Six-time defending state team champion Montini and Class 2A newcomer Harvard advanced to the quarterfinals of the IHSA’s team wrestling tournament with dominating victories on Tuesday night at the Antioch Sectional.
Montini crushed Westinghouse 60-12 on one mat, while Harvard was dominating Lakes 57-12 on the other.
Montini and Harvard will compete in Bloomington on Saturday in the Class 2A quarterfinals, but won’t be wrestling against each other.
In Montini’s win, the Broncos won five matches by pin — Chris Garcia (152 pounds), Luke Furtuna (160), Xavier Montalbo (182), Derrick Curry (195) and Michael Johnson (Hwt.) — three by decision, and two by forfeit.
Johnson’s match was the last of the evening, as both teams forfeited at 106 and 113, and Montini forfeited at 120 and 126.
“We’re just excited to keep this ball rolling,” said Montini coach Israel Martinez. “We’ve got five days left in our season and the boys see the light at the end of the tunnel; they’re excited.
“It was a good night to get out and do a little bit of wrestling. I’m always excited at this point of the season. If we win, it will be seven state titles in a row.”
Equally excited was Harvard coach Tim Haak, whose team has been a player in Class 1A wrestling for decades, but was moved up to Class 2A for this season and hasn’t missed a beat.
“I thought our guys came to wrestle,” he said. “I thought our guys came and competed well.”
As for moving up from 1A to 2A, Haak said it’s a non-issue.
“We never really talked about it. We can only control the things we can control — our work ethic, our attitude, and those types of things. We don’t control where the (enrollment) cutoff is. We’ve mostly wrestled 2A and 3A schools during the season, so I don’t see a real difference.”
The match started at 132, where Sergio Jimenez’s victory put the Hornets ahead for good.
Winning by pinfall for Harvard were Logan Streit (138), Max Wheeler (160), Marcos Tapia (182) and Zach Martin (195), with Martin winning in 38 seconds. There were two wins by decision and four wins by forfeit.
Lakes’ wins were by Max Hill (152), Zach Fuller (170) and Austin Summers (220).
Summers’ match was the final one contested, as Lakes forfeited at heavyweight, 106, 113 and 120. At 126, there was a double forfeit.
