February 14, 2014
Naperville Central will be represented by Ben Williamson and
Jake Keating at the IHSA State Tournament in Champaign next weekend. Williamson took 3rd place at the
Downers Grove North Sectional while Jake Keating took 4th
place. Williamson, Sr. 138, will be
making his third trip to state while Jake Keating, So. 106 will be competing
for the first time.
After taking third place at the Batavia Regional, Williamson
faced Rueck of Shepard in his opening match and scored a second period
fall. In the quarterfinals, Williamson
squared off against Johnson of Downers Grove South. This was a rematch of the Whitlatch
Tournament final earlier this year, a match that Williamson won. The Redhawk scored a reversal and three point
nearfall at the end of the second period to take a 5-0 lead. Williamson added a takedown and finished with
a 7-1 victory to make the semifinals. There,
Williamson lost to rival Jonnic of Wheaton Warrenville South by a score of
0-6. In the state qualifying match, the
semifinal wrestlebacks, Williamson scored a takedown in the third period for
the only score of the match and won 2-0, thereby stamping his ticket to
state. He became only the second individual
to qualify for state three times in high school (Luke Roth being the
first). Williamson faced Johnson of DGS
again for third place and won 3-2.
Jake Keating had a first round bye due to winning the
Batavia Regional. In the quarterfinals,
Keating scored seven points in the second period against McCarthy of St. Rita
to take a 9-3 lead into the third fame and scored six more there to win 15-4. In the semifinals, he was thrown and pinned
against Egan of Mt. Carmel. In his state
qualifying match Keating scored a takedown in the first period, reversal in the
second period, and a takedown to a fall in the third period to get his name on
the state qualifying board. In the third
place match Keating scored three escapes and just missed taking third, losing
305 against Johnson of Brother Rice.
Both Keating and Williamson will see action Thursday with
first round action due to start around 6:00pm.
Interested viewers can see the webcast from IHSA.org.
Junior Cam Hayes won two matches at the event and missed
qualifying for state by just one point.
Hayes, 145, defeated Carlson of Hinsdale South by a score of 8-3 to open
the tournament. The 1-1 tie was broken
up with a low leg attack late in the third period. After giving up a reversal that tied the
match, Hayes scored a reversal with 3 back points to clinch victory. In the quarterfinals, Hayes scored takedowns
in the first and third period to help him win 5-0. Hayes was defeated by highly ranked Gasberro
of Marist in the semifinals 7-10. In the
semifinal wrestle-back Hayes scored an escape in the second period to tie the
score against Carter from Metea Valley, but gave up an escape in the third
period and could not find the winning takedown.
Cam Hayes wrestled very tough finishing 2-2 in the event.
Senior Riley Guttosch, 160, was pinned in his first
match. In his wrestle-back match,
Guttosch scored two takedowns in the first period including a throw that added
two more nearfall points. But Guttosch
was unable to hold on and lost in overtime by a score of 10-12.
Shuji Mizoguchi qualified for Sectionals for the second time
in his high school wrestling career, the first being his freshman year. Mizogucjhi lost by scores of 3-14 and 7-18.
The IHSA State Tournament will be held at the Assembly Hall
in Champaign Illinois on the campus of the University of Illinois on February
19, 20, and 21. The top four of the four
sectionals qualify in each weight class with the 16 wrestlers battling for one
of the six spots on the podium.
On Monday, February 23 the Redhawks will be hosting their
wrestling awards banquet at 6:00 in the aux. gym.
GO REDHAWKS!