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frankfortstationdaily.com sports
the frankfort station | January 23, 2020 | 45
Wrestling
4
Griffins gear up for postseason at Illini Classic
STEVE MILLAR, Sports Editor
Lincoln-Way East senior
Jake LaMonto knew there
was a lot for him and his
teammates to learn by taking
on strong competition
at the 19-team Illini Classic
on Saturday, Jan. 18, at
Lincoln-Way Central.
“As a team, I feel like we
have a lot to improve on,”
LaMonto said. “We have
to make bigger strides as
we get into conference and
regionals.
“This helps us. It gives
us a goal of what to shoot
for and it gives us a guide
on what to improve on.”
LaMonto at 195 pounds
and junior AJ Lizak at 132
recorded fourth-place finishes
to lead the Griffins
(72) to an 11th-place finish
in the 19-team event.
Minooka (198) won
the team title, followed
by Washington (187.5),
Lincoln-Way West (182),
Marist (166.5), Bloomington
(145.5), St. Charles
East (141.5) and Providence
(121.5).
LaMonto (25-4) had
a pair of pins but lost to
champion Robby Bates of
Morris 7-1 in the semifinals
and was pinned by Reavis’
Jake Villoria in the thirdplace
match.
“I feel like I still have
things to improve on, but I
think overall I’m just going
to get better from here,” he
said. “I just need to be consistent
with my offense and
defense.”
LaMonto was looking
forward to what he hopes
will be a big postseason
run. The three Lincoln-
Ways and Providence are
all in the Lockport Regional
on Feb. 8.
Lizak (23-8) had three
pins. He fell to champion
Brody Norman of Washington
by technical fall in
the semifinals and lost 6-3
to Minooka’s Michael Reuttiger
in the third-place
match.
“I just put a lot of effort
in over the offseason to be
ready for this year,” Lizak
said. “I feel like I’m in a
good spot. I want to make
it downstate.”
Lizak knows he may see
Reuttiger again at sectionals.
“It’s going to take me
beating that kid to make it
to state,” he said. “I’d rather
lose to him now than at
sectionals.”
East’s Dominic Adamo
(13-6) finished fifth at 170.
Providence’s Ryan
Boersma (31-1), the state’s
top-ranked heavyweight,
rolled to the title with two
pins and an 18-4 major
decision over St. Charles
East’s Xander Song in the
Lincoln-Way East’s AJ Lizak (left) wrestles Minooka’s Michael Reuttiger in the
132-pound third-place match at the Illini Classic on Saturday, Jan. 18, at Lincoln-Way
Central. STEVE MILLAR/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
championship match.
“There’s not any extra
pressure,” Boersma said
of his ranking. “It’s a great
honor, but it doesn’t mean
too much.
“It’s been good. I’ve
had a great season so far,
with only one loss and that
guy was from Detroit, so I
won’t see him again for a
long time.”
Liam McDermott and
Kevin Countryman (145)
both finished third for the
Celtics. Billy Meiszner
(106) and Frankfort resident
Jack Bruno (152) had
fifth-place finishes, while
Aidan O’Connor (170) was
sixth.
“I had a minor setback
over the summer,” Boersma
said. “I dislocated my
[right] elbow, missed out
on summer nationals, but
the elbow feels good now
and the season is going
great.”
The biggest Cinderella
run of the tournament belonged
to Central junior
Andrew Hesse, who was
unseeded and drew topseeded
McDermott in the
first round.
Hesse upset McDermott
5-2, then won two other
matches to reach the final,
where he was pinned by
Minooka’s Justin Lechelt.
“It was very exciting,”
Hesse said. “I worked my
way up, got to the championship
round and had a
couple mistakes with my
technique and movements,
but there’s always next
time. Conference and regionals
are right around the
corner.”
Hesse (20-17) seemed to
get the unlucky slot in the
draw, matching up with
McDermott right away, but
he was ready for the challenge.
“It was very challenging,”
he said. “I was a little
intimidated, but I know
I’ve gone into really tough
matches in my life. I just
put my mind to it and was
ready to move forward.
“This definitely gives me
a confidence boost. It’s going
to make me think a lot
about technique and how I
can move forward through
regionals, sectionals, into
state.”
Central sophomore Joey
Malito took third at 106.
Malito (26-10) won his
first two matches by pin
and technical fall before
he was pinned by Washington’s
Kannon Webster.
Webster, who is ranked No.
1 in Class 2A by the Illinois
Wrestling Coaches and Officials
Association, went on
to win the tournament and
improve to 34-0.
Malito bounced back
to beat Providence’s Billy
Meiszner 7-4 and LW-
West’s Karter Guzman 2-0
in the third-place match.
“It went pretty good
overall,” Malito said.
“I thought I could have
done better in the semifinal
match, but I just had
to keep my mental game
strong and come back hard
for that next match.”
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From Page 46
I’ll always remember.
“We talked about the injury
and how unexpected
everything was. And then
I gave them a little bit of
smack talk about their
game.”
A new perspective
Payton is still going
to physical therapy five
times a week, but it is getting
easier.
“At first, rehab was really
tough,” he said. “It
was always tiring me out.
After one hour, I was exhausted.
As my endurance
and stamina built
up, it got easier. Lately,
I’ve done six-hour days
of nonstop therapy and
it’s really helped a lot. I
couldn’t thank the therapists
enough for everything
they’ve done.”
Payton wants to study
physical therapy in college.
Although he will not
be able to play hockey in
college as he had planned,
he hopes to stay around
the game. One of his major
goals is to get back to
ice skating.
While things return to
normal, they have also
changed forever.
“You don’t want to go
back to normalcy where
you take things for granted,”
Bryan said. “You’ve
seen how quick things can
get taken away.
“Seeing him get excited
to go back to school, or to
lace up his skates because
he wants to try to skate in
a few days, those things
are fun because we didn’t
know if they’d ever come
again.”
Payton has also learned
to appreciate every day.
“Never take a day for
granted,” he said. “Nobody
ever should, because
you never know
when it’s going to end.
Even the little things, like
being able to get out of
bed and go to school and
see my friends, I’ll never
take those for granted
again after one night that
changed it all for me.”