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For some, it's familiar; for others, it isn't

Morton's Tharp, ND's Burk, Washington's Tanner win titles; 1st state trip for Metamora senior

Sunday, February 13, 2005

By Mark Rich

of the Journal Star

BLOOMINGTON - Familiar wrestling matchups brought familiar results Saturday at the Class AA Bloomington Sectional.

For the second consecutive week, Metamora's Salvador Delgadillo faced Washington's Nathan Closen.

And for the fourth time this year, Morton's Jeff Tharp tangled with Washington's Danny Fornoff.

For Delgadillo and Closen, their match was the difference between a state berth and the end to the season. The Mid-Illini Conference wrestlers met in the third-place match of the 130-pound bracket, with the top three places in each weight class advancing to the state finals that start Friday in Champaign.

Delgadillo had beaten Closen at the Woodruff Sectional last weekend by earning a takedown just as the final buzzer was going off. Although it didn't come down to the last seconds again this time, it again was Delgadilio winning, 3-2 for a place at state.

"It feels great," Delgadillo said of his first state trip. "I lost my (second) match, and it kind of put me down a bit. But I knew I had to come back and get it. Being my senior year, it was my goal this year to actually make it to state.

"I told myself that I was going to do whatever I had to do, and I did it."

For Fornoff and Tharp, old friends who have wrestled each other for years, the final of the 140-pound bracket was like old times. Unfortunately for Fornoff, it also turned out like two of the previous three matchups between them this year: a Tharp victory.

Tharp improved to 36-1 overall with the 3-2 decision. His only loss this season came to Fornoff.

"I know he wants to be a little bit better wind, a little bit better frame of mind, going six minutes," Morton coach Rob Ledin said. "I think he'll be prepared for it, at least mentally. He's been there every year and placed last year. He needs to take that next step and put himself in the championship match and hope for the best."

Fornoff also gets to return to state, and he'd love the opportunity to square off with Tharp for a fifth time this season.

"We're on opposite sides of the bracket now, so if we had a fifth matchup, it would be in a placing match," Fornoff said.

Notre Dame senior Duke Burk continued to cruise. He swept three matches to claim the crown at 160 and move his record to 39-0 on the season. He's aiming to improve on last year's fourth-place finish at state.

"It always feels good to go back (to state)," Burk said. "Some kids think too much about state and don't get through sectionals first. I thought a lot about state, but I knew if I just keep wrestling my best during matches, people aren't going to beat me."

Washington's Bill Tanner will make the return trip to Champaign after he won the 275-pound division with a pin of Mahomet-Seymour's Jack Tennant in the championship match.

Morton got a second state qualifier in Eric Prichard, who took third place at 112, just behind Canton's John Wilcoxen, who finished second in the division.

Prichard earned his spot with a 12-6 victory over Minooka's Eric Johnson in the third-place match.

LaSalle-Peru earned two spots at the state meet, with Kaz Hashimoto (103) and Mike Garland (215) each pulling out third-place victories.

For Hashimoto, it was a matter of bouncing back from only his second loss of the season, earlier in the sectional.

"I was pretty down when I lost," said Hashimoto, who is now 34-2. "I'm trying not to really grieve about it. I just have to wrestle my best next week and see what happens."

East Peoria entered the sectional with 10 potential state qualifiers, but only senior Corey Neisler was able to break through with a second-place finish at 145.

"It's my first time going to varsity state and I'm really looking forward to it," Neisler said. "I just wish more of the team could have made it. I was hoping someone could pull through, but there was a lot of tough competition here today."

The state individual finals begins Friday with two sessions, at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Assembly Hall. Action continues Saturday, with the championship matches scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

At Moline

No JS-area wrestlers qualified for state from this sectional. Evan Stewart of Galesburg lost 5-4 to Andrew Vyhnanek of Sycamore in the 140-pound third-place match.

