Sycamore grapples to 1-2 Saturday finish at Don Flavin Invitational

DeKALB – Sycamore dropped its final four bouts against Minooka on Saturday morning in Pool C of the 25th Don Flavin Dual Team Invitational.

That ended up being the difference, as the Indians rallied for a 37-33 victory despite the two teams splitting the 14 bouts.

The Spartans managed to rebound and defeat Prospect in their second dual of the morning, as Cooper Bode took down Prospect’s in the match’s final bout at 175 to give Sycamore a 41-35 victory.

The Spartans dropped six of their first seven bouts against Glenwood Chatham in their final dual of the day and of the tournament, losing 47-30. The Spartans had six freshmen in their lineup.

“We had a couple guys out sick today, so we had to move some kids around (Tyler Lockhart was out at 126), so that kind of hurt,” Sycamore coach Randy Culton said. “We had a warm-up practice at Sycamore High School at 5:15 this morning, which I believe helped us today.”

Bode, Carson West and Jayden Dohogne both enjoyed 3-0 Saturdays.

Bode opened up against Minooka with a sudden victory over AJ Frescura at 175 that gave the Spartans a nice start.

When he wrestled again, the Spartans desperately needed him to come through, as they were tied 35-35 with Prospect. Bode pinned Joe Quirk at 3:14 to give the Spartans their lone team victory of the day. Bode would also pick up a forfeit win in the match against Chatham Glenwood.

Freshman Carson West dominated his three opponents. He pinned Minooka’s Justin Majewski in 2:48, Prospect’s Carlo Difalco in 0:26 and Chatman Glenwood’s Cooper Clarke in 1:38.

“He was our big performer today,” Culton said. “He had a great day with three pins. As another one of our freshmen, Carson displayed the leadership of a seasoned vet.”

Dohogne opened with a 17-1 tech fall against Minooka’s Mason Vogt and followed with another over Prospect’s Ronin Umali 20-4 before taking a forfeit win against Chatham Glenwood.

Logan Sandfox (144) and Clyde Nott (215) each went 2-1 on the day for the Spartans. Sawyer Davis took a forfeit win at 120 and split a couple of matches at 113.

Charlie Olson (120) went 1-2 after going 3-0 on Friday. He pinned Minooka’s Christian Paramo at 1:59.

Thomas Lind (132) and Maddux McRoberts (285) picked up a victory apiece in the three duals.

“I was very happy with our heavyweight Maddux McRoberts,” Culton said. “Ninth grade, he had a big pin against Minooka. He is our backup heavyweight and went 3-3 this weekend.”

Wrestling six duals in two days against stiff competition certainly provides a tool for teams to determine where they’re at today as they head into 2025.

The Spartans will host the Spartan Invitational on Jan. 11. To prepare for that, they’ll have a week of practice followed by the Dixon Duals, where they’ll wrestle Dixon, Galesburg and Morton.