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Sports
Wolves fall short in quest for state finals : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWolves fall short in quest for state finals
| Wrestling program on upswing after this season's postseason success
| by Matt Daniels
| 2/18/2010
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The experience last weekend was certainly invaluable to the Oswego East wrestling program.
Even though no Wolves will continue their season at the venue every high school wrestler aspires to compete at - Assembly Hall in Champaign, site of the state finals - Oswego East has now set a new barometer for success.
Five individuals for Oswego East competed at the Class 3A Glenbard North Sectional last weekend, four more than the total number of sectional qualifiers than what the program experienced in its first four seasons.
"It was a great experience, even though we didn't get anybody through to state," Oswego East head coach Mike Jezioro said. "The kids wrestled well for us. Overall, we're happy with the performance. It's just a little tough to see three seniors lose there."
Senior Chris Fagan had the best outing record-wise for the Wolves with a 2-2 mark at 215 pounds. Fagan opened the competition with a 3-1 decision win against Mike Monaghan of Downers Grove South to advance to the quarterfinals. But Fagan lost by pin in 56 seconds to South Elgin's Jake Randich, who entered sectionals with a 41-1 record.
The loss to Randich moved Fagan into the wrestlebacks, where Fagan stayed alive in the bracket with a win by pin 4:33 into his match against Elgin's Toby Schimel. But Fagan's season - and prep career - ended when he lost a narrow 4-3 decision to Larkin's Cam Martin. Fagan ended his season with a sterling 33-8 record at 215.
"I think 215 was probably one of the toughest weights there," Jezioro said. "Chris has done well for us all year and he wrestled like he's wrestled all year for us. He wrestled well. (Randich) got the better of us in (the quarterfinals). Then you know, once you get to the wrestlebacks, especially when you're a senior, it's always in the back of your mind, if I blow this one, it's over. We knew it would be a tight match (against Martin). It just didn't go our way."
Oswego East's other two seniors who qualified for sectionals, Derek Edwards and Jordan Easton, had a quick stay at the tournament.
Edwards, at 140, opened with Naperville Central's Andy Kovalsky, and Kovalsky earned the win with a pin in 1:43. The loss dropped Edwards into the wrestlebacks, and Edwards lost a tough 7-6 match to Geneva's Justin Heinz to end his season at 24-9.
Easton, at 145, started sectionals against Hoffman Estates' Brian Kempf, and suffered an 18-7 loss via major decision. In the wrestlebacks, Easton faced off against Lake Park's Chris Kowalski, but succumbed in a 9-7 decision to end his season at 16-10.
"I don't think, talking with both of them, we were frustrated or disappointed with what either one did for us," Jezioro said. "Derek ran into a Naperville Central kid right off the bat, who's a pretty tough wrestler. We thought we had a good shot coming back in the wrestlebacks, and lost against the Geneva kid. Derek did all the work, made all the attempts, just didn't score enough points and lost by one. Jordan coming in didn't have as many matches as everybody else coming in, (but) we're extremely happy with his effort, not just at sectionals, but the last two weeks of the season at regionals and sectionals, he's done a great job."
Junior Kyle Bryson also sported an 0-2 mark at 171 to end his sectional stay. Bryson - who finished the season at 15-20 - began with a loss to Tom Randich of South Elgin via technical fall 5:50 into his opening match, and then suffered a loss via technical fall to Naperville North's Eric Kreiger in the wrestlebacks. The other underclassman that the Wolves sent out to the mats last weekend, sophomore Reuben Reyes, emerged with a 1-2 record at 103. Reyes won his first match, a 6-4 decision against Addison Trail's Luis DeLaCruz to move on to the quarterfinals. But Reyes suffered a close 4-2 loss to Conant's Ben Clifford in the quarterfinals to fall to the wrestlebacks.
Reyes' season then ended at 29-6 after he lost a 2-0 decision to Elgin's Nathan Andresen.
Jezioro said the chance for Reyes and Bryson to experience the sectional environment can only benefit the two next season.
"Hopefully it gives them a little taste of what it's like to be that close to the state tournament," Jezioro said. "They put in a lot of work in the off-season. Wrestling's one of those sports where you can't just show up in November and be successful. You have to do some work in the off-season, and they're both excited about the end of their seasons."
And the rest of the Wolves' program is certainly pleased with the direction Oswego East took this season. A year after compiling a 1-23 dual meet record and no sectional qualifiers, the Wolves went 11-11 in dual meets this season before sending five competitors onto sectionals.
The bar is most certainly now elevated for future Oswego East squads.
"It kind of shows you we've come a long way in the last year and we're competing at the sectional level," Jezioro said.
"To have five guys (at sectionals), I think it just shows everybody in the program that it's an attainable goal. We were excited to be there. The kids were excited to be there. The whole school was pretty much excited for them. Just wished it would have turned out a little bit different, but we're not disappointed in those guys at all," he continued.
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