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GENEVA –With six wrestlers finishing third or better, West Aurora won Saturday’s Newbill Wrestling Invitational.
The Blackhawks took home three first-place, one second-place and two third-place medals. In addition, West Aurora grapplers finished fourth in three weight classes and fifth to tally 227.5 points.
Downers Grove North, with four second-place finishes and a score of 193, came in second in the 17-team field.
Brother Rice (189.5), Naperville North (179.5) and Joliet Central (141) rounded out the top five.
West Aurora’s first-place finish was a team effort.
“We had four in the finals and we had three champs. Obviously, those guys help for sure to lead the way,” said West Aurora coach Andrew Plata. “But it took the whole team. I think everyone’s a top kid for sure and everyone scored points.”
West Aurora’s Evan Matkovich took top honors at 138. The junior beat Naperville North’s Ben Messier in a major decision, 13-1.
“A lot of my neutral was working. I was trying to work on top as much as I could, but I wasn’t getting as much as I wanted” Matkovich said of the win. “But it was mostly just my pace and working on my feet.”
Teammates Marcus Quintana (144) and Dayne Serio (165) also won top honors. Quintana pinned Downers Grove North’s Caden Chiarelli at the 1:30 mark of their match. Serio won by a technical fall over Ethan Waugh of Stillman Valley.
While Downers Grove North did not take home any first-place medals, coach Chris McGrath was pleased with the results.
“We brought 14 guys, 11 guys placed (in the top six). That’s a pretty good number,” he said. “We wrestled really well in the wrestle backs and our seniors really did a nice job in the second half of the tournament.”
At 285, Trojan Peter Rodriguez dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Geneva’s Joseph Pettit.
Naperville North’s two first-place finishers were Connor McDonald (126) and Tyler Sternstein (150). McDonald edged Downer Grove North’s Alex Hengles in an 8-3 decision
“I think what won it for me was really my top and just keeping pressure down on him,” McDonald said about his first tournament championship of the season. “I rode him about the whole second period and that’s really helped me.”
Sternstein was awarded the 150 championship after his opponent, West Aurora’s Dominic Serio, was injured during the match.
In addition to winning the 215-weight class championship, Joliet Central’s Charles Walker was named the invitational’s most outstanding wrestler. The senior won his title bout with Dundee Crown’s Teigen Moreno, with a major decision, 12-3.
“I usually start off with my underhook to get a feeling for my opponent.”’ Walker said. “And then I go on the offense.”
Dundee-Crown won the 106 match on its way to a sixth-place finish. Aiden Healy claimed the title, pinning Stillman Valley’s Michael Pannarale with six seconds left in the match.
“I tagged him last time I wrestled him, so I just went out and did what I had to do,” Healy said. “I did a lot of sweep singles, I’ve been working on them in practice every day.”
Host Geneva finished in ninth place with 93.5 points. In addition to Pettit’s win at 285, teammate Sam Sikorsky took top honors at 113 with a technical fall win over Joliet Central’s Liam Walsh.
Ismael Chaidez from Glenbard East (seventh, 107.5) downed Downers Grove North Tyler Tiancgo,7-2 to win the 120-weight class.
It took Glenbrook North’s Shane Onixt 46 seconds to pin Brother Rice’s Dan Costello and win first place at 175.