Despite moving up two weight classes, Dom Munaretto helps St. Charles East to big win over Batavia

BATAVIA — St. Charles East junior Dominic Munaretto is always looking for a challenge.

Whether it’s going out of state to face the top wrestlers in neighboring states or traveling the world to compete with USA wrestling, he’s always looking for a chance to battle with someone who’ll help him become a better wrestler.

And in a dual against Batavia on Friday, the top-ranked wrestler in the 120-pound weight class knew he wanted to challenge himself again by taking on Jack Duraski, the eighth-ranked wrestler in the 132-pound weight class.

Even if it meant gaining a couple extra pounds to do so.

But even with a bit of a size disadvantage, Munaretto managed to prevail, getting a 21-6 technical fall victory in 2:12 over Duraski, which ultimately set the tone for the Saints' 60-12 victory over the Bulldogs.

“In this sport, it’s all about challenging yourself,” Munaretto said. “I could’ve gone at 120 and taken an easier victory and I wouldn’t have proven anything to myself, but I decided to move up and do whatever I could to get a better win.”

While a move up would usually take a wrestler out of the lineup, St. Charles East coach Jason Potter said that with most of his 132 wrestlers being out, he wanted to put Munaretto in that position to not only give him a challenge, but also to ensure he maintained a full lineup.

“Props to Dom. He’s obviously a 120-pounder, but he gained the weight to get up into 132,” Potter said. “For him to go out there and do that against Duraski, who’s one of the best 132 wrestlers, it’s big.

“To get him ready for state, we’re going to go after the big dogs and hit them with anything and everything we’ve got. And tonight was Step 1 to getting him a challenge.”

Besides Munaretto, St. Charles East managed to earn bonus points in nine of their 10 victories on the night. Logan Tatar (144), Isaac Leonard (150) Abe Leidig (175), Rocco Lobrillo (190) and Cooper Murray (215) all won their matches via fall.

Gavin Woodmancy (138), Ryan McGovern (157) and Anthony Gutierrez (165) also won their matches by technical fall. Nate Butcher (106) won his match by a major decision, while Matt Medina (285) won by forfeit.

Potter said that after a weird few holiday weeks where they were forced to wrestle after a break, it was good to get back onto the mats consistently to work throughout the week, and show that work out on the floor.

“We were able to get back to the lab and work on some things,” Potter said. “And it was good to see that the stuff that we worked on this week get immediately put into matches.”

Batavia did manage to rattle off three straight victories in the middle of the contest, with Kyle Pasco (126) winning by fall, Elias Chaney (120) winning by decision and Kai Enos (113) getting a sudden victory.

Despite not getting the results that he hoped for, Batavia coach Tom Arlis said that the victories were definitely some bright spots in an otherwise crushing defeat.

“It was definitely an eye-opener,” Arlis said. “Our aspirations and goals are a little bit higher than we showed out there. They’re at where we want to be. We’ve just got some more work if we want to get there.”

Batavia’s girls wrestling team made sure that it wasn’t a program sweep for the Saints, getting a 57-17 victory. The Bulldogs also faced off against Lincoln-Way co-op, falling 49-29.