MM_020917

44 | February 9, 2017 | The Mokena Messenger SPORTS
mokenamessenger.com
Wrestling
Knights send three individuals down to Bloomington sectional
Two Griffins win
regional titles, five
more advance
Jason Maholy
Freelance Reporter
Lincoln-Way high school
wrestlers put in a strong
showing in regional action
Saturday, Feb. 4 in Frankfort,
as grapplers from West,
East and Central represented
half of those who moved on
to sectional competition.
District 210 wrestlers
took 21 of the top 42 places
at the Lincoln-Way East
Class 3A Regional. The top
three wrestlers in each of 14
weight classes advanced to
the Normal Community High
School Sectional, to be held
Saturday, Feb. 11 in Bloomington,
and the winning team
advances to the team sectionals,
which the date and location
is yet to be determined.
West took the team title
with 232 points and led all
schools with 11 sectional
qualifiers, while East will
send seven and Central three
to Bloomington. East placed
third among 10 teams, with
168.5 points, and Central finished
fourth with 139 points.
Central seniors Liam Meagher
and Jason Stokes kept
their ambitions for a trip to
state alive by taking backto-back
championships at
126 and 132 pounds, respectively.
Meagher avenged a
defeat earlier in the season
by topping West’s Tommy
Buell, 6-4, in the championship
match; and he did it in
dramatic fashion, getting a
reversal and breaking a 4-all
tie with four seconds remaining
in the third period.
“The goal was just to work
hard the whole year and try
to [get to state], so I worked
my butt off the whole year,”
said Meagher.
He said it was “pretty
sweet” to beat Buell after
losing to him on the Knights’
Senior Night last month. He
had never before advanced
beyond regionals.
Stokes qualified for the
state tournament as a sophomore
two years ago and has
been on a season-long mission
to get back there after
falling short at last year’s
sectional competition. He
defeated Gehrig Simon of
West in the semifinals, then
upset Marian Catholic’s Carlos
Champagne, 6-3, in the
title match. Champagne entered
the match with a record
of 39-2.
Meagher and Stokes are
practice partners and have
been pushing each other every
day in the wrestling room.
“They both kind of have
that unique style, a little
funky at times, but they definitely
feed off each other,”
said Central coach Jason
DePolo. “I think Jason has
made Liam a better wrestler,
and I think Liam has made
Jason a better wrestler, as
well. They’re both a lot of
fun to watch.”
DePolo acknowledged
Stokes may have had the
hardest path to a championship
of any wrestler at the
regional.
“That was a big win in the
semis for him, Simon is the
real deal, he’s tough; and
beating a kid like Champaign
in the finals is a pretty tall
task,” DePolo said. “I don’t
think [Champaign] makes
many mistakes, but he made
one and Jason capitalized on
it, which was huge.”
Chris Wilder and Sammy
Diehl won titles for East at
195 pounds and 285 pounds,
respectively. Diehl, who was
battling a 102-degree temperature,
wrestled slightly more
than the equivalent of one period
while disposing of three
over-matched opponents in
Justin Brauer of Lincoln-Way Central works on David
Ackman of Lincoln-Way East Saturday, Feb. 4, during a
match the 120-pound weight class at the Lincoln-Way East
Class 3A Regional. Jason Maholy/22nd Century Media
a combined 2:14. The Griffin
senior pinned Bloom
Township’s Uland Siegers in
14 seconds, and in the title
match made short work of
Joliet West’s Robert Ford,
pinning him in 46 seconds.
Also advancing for the Griffins
are Dylan Conway, who
placed second at 170 pounds,
and third-place finishers Jacob
Abeja (113), Adam Aguirre
(152), Nick Mihajlovich
(182) and Jaden Hacha (220).
Wilder, a junior, earned his
first trip to sectionals via a
6-3 title match decision over
a familiar opponent, West’s
Robert Noga. The victory
was Wilder’s third consecutive
over Noga in four tries
this season. Wilder had a onepoint
lead over his district rival
before getting a takedown
with 30 seconds left in the
match, and providing himself
a three-point cushion he
wouldn’t relinquish.
East coach Tyrone Byrd
was pleased with the way
Wilder’s match played out,
and particularly that the junior
wrestled hard for the
entire six minutes.
