Bunch of Bronco Wrestlers Heading to State

Familiarity is a good thing in wrestling. Knowing the opponents tendencies sometimes can give a seasoned wrestler that needed advantage over a tough competitor.

“Eddie (Scanlon) is a tough opponent, I think we have wrestled five or six times the last couple of years,” Cameron Thomson (37-2) said after his last-second decision over the Wheeling senior that decided third place for the 170-pound division in the Barrington Sectionals. “He got me a couple of weeks ago; I knew I would have to keep pushing the pace, keep pressure and work my offense and it just paid off.”

Thomson, who won 10-8, wasn’t the only Bronco to find success at sectionals and punch his ticket to downstate as six Broncos finished in the top three. Now all will be heading to the University of Illinois for the state meet, which starts next weekend Feb. 16.

Senior Adrian Gonzalez (106) kicked off the finals matches with Cary’s freshman Mike Cullen, a tough rematch of the Stevenson regional championship match that saw Gonzalez eek away with the 4-3 victory. But this time it was Cullen striking first with a first period takedown for the early 2-0 lead in the sectionals championship match. Cullen followed that scoring up with a near fall in the second period that gave the Trojan wrestler a comfortable 4-0 lead. Cullen would end the match with a 4-2 win over Gonzalez (33-3).

Cullen’s “tough and got the early takedown, and it was going to be tough for us to comeback against that,” Barrington varsity coach Ken Hoving said. Cullen and Gonzalez “are like one and two in the state, so it was going to be about scoring first.”

Cullen was excited about the win but knew there was a good chance he would be seeing Gonzalez soon.

“I’m happy with how I have done here, but I’m not satisfied,” Cullen said. “I have a week to go and could see Adrian next week” at the state meet.

Gonzalez wasn’t the only Bronco battling for a championship as Barrington senior Jared Parvinmehr took to the mat the next match (113). But unfortunately Parvinmehr (33-3) also was unable to secure a sectional championship after a disappointing 7-0 loss to Machesney Park’s Jordan Northrup.

“That match didn’t start out right,” Parvinmehr said of the championship round. “And it definitely didn’t end right.”

“I could have had a better tournament,” Parvinmehr said. “I’m dealing with a couple of injuries, but who isn’t right now.”

Parvinmehr, who has had some interest from Midwest colleges including COE College in Iowa and North Central University, feels the next week will help prepare him for the upcoming grueling state meet.

“I have a whole week to work,” he said, realizing there was the possibility to see Northrup again at the state meet.

With 13 Barrington wrestlers qualifying for the sectional meet, there were not too many weight groups that didn’t see a Bronco wrestler in the final matches and that was true at the 126-pound category with junior Kevin Conrad’s (31-10) 5-0 victory over Machesney Park’s Tanner Anthony.

“Obviously we had some tough losses early on” in the championship rounds, Hoving said. “But we have seen some guys wrestling tough all day, both juniors and seniors.”

Barrington’s junior Coord Wiseman (145 pounds) also demonstrated some mat toughness as a junior with his 7-4 decision over Tyler Demoss to take third place at the Barrington Sectional.

“My semifinal match was real close,” said Wiseman (34-9) who lost 1-0 to second-place winner Jordan Rathje of Buffalo Grove in the previous round. “I figured I would go out there and give it all that I’ve got.”

“It’s nice to end the tournament with a win,” he went on to say of his third-place finish at sectionals.

Barrington’s junior Ben Calamari also ended the tournament with a win and against a familiar foe. After previously beating Prospect junior Olumashola George in the second round 3-2, Calamari (33-6) followed it up with a 3-0 victory against George that decided third place.

“I don’t mind seeing the same wrestler,” Calamari said prior to his 285-pound rematch.

How other Broncos finished:

Barrington’s Ryan Wilt (195), who finished in the top five, was unable to finish his match in the consolation semifinals round after an injury forced him to watch the conclusion of the tournament from the sidelines.

Daniel Davidson had a grueling match in the consolation semifinal round but an overtime loss kept the senior from advancing to the state meet. But Davidson knows that the Broncos wrestling season isn’t finished yet, despite not making it to the individual state meet.

“It gets real hard at sectionals,” Davidson said. “The best thing about (the individual sectionals) is that we know that this isn’t the last time we wrestle-we still have team sectionals coming up.”