HP_021617

34 | February 16, 2017 | The highland park landmark sports
hplandmark.com
Pair of Giants advance to state meet
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
Highland Park’s threesport
star DJ Penick is
going to focus on football
when he goes to college at
Murray State but, in the
meantime, he’s ending his
high school sports career
by having a superlative
wrestling season.
Penick improved his
unblemished record to
35-0 on Feb. 11 when he
earned another trip to the
state tournament by defending
his 182-pound
championship in the Class
3A Barrington Sectional.
The score was 2-2 in the
title match when Penick
suddenly ended it by pinning
his Dundee opponent
Chase Raap with 59 seconds
remaining in the second
period.
He advanced to the
match with Raap (40-8)
via a semifinal 8-0 major
decision over Jake Leske
(33-8) of McHenry after
eliminating Huntley’s Justin
Henry (22-17) on a fall
with 59 seconds elapsed in
their quarterfinal match.
“It’s something to keep
me motivated,” Penick
said of his flawless season.
“I’ve been trying
to stay strong, listen to
my coaches and have
a perfect match every
time.”
In last year’s state
tournament, Penick finished
sixth. He then
went on to compete in
track and made it to the
sectionals.
But this year Penick
doesn’t plan to join the
track team when his wrestling
season ends. He
wants to use the time to
get ready for college football.
Highland Park’s Alex Rosenbloom (blue) grapples with Stevenson’s Eric Carter at
the Barrington Sectional on Saturday, Feb. 11. photos by carlos alvarez/22nd century
media
D.J. Penick (top) gets the best of McHenry’s Jake Leske during their seminfinal
matchup at 182 pounds during the meet.
“Football is my passion,
and I love the place (Murray
State),” he said. “I’ll
go and see what I can do
down there.”
Penick’s 145-pound
junior teammate, Alex
Rosenbloom (26-5), finished
second in the Sectional
for the second year
in a row, losing a 3-0 decision
to Barrington junior
Markus Hartman (41-1) in
the title match.
Rosenbloom, who competed
in the 138-pound
class last year, fell behind
when Hartman got a twopoint
takedown at the outset
and a second period
ankle sprain hindered his
attempt to make a comeback.
During the off-season
Rosenbloom and Hartman
work out against one another
at the Poeta Training
Center.
“I tried one of my best
moves (to start the match)
but it never works on
him,” said Rosenbloom.
“I should have known
better. Other than that
one takedown I wrestled
pretty well, except for
when I went down in the
third period. That was a
bad idea.
“I want to fix areas
where I cost myself between
now and the state
tournament. Last year at
state I lost my two matches
but I wrestled competitively.
I lost by one
point in both matches and
both guys placed in state
so I knew I was right up
there.”
Hartman had a significant
height advantage in
the title match and so did
Rosenbloom’s semifinal
opponent, Eric Carter (38-
9) of Stevenson, who’d
defeated him twice this
season.
This time the match was
deadlocked 2-2 going into
the final period but then
Rosenbloom came on
strong to win a 7-5 decision.
“My game plan was
key,” Rosenbloom said.
“Keep moving and get
past his elbow. I did a
great job on that.”
Seeing Rosenbloom
avenge his two defeats
came as no surprise to
his Highland Park coach,
Chris Riley.
“He has a very high
wrestling IQ,” Riley said.
“He’s a smart and strategic
wrestler. He learns and
learns. I was very pleased
with his entire tournament.
In his final match
we were hoping for an upset
but he wrestled about
as well as he could. There
were a lot of tightly contested
scrambles.”
The Giants’ other sectional
representative,
152-pound Steve Weathers
(34-4), won his first
match on a fall at 1:48 but
then was defeated in the
quarterfinals by Huntley
freshman David Ferrante
on a 6-5 decision. Ferrante
(26-2) went on to win
the championship.
Weathers went to the
consolation bracket where
he took a 13-2 major
decision before losing
a semifinal match on a
decision.
Glenbrook North had
four wrestlers in the sectional
but the only one
to make it to the state
tournament was senior
Jacob Weingardt (30-
12), the fourth place finisher
in the 285-pound
class.
After winning 2-1
overtime decisions in
his opening round and
quarterfinal matches, the
workaholic Weingart lost
on a fall in the semifinals.
Dropping to consolation
bracket, he gained his second
overtime decision at
the expense of Deerfield’s
Peter Runac (27-14), this
time by a 4-2 margin in
two overtimes.
At the end of regulation
time the second match
with Runac was deadlocked
1-1. An escape
followed by a two-point
Please see wrestling, 32