Elsewhere

Caitlyn Chase of Carol Stream Glenbard North became the first female wrestler to qualify for state. She finished second at 103 pounds at the Downers Grove Sectional.

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Glenbard North's Chase first female to state

February 13, 2005

BY ALVIN WASHINGTON

Glenbard North junior Caitlyn Chase raised the bar for girl wrestlers at the Downers Grove North Sectional on Saturday by becoming the first female to qualify for the state finals.

Chase knocked off Neuqua Valley freshman Chris Spangler 6-4 in the 103-pound semifinals. Despite losing to Hinsdale Central's Matt Tolbert 16-5 in the championship, Chase's berth made her one of seven Glenbard North wrestlers to qualify for the state finals next weekend in Champaign.

"Finally, all the hard work that I put in over the years has really paid off,'' Chase said. "This is a big step forward for any girl who wants to wrestle in high school. If you put your mind to it, you can be the best you can be.''

John Ranck (125) added to the seven-time DuPage Valley champions' state honors by taking out Argo's Tony Robertson by major decision (14-6) and pinning Neil Lopez of Naperville North for the title.

Freshman Vince Ramos (130) decisioned Luke Cherep of Naperville Central 5-2 before losing the title to Wheaton North's Jason Fitzenreider to earn his first trip Downstate.

Jon Isacson decisioned Batavia's Clint Arliss to win at 140 pounds, while seniors Tony Dieppa (160) and Matt Smith (171) earned state berths, as well.

Other notables include Barrington's Mark Lukazewski, who pinned Wheaton South's Keith Mahler to take the 152-pound title; and nationally ranked heavyweight Ryan Bain, who will take a final trip to Champaign after crushing Jordan Johnson of Naperville North 12-1.

Other winners: Nick Fanthorpe (119) and Andy Greenawalt (215) of Naperville North, Glenbard East's Tim Walker (189), Hinsdale South's Scott Wallace (145) and Geneva's Andrew Saunders (112).

MORTON: Defending state champion St. Rita advanced 13 wrestlers. The Mustangs crowned six champions, had four runners-up and placed three third-place finishers. Mount Carmel placed nine wrestlers with three champions, one runner up and five third placers.

St. Rita was led by defending state champion Albert White (140), John Starzyk (112), Adam Canty (119), Steve Zimmerman (125), Obie Simpson (152) and Neal Burnett (275).

Zimmerman pulled the biggest upset of the finals, hitting a switch with 13 seconds left in the match on second-ranked Mario Morgan of Mount Carmel to win 7-6.

"A win like this lets me know I can wrestle with the big dogs,'' Zimmerman said.

Mount Carmel's Kenny Jordan (130) and Matt McNaughton (103) remained perfect en route to capturing championships.

Other champions included Mount Carmel's Khris Argue (145) and Christian Brantley (215), St. Laurence's Jack Love (135) and Scott Sands (189), Reavis' Jim Kernants (171) and Hubbard's Travis Hammons (160).

Andre Morgan

LEYDEN: Proviso East qualified eight wrestlers, including Jermaine Stapleton (22-5) at 140 pounds. Stapleton 11-5 defeated Nick Marino of Fenwick 11-5 to claim the only first-place finish for the Pirates. Proviso East had two second-place and five third-place qualifiers.

Fenwick qualified five wrestlers including 135-pound champ Nick Bertucci (39-5), who handed Marty Gould (28-2) of Niles West his second defeat of the year with a 4-0 decision. Bertucci held a 1-0 lead going into the third period when he locked Gould into a cradle and put him on his back. That move was rewarded with three points with just under a minute left in the match.

"I scrambled out of some situations in the second period and got lucky,'' Bertucci said. "There's no room for error against him.''

Oak Park qualified four wrestlers including champions Ben Johnson (130) and Jamar Johnson (275). Ben Johnson won a 3-2 overtime decision in his first match of the day against Notre Dame's Pat Hain. Notre Dame, Lake Park and Fenton all qualified three wrestlers.

