year. It’s so amazing to watch.”

Gregorio-Perez went to a national tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, this summer along with Aarianna Bloyd. Coach Connor Infelise said both had good days Wednesday along with Reese Zimmer, who qualified for state last year with Gregorio-Perez. He also said newcomer Lana Zimmerman was strong in her debut.

Zimmer and Zimmerman each went 3-1, while Bloyd had only an exhibition match, which she won by pin.

Bradley missed out on a trip to state last season and said he doesn’t just want a trip to Champaign this season. He wants to get on the podium.

“State placer at lowest, and not sixth, eighth,” Bradley said. “Top three. I want a state championship and making my run at nationals before I go to college.”

Coach Sam Hiatt said Bradley, wrestling at 215 this year, has had a solid offseason and has committed to a strong senior year.

“He fell short of his goal last year but had a really good offseason,” Hiatt said. “He’s been looking a lot better in the practice room. Attitude and stuff had been good, and he went out and got three first-period pins. That’s what we expected. He looked good.”

Bradley, Luce and Castro were three of DeKalb’s seven wrestlers to go undefeated on the day. Mikey Hodge had a pair of pins, Hudson Ikens had two tech falls and a pin, while Mekhi Cave and Sean Kolkebeck each had a pin among three victories.

Hiatt said Cave, ranked No. 5 by Illinois Matmen at 144, had the match of the day. He moved up to 150 to face South Elgin’s Leonardo Rosas, who is ranked seventh at 144. Cave fell behind 2-0 but won in overtime 6-4.

Hiatt said it shows the growth Cave has made since last season, as that was the kind if match he may have let slip away.

“That was a big win,” Hiatt said. “I hope that’s a big confidence booster for him.”

Two years ago, DeKalb took second at the team state tournament but did not qualify for the team tournament last season, taking third at the regional.

This season the team hopes to get back to Bloomington.

“This group has grown up together since my sixth-grade year,” Bradley said. “We’ve been wrestling all our lives together. We want that team state, make it there, show that we are good, but it’s going to take work.

“We’ve got a young team, some good guys, we just have to make sure they’re hammers when we come out.”