Saturday, November 25, 2023
- NCHS 58 – Batavia 14
- NCHS 45 – York 35
- NCHS 27 – Lincoln Way West 40
Naperville Central opened their 2023-2024 season with two
straight dual meet wins against Batavia and York (Elmhurst) before falling to
Lincoln Way West. The quadrangular was
held at Naperville Central High School.
Both Batavia and York high school football teams advanced to the IHSA
state semifinals, competed last weekend.
Top performers for Central were Chris Bern (157), Austin Aguinaldo (106) and Jacob Cochran (113), all of whom won all three matches. Bern earned a fall and two decisions. Cochran won two matches by fall and picked up another win by forfeit. Aguinaldo earned a fall, decision and a forfeit.
The first dual was against Batavia with the starting weight
class at 120. Vince Miller (120) won by
forfeit and senior Tyler Martin (126) won by decision 9-1. The Bulldogs answered with three straight wins. The Redhawks retook the team score lead with
five straight wins. Hagan Tayler (150),
Bern and John Carens (165) all locked down falls and Henry Rydwelski and Jacob Smetters
took forfeits. Batavia won at 215, then
Naperville Central accepted four forfeits to close the dual with a 58-14 win.
Dual two against York saw the Redhawks give up four straight
falls to go down 0-24. Taylor (150)
started the big Central comeback with a fall.
Bern (157) added a decision and Carens (165) indented his opponent’s
shoulders to the mat to put Central on the board 15-24. After another Dukes’ fall, NCHS scored five
consecutive falls to secure the win. Those
falls came from Smetters (190), Niko Besteiro (215), Will Erbeck (285),
Aguinaldo (106), and Cochran (113).
Final score, 45-35.
The Warriors of Lincoln Way West won the final dual of the
night. Central did have six wins in the
contest coming by way of Mitchell Kaszuba (132, fall), Chris Bern (157,
decision 7-1), Niko Besteiro (215 by fall), Aguinaldo (106, decision 7-2),
Cochran (113, fall) and Martin (126, decision 9-6). Lincoln Way won 27-40.
The NCHS JV1 team won all three contests in the same gym,
defeating Batavia 60-27, York, 63-16, and Lincoln Way West 51-29.
The Redhawks sent a freshman-sophomore team to the
Plainfield South Superduals and won the event in impressive fashion. Central opened with a 75-6 defeat of Oak
Lawn, then defeated hosts Plainfield South 66-18. NCHS won their pool defeating Mt. Prospect
75-6 to advance to the championship dual against crosstown rival Naperville
North. The Redhawks were victorious by a
score of 54-30. The freshman-sophomore
team won 52 individual matches against only 11 losses.
The Naperville Central Girls Varsity Team battled at the Niles West Girls Tournament and placed 14th out of 30 teams with just seven wrestlers. Newcommer freshman Dezi Azar (120) led the way finishing 4-1 in her first high school wrestling tournament to place third. Azar defeated Ramirez of Lockport 10-5 and won by fall against Pelayo of Hoffman Estates to qualify for the semifinals. After losing to Matthews of Addison Trail, Azar won both of her consolation matches over Espinosa of Addison Trail by fall and McCain of Round Lake 4-2. Veteran Junior Ellen Purl (125) wrestled out of a pigtail match in a bracket of 32 and won her first three matches to qualify for the semifinals. She won all three matches by fall against Guadarramma of Mundelein, Castillo of Addison Trail, and Flores of Montini. Purl finished 3-3 on the day in sixth place.
Third year starter Annika Hull (105) won her final two
matches, a major decision 16-3 over Ridley of Hoffman Estates and a fall over
Soto, also of Hoffman Estates to finish third in a five-wrestler
round-robin. Youngster freshman Gracie
Meluch (115) bounced back from a first round to pin three consecutive opponents
to finish in 7th place, or first place in the consolation
bracket. Those falls came at the expense
of Skibicki (Lockport), Aparka (Addison Trail), and Zamora (Fenton). Junior Bianca Arrendondo (130) defeated
Carreon of Niles West in the first period.
Freshman Sophia Liu (135) won by fall in the first period of her match
against Diaz (Maine East). Arrendondo
and Liu finished 1-2. Arianna Rico
wrestled at 155, finishing 0-2.