Dan Ruane

BARRINGTON: Heading into the state finals undefeated places targets on their backs, but Grant junior Jimmy Kennedy and Fremd senior Robert Panayi wouldn't have it any other way.

Kennedy and Panayi kept their records unblemished with dominating performances.

Kennedy, last year's state champ at 103, improved to 39-0 at 119 with a 15-5 victory over Bob Joyce (39-3) of St. Viator.

Kennedy was undefeated last season and has lost just once in individual tournaments in his career, that coming in the 103 state title match in 2003.

"I actually enjoy having the pressure because I know people are gunning for me and that helps me to be in peak condition,'' Kennedy said. "I think I have a mental advantage because [opponents] look at my record as opposed to wrestling me.''

Panayi who was fifth last year at 215 is 35-0 at that weight after Conant's Ryan Drake (31-3) forfeited the final to protect his torn ACL. Panayi won his two previous matches by major decision and pin.

"To be undefeated doesn't worry me much,'' Panayi said. "I hope it intimidates the other guys. I expected [to be undefeated] because I did a lot of work in the offseason. Now I just have to keep my composure, stay healthy, and wrestle the best I can next week.''

Matt Le Cren

CLASS A: As expected, Montini dominated the Plano Sectional by qualifying nine wrestlers for the individual state finals.

"With nine qualifiers [Saturday], it was an excellent day for us,'' Montini coach Mike Bukovski said.

The Broncos, who have won the last three team state titles in Class A, had six first-place winners.

Montini's Joey Norton captured first place at 103 and teammate Vince Hannon breezed to victory at 112.

Defending Class A state champions Conor Beebe (125) and Brian Martin (130) took honors for Montini. Mikey Benefiel captured first at 140 and Mike Mucha rounded out the Broncos first-place finishers with a victory at 189.

"My goal is to win the state title this year,'' said Mucha, who improved to 43-4. "That was my goal last year, but I fell short and took second. I'm trying to be more offensive this year.''

The only title match in which Montini fell short was at 135, where Burlington Central senior Matt Schuck (32-0) edged Tony Norton 4-3.

Burlington Central and Coal City each qualified six. Coal City's Keegan Grant captured the heavyweight title.

Wilmington qualified five, including three first-place finishes. Wilmington's Josh Peters took first at 145, Rob Murphy edged out the title at 160 and senior Tony Vercelli, who is the defending state champion at 215, once again won the sectional at that weight.

Other winners included Bishop McNamara's Mike Ryan at 119, St. Edwards' Nick Hale at 152 and Lisle's Mike Kilroy at 171.

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Panthers cut to the Chase

By Gary Larsen Daily Herald Correspondent
Posted 2/6/2005

The postseason does something to Glenbard North's Caitlyn Chase.

The junior 103-pounder won a Class AA Glenbard North regional title and
qualified for her first individual sectional, and she did it by beating
three wrestlers with better records.

If there were any doubts that the Panthers also would take the team
regional title in Carol Stream, Chase - who won the match that gave her squad
last year's third-place hardware downstate - laid them to rest at the onset
of Saturday's final round.

"Cait got the ball rolling, and that got people excited," said Panthers
coach Mark Hahn. "We kind of kept it going from there."

Chase grabbed her title by knocking off a pair of wrestlers she had
already lost to this year, Wheaton North's Nathan Fitzenreider and Wheaton
Warrenville South's Ricky Krauze.

Chase beat Krauze 3-1 in the title match to improve her season record
to 18-13.

"I just got it in my head that I needed to wrestle smart," Chase said.
"I didn't give up many takedowns, I kept wrestling off the mat, I didn't
let the other whistles get to me, and I listened to my coaches."

The Panthers had 12 wrestlers reach title matches, six of whom won
regional titles, and they got 12 wrestlers through to next Saturday's Downers
Grove North sectional. In the process they also advanced to the team
sectionals by outpointing Wheaton North 259.5-230.

