January 14, 2017
- Naperville Central 574
- Normal West 524.5
- Mahomet-Seymour 516.5
- Bloomington 497
- Rochelle 443.5
- Tinley Park Andrew 425.5
For the third year in a row, the Naperville Central Redhawk
Wrestling team took first place at the 37th annual Marty Williams
Invitational held at Mahomet-Seymour High School. There were 17 teams that competed at the
event. Several teams were unable to make
the trip due to poor weather. This was
the second tournament that the Redhawks won this year, after winning the
Hoffman Estates Tournament back in December.
The tournament was held in a round-robin format with each
wrestler placed in a 3 or 4 man pool.
Each wrestler competes with all opponents in his pool and is then placed
in an A, B, or C bracket based on the results of pool competition.
The Redhawks were allowed to enter additional wrestlers to
the competition and chose to bring Tyler Driessens (106), Leo Keating (120),
Cade Wilke (138), Jake Smitas (152), Zeke Hill (160) and Michael Norwood
(285). A total of 19 wrestlers competed
for NCHS. All six additional wrestlers
won at least two matches each and Driessens, L. Keating, Smitas, Hill, and
Norwood were all credited with their first ever wins at the varsity level.
Winners of their pool competition and placed in the A
bracket were Kyle Guttosch, Mujtaba Ahmed, Jake Keating, Derek McDaniel, Luke
Russell, Jackson Punzel, Christian Nussbaum, and Michael Norwood.
NCHS advanced four wrestlers to the championship
matches. Jake Keating continued to
impress his coaches winning all four of his matches, all by four. Keating brought home the gold and maintains
his undefeated senior season. Derek
McDaniel, Jackson Punzel, and Christian Nussbaum all took second place and all
finished with a 4-1 record. McDaniel
scored two falls and Punzel and Nussbaum had three.
Mujtaba Ahmed took third place while Kyle Guttosch and
Michael Norwood both finished in fourth place.
Taking fifth place and winning the B bracket were Colin
Baumgartner, Leo Keating, Joe Lopez and Brad Catalono. Nick Keating finished in 6th
place.
Luck Russell and Cam Palmer took 7th place. Cade Wilke and Ben Cianchetti both took 8th
place. Cianchetti was injured, and
defaulted down to 8th place.
NCHS coaches are hoping for a speedy for Cianchetti. Other placewinners were Tyler Driessens (11th),
Jake Smitas (14th) and Zeke Hill (17th).
Next up the Redhawks will face Lake Park on Thursday and
then will host Wheaton North on Friday.
The dual will be the last home event for the year and NCHS will
recognize its seniors and their families.
GO REDHAWKS!