Sycamore takes fourth at home invite, Wheaton North takes fifth

Behind a pair of second, third and fourth place finishers, Sycamore took fourth place in Saturday’s XLIX Sycamore Invitational.

“Overall I thought we did very well,” Spartans coach Randy Culton said. “We came together as a team. We had some tough wins and tough losses, but gelled as a team, finished fourth out of 25 teams. Our guys stepped up. Every single guy on the team scored points for us today, that was good.”

Freshman Carson West (106) and junior Michael Olson (120) fell short of winning titles, each taking second place to lead the Spartans.

West pinned Glenbrook South’s Sergio Jaimes and Normal Community’s Elijah Conda to advance to the final at 106. Olson won by tech fall against Sterling’s Landon Heckman, earned a decision over Glenbrook South’s Ermuun Urtnasan and then a tech fall against Hampshire’s Lou Jensen to advance to his title bout.

“Carson West and Michael Olson getting to the finals of this tournament is tough,” Culton said. “Both got cradled, both got caught, but we’ll learn from that and move on. I thought we did great. So if you’re not winning, you’re learning and that’s how it is”

Charlie Olson (113) and Jayden Dohogne (138) finished with wins in third-place matches. Olson scored a 4-0 decision against Willowbrook’s Aris Neal while Dohogne pinned Bloomington’s Tyler Barlow is 37 seconds.

Tyler Lockhart (126) and Cooper Bode (175) each took fourth.

“The Olson brothers did a fantastic job,” Culton said. “Adam Carrick (190) took eighth place today so it was the first time he’s medaled in a tournament and to do it as a sophomore in the Sycamore invite, that’s a great job. Jayden Dohogne had a tough loss in the semifinals, came back and took third. Tyler Lockhart had one of the toughest brackets here at 126 and took fourth and did very well and Cooper Bode also had a tough bracket at 175.”

Normal (Community) won the invitational with 531 points. Tolono (Unity) slipped ahead of Rochelle, 453 to 452 to take second. Sycamore followed with 408.5 and Wheaton North was fifth with 403.

The Falcons soared into the top five especially thanks to titles from Thomas Fulton (157) and Rocco Macellaio (120).

“I’ve started to trust my coaching a lot more and it’s been turning out well for sure,” Macellaio said. “I definitely started out very slow and sloppy but I came back, you know, but I definitely got a lot more work to do this season. It’s nice to win for sure, but I still have got work to do.”

York’s Mondo Martinelli (126), Frankie Nitti (144) and Jackson Hanselman (150) all won titles for the Dukes who finished ninth overall with 328 points.

“It’s been great and I was talking to Frank before his finals match and he said he saw me and was ‘all right, let’s go,’” Martinelli said. “He gets hyped and he siphoned that energy and he won and bang, right to the next match right after his and Jackson (Hanselman) who was losing early, got back and pinned the kid int he second. We just feed off of each other. We worked harder than anybody else.”

Hampshire’s Deegan Kirschke (113) and Aidan Rowells (175) placed second to pace the Whip-Purs, who took 15th with 258.5 points.

McHenry’s Ryan Hanson fell by tech fall against Lyons’ Griff Powell in the 132 title bout.

“I’ve been working on pushing the pace against some guys,” Powell said. “I know they can’t keep up the pace and I’m ready right from the get go.”

Powell led Lyons to seventh place with 364.

Other notable teams included Sterling (234), Willowbrook (151), Marengo (146.5), St. Charles North (111.5), Peotone (107) and Nazareth (52.5).