Panthers' titles came from Chase, Jon Ranck at 125 pounds, Bryan
O'Connor at 135, Jon Isacson at 140, Tony Dieppa at 160 and Matt Smith at 171.

"They all did a great job," Hahn said of his winners, "but I'm proud of
the whole group."

Smith improved to 20-2 with his title win, and after going downstate
each of the last two years, the senior feels some extra motivation right now.

"It's all mental, knowing that your season could end at any time,"
Smith said. "What has really kicked in for me is that senior urgency. This is
my last time to get a medal."

Wheaton North got 13 wrestlers through to the sectionals, led by
regional titlists in John Chawula at 112, James Simpson at 119, Jason
Fitzenreider at 130, Matt Redmond at 145 and heavyweight Nick Theobald. The Falcons
also won all seven of their third-place matches on the day.

Theobald exacted some vengeance in his title match with an 8-2 decision
over the Panthers' Gino Heredia, who previously had beaten him in double
overtime.

"I figured he beat me once, so I should just go all out," Theobald
said. "If I lost again, I lost, but I wanted to make sure I went all out."

Chawula's title came via a takedown in overtime against the Panthers'
Dan Monaco, who had beaten Chawula in their previous two meetings.

"My elbow has been hurting, so I didn't know if I'd be able to go six
minutes," Chawula said. "I just tried to keep it close, and finally I
just pulled it out."

"That was the highlight of my year right there," Redmond said of
Chawula's win. "He's battled (Monaco) and been so close, and I'm just glad to see
him come out on top."

The night's other regional titles came from Bartlett's Mark Lukaszewski
at 152, Batavia's Chris O'Connell at 189 and Kevin McFarland at 215.

Wheaton Warrenville South advanced three wrestlers through the
regional, in Krauze, Joe McHale at 140 and Keith Mahler at 152.

McHale had previously beaten Isacson in a 1-0 decision this year, but
he dropped a wild 5-4 decision in the title match.

"I was up a point, he let me go real quick, and before I reacted, he
got a takedown," McHale said. "I picked up my intensity a lot and wrestled
tough, but unfortunately it didn't go my way.

"But I'd love to see him again at sectional finals."

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Chase gets it done on the mat for Glenbard N.

January 13, 2005, 10:41 PM CST

Glenbard North's Caitlyn Chase entered the history books when she won
the 103-pound division at Leyden last weekend. Local wrestling experts
believe she's the first girl to win a Chicagoland tournament title.

"I'm just like any other wrestler," the junior said. "I'm just as
excited as any boy when he wins. I had my coaches in my corner. I had the whole
team on the mat. They were really supportive."

Chase is 9-6 this season for a Glenbard North squad that is 14-3.

"She wrestles really well," coach Mark Hahn said.

Dave Surico

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She didn´t win a title, just respect

STEVE SOLLOWAY

2/4/2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

AUGUSTA - Before he wrestled with history Saturday night, Shane Leadbetter listened to his father´s advice. She´s not a girl, said the older man, referring to Deanna Rix. She´s a wrestler.
Don´t forget that.

Shane Leadbetter didn´t. That´s why Rix won something, even when she lost. Her opponent saw her as his equal.

Leadbetter beat her by a single point in overtime. He won the Class A state title in the 130-pound weight class. She was the runner-up.

His name will be added to Sanford High´s long list of individual wrestling champions. Her name will be remembered for a different reason, and far beyond the halls of Marshwood High.

She was the first girl to reach the final round of a state wrestling tournament. She might have been the first girl in the country to win a state title wrestling against boys.

Yet when you listened to Rix or her father, Matt, who is also Marshwood´s varsity coach, you rarely heard them speak of her success in the historical context. She wanted to be the next Marshwood state wrestling champion.

That she would be the country´s first female wrestling champion kind of came along with it. At least in her mind.

