Barrington wrestling coach Ken Hoving wasn’t thrilled to see his squad go 0-6 on the championship mat at Saturday’s Mudge/McMorrow Invitational at Prospect.
But the Broncos coach was certainly pleased that despite experiencing a rough final round, his team still managed to win a fifth straight title in the event.
The Broncos held off a late charge by Mount Carmel to take top honors in the 18-team meet by a 208-194.5 margin while McHenry placed third with 188.5 points.
Finishing second for Barrington were Kevin Conrad (132). Kyle Trom (138), John Blanke (152), Mark Shealy (182), Jack Bornhofen (220) and Ben Calamari (285).
“This just shows the depth of our team and how much we’ve come together,” Hoving said. “Even though we didn’t have any individual champions, the rest of the team wrestled so well as a whole that we were able to pull it out.”
The second-place Caravan, who are still getting individuals into shape following their Class 8A football title, went 4-0 in championship matches.
Repeating as champions for Mount Carmel were outstanding wrestler award winner Bryce Brill (145) and David Denne (220).
Notay Jackson (152) and Jimmy Mickens (182) also won titles for the Caravan. Mickens beat Shealy 2-0 to avenge a title defeat from a year ago.
“I was up for a little bit of revenge,” Mickens said. “It’s a great feeling to come out on top in this tournament. And to have four champions today shows how hard we work in the room.”
McHenry received a title from Cam Pait (160) while Britches Sikula (106) and Mike Sikula (120) each settled for second place finishes.
Stillman Valley (142) and Addison Trail (133.5) also each had four finalists to help them claim the next two team finishes in the competition.
Winning a title for the Blazers was Erick De La Cruz (113) while Aaron De La Cruz (126), Niko Rocha (170) and Danny Tomasello (195) each took second.
York’s Brandon Kupczyk (132) also repeated as a title winner after getting a pin in 2:53 over Conrad, who he defeated in the finals a year ago.
“I came out a little weaker than I wanted to but I finished it like I hoped to,” Kupczyk said. “This was a good way to start the season. I’m very happy with how well I’ve been doing.”
Host Prospect got a championship in the heavyweight match when Shola George claimed a 4-3 win over Calamari to avenge a loss in last year’s finals.
“Even though he came into the match with an injured ankle, I knew that he was going to fight to the end,” George said. “Last year we wrestled a lot and he beat me all of those times.”
The other area champs were Prairie Ridge’s Travis Piotrowski (106) and Crystal Lake Central’s Andrew Marsden (170), while Round Lake’s Dan Arteaga (113) and Loyola’s David Kennedy (160) each took second.
