Naperville Central finishes 5th in DVC Tournament
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Josh Tardy defeated Frank McKeown 6-5 in the 135 pound finals of the DuPage Valley Conference wrestling tournament held at Wheaton Warrenville South High School. Tardy avenged a lost to McKeown from earlier in the year. Naperville Central finished 5th as a team.
In perhaps on of the more exciting matches of the finals, Tardy scored a takedown in the first period with a throw-by shuck and gave up an escape for a 2-1 lead. McKeown escaped to start the second period to tie the score 2-2 but Tardy scored another takedown with an outside shuck. McKeown immediately escaped and countered with a single leg takedown close to the edge of the mat to take a 5-4 lead. Tardy scored an important escape point just as the second period expired to knot the score at 5-5. In the final period, Tardy picked bottom and escaped to take a 6-5 lead. McKeown fought for a takedown with several shot attempts but Tardy was able to fight him off to hold on for the championship. Tardy was named the team’s “I’m Somebody” for his championship.
Kirk Cherep finished with a third place finish at 125 pounds. Cherep racked up 44 match points in his three wins. James Mitchell was defeated in the first round of the conference tournament but bounced back with three consecutive wins to also finish third.
Central had a host of fourth place finishers: Jon Williamson at 125, Kyle Miller at 140, John Graeber at 145, Tom Mitrenga at 160, Colin Guttosch at 171, and Luke Roth at 189. Guttosch and Mitrenga were both unseeded. Guttosch pinned the 3rd seed Lutifiyev of Wheaton North in the first round. Mitrenga majored the 4th seed in the wrestle-backs.
John Mixed scored two wins in route to a 5th place finish at 152. Will Damron pinned his final opponent for 7th place at 215. Ryan Porter, Mitch Lee and Steven Splan competed at 103, 112, and 119 respectively.
Naperville Central will host the IHSA Regional Tournament next Saturday. The top three individuals from each weight class will qualify for the IHSA Sectional Tournament to be held February 11-12. Also, the top finishing team at the Regional team will be placed in a dual team bracket with the other 15 Regional Tournament champions and then will compete for the IHSA Dual Team Championships.
The Regional tournament will begin at 10:00 and finals are scheduled at 6:00 pm.