Wrestling: St. Charles East, in between two big tournaments, takes care of business against Batavia

ST. CHARLES – Squeezing in a dual meet before the Cheesehead Invite in Wisconsin over the weekend, St. Charles East took care of Batavia 66-3 in DuKane Conference action at home Jan. 4.

Opening with a double forfeit at 150 pounds, the meet proceeded to have six forfeits total with St. Charles East’s Kaden Potter (106), Ryan McGovern (157), Brody Murray (175), Cooper Murray (190) and Matthew Medina (285) not having to break a sweat with forfeit wins.

[ Photos: Batavia vs. St. Charles East wrestling ]

Andrew Han (113), Dom Munaretto (120), Gavin Woodmancy (126), Payton Lee (132), Tyler Guerra (138), Jayden Colon (144) and Anthony Gutierrez (165) all won for the Saints in contested matches, with Han, Munaretto, Lee and Gutierrez pinning their opponents.

Guerra and Gutierrez were among six St. Charles East wrestlers who were coming off perfect 6-0 efforts to help the Saints win the Flavin Invitational at DeKalb.

“Last year, we didn’t get that win, so this feels good to get that win this year,” Guerra said. “But at the same time, that’s not the goal for us. We still have to keep our heads in the game and keep going because we have a job to do.”

The Class 3A defending state champions were hungry for the Flavin, maintaining their focus until receiving the trophy.

“It’s starred on our schedule for a reason,” Saints coach Jason Potter said. “Our schedule is extremely tough, but that’s the big team event we have where we’re wrestling in a dual team situation. The cool thing about that one is not only do you have the outstanding teams, obviously, but I think 18 of the top 20 teams in Illinois were there and they also have individual matchups where if other teams aren’t the best, they still have some hammers in there.”

It was reminiscent of the state tournament, something the Saints are familiar with these days.

“The team atmosphere did not disappoint,” Potter said. “The fans from all levels, everyone behaved themselves and were classy, but man was it rowdy and loud and tight and that’s what it feels like in the state tournament.”

The Saints are rolling in the direction of a return appearance at state.

“[The Flavin] really showed where we wanted to be as a team, but we want to be better than that come February. We want to be No. 1,” Gutierrez said. “We know everyone is working and you have to be the hardest worker to be the best. So we never stop going. If you get a bad call, you just look for the next takedown and score more points.”

Gutierrez wrestled in the second to last match against the Bulldogs, winning by technical fall against Ethan Brauer.

“It’s my senior year and awesome to be on top right now,” he said. “I hope to finish it off the same way. Coming here as a sophomore, this is somewhere I really enjoy training and being a part of. [Coach] Potter is awesome. The environment is awesome. It’s really hard not to like it. It’s an easy community to thrive in and the people around us use it to better ourselves everyday, so it’s great.”

Batavia sophomore Asher Sheldon won a back-and-forth 6-5 match over St. Charles East senior Brandon Swartz at 215 to give the Bulldogs their lone points.

“He’s been doing a lot of great things,” Batavia coach Ryan Farwell said. “He’s a kid who has committed to our program and what we try to build at Batavia. He’s starting to see some success from it, so it’s exciting to see him climb up the ranks in that sense.”

Sheldon said he was able to barely outlast Swartz.

“Honestly, I wrestled him in the past but wasn’t sure what he was going to do, so the first couple periods I was just kind of feeling him out and at the end it’s just who was less gassed,” he said. “Toward the end I was just staying basic and not doing anything crazy and getting the points as they came.”

The Bulldogs became the latest team to be humbled by the undefeated Saints (18-0).

“They are a really talented team,” Farwell said. “They’re a team that is very good and all props to them for that. We found out some stuff about us in the more competitive matches which we’ll use as we go later into the season.”