Rix cried when Leadbetter escaped her grasp with four seconds left in the second overtime period. She knew the point he earned ended the sudden-death scenario and made him champion.

She cried not so much from the defeat, but from the sudden release of pressure. Rix keeps much of her emotions in check, but she couldn´t deny the tension she felt as the hours counted down to her bout in the finals.

She listened to AC-DC, but the driving music wasn´t enough to distract her. She listened to her coach and father when he reviewed the strategy and moves she would use against Leadbetter, but their words brought little relief.

After Leadbetter escaped, Rix rolled onto her back, held her head in both hands and let the tears come. Sitting at the corner of the mat, where coaches sit, Matt Rix watched, his heart breaking.

"From the beginning, I told her I would treat her just like any other wrestler on the team," he said later. He gives hugs freely to any of his wrestlers, but Saturday night that wasn´t the point.

The girl on the mat was no longer one of his wrestlers. She was his daughter.

Nearly 10 years ago, when Lisa Nowak fought and won the right to wrestle in Maine competition, Rix was asked what he would say if his daughters asked to wrestle for him. At the time he had mixed emotions.

Not that he didn´t think girls could wrestle boys. He might have had a doubt or two, but that wasn´t his foremost worry.

Every sport requires commitment and some sacrifice, but in wrestling the costs seem greater. Could this daughter handle the demands of a sport that tests the limits of stamina and self-confidence. Not to mention resentment and outright hostility because of her sex?

Before Deanna Rix convinced anybody else she could wrestle boys, she had to convince her father. Matt Rix was the one person who could have stopped her. On the other hand, he knows what makes her tick.

"I couldn´t say no," he said. "I don´t think she would have taken no for an answer."

Rix then thought of ending his career as coach so he could sit in the stands and be the proud father. He talked to Deanna.

"She cried when she heard that," said Rix. "She had dreamed of me coaching her. I couldn´t get out."

Saturday, Rix shouldered the heavy weights of coach to the only team that had a chance of unseating powerhouse Noble High. And father to the girl who hoped to be a champion. He did it, quietly, almost stoically.

Hundreds of wrestlers and their families and their fans crowded the Augusta Civic Center to watch the three class tournament that ran simultaneously. Each bout carried its own emotions.

On the arena floor, Lisa Nowak watched Deanna Rix win her semifinal bout. Tears rolled down Nowak´s cheeks. She remembered the day the mother of one of her opponents threw a water bottle at her after she beat the woman´s son.

She remembered the day an athletic director wouldn´t let her weigh in for a midseason tournament. The humiliation still stings.

"There´s enough interest among girls who want to wrestle," said Nowak. "There´s still not enough courage to try. Deanna can change that."

That´s why Deanna Rix was the big story Saturday night. That´s why little girls have embarrassed her by asking for her autograph, telling Deanna they want to be like her.

That´s why Kristie Pearse, a Wiscasset freshman who beat her male opponent in the 103-pound consolation final for third place, believes she can be a champion.

When the media gathered around the mat for Rix´s bout with Leadbetter, there were mutterings from the small-minded in the nearby grandstand who didn´t believe she earned the attention.

That´s exactly what she did. She had earned the opportunity to make history with some blood, a few tears and a lot of sweat.

An hour later, as the tournament wound down, you saw Leadbetter and Rix together. Talking, smiling.

"I´ve got all the respect in the world for her," said Leadbetter. "I just had to forget she´s a girl."

Jeremy Burnside of Camden Hills wrestles a Bucksport opponent.

Veterean Panther coach Philip Genthner congratulates Ashley Hunt for pinning her opponent.
(Photo Gallery By Ken Waltz)

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Sports shorts

Tomahawk Leader 2/14/05

The Hatchet wrestlers placed fourth at the conference tourney. The big story was that Tomahawk's Alyssa Lampe became the first female ever to win a league championship, and her older brother, Anthony, won his third LJC tile with a 4-0 record. **

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