Minooka takes third at the Morris Reindeer Rumble

MORRIS – School’s out for the winter and that means it’s time for tournament season. Plenty of basketball tourneys are getting set to begin in the coming days, but the wrestling tournaments have already begun. That includes the Morris Reindeer Rumble girls wrestling tournament that took place out at Morris High School.

What a day it was, too. Twenty-seven teams were represented at the invitational with over 600 matches that started at 9 a.m. and went well past 5 p.m. making Dolly Parton proud. Schaumburg ran away with the top prize, scoring 467 points compared to second place West Aurora’s 388. The Herald-News coverage area was not left out, though, as Minooka took third after scoring 338.

For Morris coach Lenny Tryner, it was a great day just to have the event come together.

“We’ve had some real good competition here today,” Tryner said. “There’s some real good girls and good matches here. ...You’re seeing girls match up well. To get this many matches and many kids going at the same time on this schedule that’s pretty good. Having Lockport, Minooka, Romeoville and these really good teams here is really, really good.”

Morris had a solid day all around as well, finishing in sixth place with 258 points. Other local teams competing included Lockport (eighth place, 244.5), Plainfield South (ninth place, 235.5), Seneca (13th, 173), Romeoville (14th, 171), Bolingbrook (17th, 145.5) and Peotone (20th, 110).

Wrestling is still an individual sport, though, and the local area saw two individuals come away with championship medals. Bolingbrook’s Alejandra Flores had yet another standout day in a career full of them as she took first place in the 115-pound bracket. She defeated Victoria Macias of Burlington Central by fall after 5:10 in the championship match.

“I’m feeling great,” Flores said after the match. “See who I had on the other side of the mat in front of me, I was a little nervous. I just went in, wrestled, did what I did and I succeeded.”

Flores wasn’t the only local champion either. Lockport also had a girl take first with Claudia Heeney winning the 135-pound class. She made quick work of it too, defeating Schaumburg’s Sharon Olorunfemi by fall in just 94 seconds.

There may not have been any other champs from the area, but they were well represented on the podium all the same.

In the 100-pound bracket, Amie Fuentes represented Plainfield South as the runner-up after falling to LT Diephuis of Canton. Daniela Santander of Romeoville also came up in second during her 105-pound match against Alex Gregorio-Perez of DeKalb. Lockport’s Veronica Skibicki finished runner-up in the 110-pound match after being bested by Kameyah Young of West Aurora.

Makensi Martin of Morris joined Flores on the 115-pound podium after finishing in fourth. Two locals made the podium at 120 with Danica Martin of Morris finishing third and Holli Coughlen of Minooka finishing second. Seneca’s Catalina Pacheco took third at 130 while her teammate Sammie Greisen finished third at 135.

Ezra Rodriquez of Minooka finished fourth at 140 while her teammate Palmer Calvey took third at 145. They were joined by teammate Mia Lemberg, who finished in third at the 155-pound spot. 170 pounder Layla Spann of Plainfield South finished fourth in her bracket.

While Schaumburg got the win at 190, it was all local on the rest of the podium. Lockport’s Lydia Chrobak took second, Morgan Congo of Morris took third, and Sophie Kelner of Lockport finished in fourth.