Sunday, January 20, 2019

Naperville Central Shows Muscle at JV DVC Tournaments

January 19, 2019

Naperville Central won both the junior varsity 1 and junior varsity 2 DuPage Valley Conference wrestling tournaments.  The two tournaments were held simultaneously at Naperville Central High School.  Wrestling was competed on six mats, three for the JV1 tournament and three for the JV2 tournament.

JV1
NCHS 254
NNHS 237.5
MV 154.5
NV 115.0
WV 93.5

JV2
NCHS 251.5
NN 193
NV 139
MV 116
WV 96

Central crowned a total of 13 individual conference champions, seven in the JV1 tournament and six in the JV2 tournament.

In the junior varsity 1 tournament in addition to the seven champions in 14 weight classes, central also had three runner-ups, three bronze medalists, and three 4th place finishers.  At 120 pounds, Ethan Jones earned gold by pinning his way through the tournament.  At 126, Bryce Cooperkawa won 10-6 for his gold.  Freshman Ayden Lutes won by a score of 16-6 in the finals at 132 for his blue ribbon.  Anthony Pendolino continues to show his dominance, taking 1st in the tough 145 bracket and pinning his way through the event.  Tariq Sikander won by fall at 160 for his championship at 160 pounds.  Austin Longmire pinned his opponent in the finals at 182 for 1st place and senior Frank Saporano avenged a loss just 15 hours earlier with a fall in the finals at 220 pounds for his championship.

Senior Ben Mota, freshman Nick Antonietti and junior Adam Hayes all took 2nd place.  Charlie Morgan, Alek Van Eeuwen, and Max Sibley all won their final matches to take 3rd place.  Van Eeuwen and Sibley are both seniors.  Ian Collins, Yiguang Zhu, Jaylin Wright, and Justin Lefkowitz all took 4th place.  Jaylin Wright is a senior.  Matt Kaszuba defaulted by injury in the first round.  Zach Kotecki competed at 120 pounds.

In the junior varsity 2 tournament, Phillip Marrero won 10-4 in the finals at 120 pounds over teammate Haaris Khan.  Likewise, Alex Knusel won by fall over teammate Tristen Hall at 120 pounds in the championship bout.  Brayden Halverson won three matches by fall to take the gold at 132 pounds.  Sean Bakos won two of three matches by fall including one in the finals at 145 for first place.  Freshman Nick Ball defeated teammate Justen McCoy in the finals at 160 for the crown.  Last, but not least, freshman Andrew Baker won all three matches by fall to stand at the top of the podium at 170 pounds.  He defeated fellow teammate Broderick Whitaker in the finals.

Also taking second was Josiah Williams (106), Joshua Teeter (132), Mason Cooperkawa (152), Ryan Hamilton (182), and Nikola Epps (220).  Finishing in third place was Michael Parker (132) and Kevin Rardin (195).  Fourth place finishers were Josh Olson (126), and Christopher Ramirez (138).  Fifth place finishers were August Kukis (106), Allen Whitaker (113) and Prathmesh Premanand (145).  Taking sixth: Neil Rao (152) and Adrian Alvarado (182).  Gavin Montgomery competed at 138 pounds.