Ten 'Hawks Finish On Podium
January 28, 2012
Naperville Central finished 2nd place in the DuPage Valley Conference Tournament held at Glenbard East High School. The Redhawks entered the tournament in the 5th place position based on their 3-4 DVC dual meet record. It is being reported that 2nd place is the highest finish for Central in the DVC Tournament since 1991 (last 21 years).
NCHS was in second place by 8.5 points to West Aurora and by 11.5 pounds to Wheaton North going into the final round. Four wrestles from Central scored points in the last round to help the Redhawks maintain their position. Naperverville Central finished just 3.5 points ahead of Wheaton North and 5.5 pounds ahead of West Aurora. The Redhawks avenged dual losses to Wheaton North, West Aurora, and Glenbard East.
Five Redhawks advance to the finals. Senior Kirk Cherep scored a fall and a 2-0 decision to advance to the finals against Gosinski of Glenbard North. Cherep pushed the highly ranked Panther to double overtime before losing 3-5. Kirk's efforts earned the teams "I'm Somebody" Award. Tom Mitrenga advanced to the finals by scoring two falls before dropping a 1-10 decision to Davis of Glenbard North.
Luke Roth avenged a loss from earlier in the season to Warren of West Aurora by a score of 7-4 to qualify for the finals. Roth lost to Welsh of Wheaton Warrenville South to take second. Ryan Berg scored a fall and then a 5-4 victory to Walker of Naperville North to get into the finals where he lost to Elderidge of Glenbard North 3-7. Freshman Ben Williamson surprised the field at 126 pounds by making the finals with a 3-2 win over top-seeded Martin of Glenbard East. Ben lost in the finals to Marmolejo 5-18.
Both Mitch Lee and Steven Splan defeated opponents whom they lost to during the season. Lee scored a 12-2 victory against Bretz of Wheaton North for third place. Steven Splan won 9-4 against Olsen Glenbard East for third place. Kyle Klass earned two wins in the tournament to place fourth place at 170 pounds.
Hunter Stephens locked down a fall in his fifth place match at 145 pounds and Andrew Meder won when McFadden of Wheaton Warrenville South injury defaulted at 138 pounds. Meder took 5th place as well. Derek Wilke finished in 6th place scoring a technical fall in the tournament against Conner of WWS. Vince Piazza ended in 6th place. Trace Murray won 7-1 against Quintana of West Chicago to take 7th.
Next up is the IHSA Regional Tournament on Saturday, February 4th at Naperville North High School. The top three finishers at each weight class will advance to the IHSA Sectional tournament on the following weekend to be held at Glenbard North High School. Also, the team champion will enter the IHSA dual team state tournament series. All 16 regional team winners are bracket into a tournament that begins after the individual state tournament later in February. Participating schools at the Regional Tournament are Naperville Central, East Aurora, West Aurora, Batavia, Downers Grove North, Downers Grove South, Metea Valley, Naperville North, and Wheaton Warrenville South. Action starts at 9:00am and finals are scheduled to begin at 5:00.
GO REDHAWKS!