“He’s got a couple tournament
wins this year, he’s a kid
you can always rely on his effort,”
Byrd said. “He makes
mistakes and get out of position,
but that’s wrestling, that
happens. He wrestled ‘til the
end and that’s important, and
that’s what we’re trying to
sell to all of our kids, and kids
like him are getting it.
Aguirre, a senior, and Mihajlovich,
a sophomore, will
be making their second consecutive
appearances at sectionals.
Both rebounded from
tough losses in the semifinals
to win their wrestleback
matches and take third in
their respective brackets.
Mihajlovich dropped a
2-1 overtime to decision to
West’s Trevor Schmidt in the
semis, and was not pleased
as he walked off the mat and
made a beeline for the locker
room. He won a hard-fought,
11-9 decision over Central’s
Noah Upchurch to earn a
spot in the third-place match,
then defeated QueJuan Sutton
of Bloom Township by
technical fall to punch his
ticket to sectionals.
He said his coaches were
key in helping him put the
loss to Schmidt behind him.
Aguirre pinned his final
two opponents after losing
by technical fall to eventual
152-pound champion Josh
Jones of Marian Catholic.
“I’m really excited to get
[to sectionals] again, it feels
great,” Aguirre said. “I used
what my coaches told me
throughout the year. I didn’t
give it up, just tried to attack
and I got a pin in the end.”
Gymnastics
From Page 47
higher on floor. They posted
five of the Top 6 scores in the
event. The team floor score
of 37.750 came directly after
a 35.500 on beam that
included three falls, which
cost Lincoln-Way at least 1.5
points and a shot at a 147 or
higher.
That rebound performance
was similar to Lincoln-
Way’s 37.175 on vault after
a slow start to the day on
bars (35.050), which included
landing troubles.
“[Lago] talked with us
after bars and said we need
to keep picking it up, hit
harder than we’ve hit before
and just nail our events like
we’ve been doing in practice,”
said sophomore Barb
Belka. “Today was a really
good confidence booster because
we just fell on beam
and knew we had to pick it
up on floor. If we’re able to
hit here and get a 145 with a
few falls, we could do even
better next week.”
Lincoln-Way’s score
of 145.475 was the highest
score of the four teams
advancing to the Oswego
sectional at 6 p.m. on Thursday,
Feb. 9. Downers Grove
South scored a 140.325,
Hinsdale Central posted a
140.175 and Downers Grove
North had a 139.05.
This will be Lincoln-
Way’s fourth consecutive
trip to a sectional under
fourth-year coach Lago. In
the first three, the team failed
to make it to state, finishing
second twice and sixth once.
“If we can go to sectionals
and not be nervous, just get
the nerves out of the way, be
confident and hit, we will be
at state,” Farrell said.
Farrell won the all-around
title with 36.875 points.
It was the same score that
earned her a third-place finish
at the SouthWest Suburban
Conference championship
on Jan. 26. Farrell won
beam (9.175), placed second
on vault (9.350) and bars
(8.875), and took third on
floor (9.475).
“She was on, on every
event,” Lago said. “She didn’t
stop fighting through the
whole meet. Her floor was so
powerful. It was dead on.”
Lincoln-Way freshman
Korina Jarosz was right behind
with 35.775 points to
place second in all-around.
It came one week after she
won the SWSC all-around
title with 37.000 points.
A first-place finish on
vault (9.475) highlighted her
day, and her 9.275 on floor
placed her fifth. She was
fourth on beam (8.55) after
falling off once and settled
for eighth on bars (8.475) after
landing on her knees.
“Not her usual night,”
Lago said. “She needed to
get it out. She’s hit every
meet. It’s crazy that it took
her this long to have a little
bump in the road. It’s going
to make her practice harder
and want it more.”
Junior Gabby DeVito won
on bars (8.900) and tied for
first place on floor with a
season-high 9.500. She finished
third on vault (9.200)
Belka also scored a 9.500
on floor to tie for first. She
was third on beam (8.75).
Senior Kara Auchstetter
finished second on beam
(9.025) and tied for third on
bars (8.800).
Junior Erica Dice placed
fourth on vault (9.15).