Heavyweight Battle Heats Up For Champion Wildkits

The presence of two talented heavyweights in the Evanston wrestling room has created an interesting dynamic within the program.

Ian Sims just made things even more interesting.

One week after Jeremy Marshall won the 285-pound title at the Vernon Hills Tournament, Sims turned the tables on his teammate with a 2-1 overtime triumph in the finale of the Elias George Memorial Tournament held Saturday at Willie May Fieldhouse.

Evanston Blue edged Niles West by a 215.5 to 212 margin for the title at the 10-team event that honors the memory of the late Hall of Fame Evanston mat coach. Sims competed for the Evanston Orange team that placed 5th with 142.5 points.

Deadlocked 1-1 after three regulation periods, the pair squared off in the overtime and it was Sims who prevailed with an escape in the first 30-second OT and rode out the second OT on top of Marshall, to the point of exhaustion for both strongmen.

Sims didn’t regard the victory as an upset, even though Marshall is coming off a summer where he earned All-American recognition.

And, since neither standout could safely drop enough weight to get down to the 215-pound weight class by season’s end, the drama is starting to build already in the battle to earn the starting spot in the postseason lineup.

“Jeremy’s really my competitive standard. I’ve been wrestling against him since I was a freshman, and he beats me a lot,” Sims said. “It’s the competition that really keeps us both going. And I did beat him in the frosh-soph (spring) regionals last year.

“Since I wrestle him every day in practice, that makes it hard, when you’re going up against someone who knows your moves and your counter moves. I’ve tried to do a little more thinking out there during my matches and today I was trying to focus on what I know his weaknesses, and my strengths, are.

“My blast double (takedown) is my bread and butter move, and whenever I see a chance, I go for it. The competition with him really motivates me, and since I weigh 260 right now, I personally don’t want to drop down (to a lower weight class).”

Both ETHS titans breezed into the finals, accounting for a combined 5 falls from opposite ends of the bracket.

Marshall was listed at 270 when both he and Sims were measured for the varsity football team. After a first-round bye Saturday, Marshall pinned another teammate, Saijad Mohammed, in 17 seconds and then chalked up a second period pin (2 minutes, 46 seconds) versus Dameon Norwood of Kenwood in the semifinals.

Sims’ path to the finals went through Greg Jaramillo of Mather (fall in 24 seconds), Eliyan Owerko of Rickover Acadmey (fall in 39 seconds), and Manny Olojo of Niles West (fall in 1:09).

Evanston head coach Rudy Salinas thinks it’s too early to pick a favorite to claim that starting role at heavyweight, even though he holds both grapplers in high regard.

“That situation will come down to the end of the year,” said the veteran coach. “Both of them still have huge improvements to make and we’ll see who’s ready by the regional. I love the fact that we had two of our guys in the finals today, but I doubt that really defines anything yet.

“One of them will be the starter --- and one will be out. Right around winter break is where it gets harder, when we go to better tournaments against better competition. Right now both of them have to earn the spot. It will come down to character, and leadership, and coachability.

“Ian came to wrestling to help him develop because he wants to be a Division I football player and we’re extremely happy to have him. He’s capable of being great and that wasn’t an upset today. Jeremy was under-utilized in football, but he’s coming off a great summer and he won handily at Vernon Hills. He still needs to get in better wrestling shape.”

Sims, Charlie Wagner (126 pounds) and Ken Coleman (165) accounted for individual titles for the Evanston Orange squad. Salinas split his squad in half in an effort to give his grapplers some on-the-mat experience and Wagner capitalized on his chance with a fall against Evan Potijinda of Evanston Blue in 3:22 in the title bout.

At 165, Coleman opened with a technical fall (15-point win) and then registered three pins in a row, including a fall in 3:08 in the finals versus Calvin Cung of Mather.

Evanston Blue, the meet champion, counted individual titles from Nick Arend (106), Art Bytyqi (157) and Brian Henry (190).

Arend’s bracket counted just six total entries, so after a pair of byes he only needed wins over Nathan Hernandez of Rickover (technical fall 20-1) and Roman Martinez of Amundsen (fall in 0:29).

Bytyqi’s dominant performance at 157 climaxed with a 15-0 technical fall in the title bout, a significant win for the team standings against Josh Mreana of Niles West.

At 190, Henry advanced to the finals with a 12-8 conquest of James Reshoft of Amundsen, then nailed Dylan Wilson of Sarah Good in 2:41 to rule that bracket.

In the girls division, Fatima Gomez and Kennedy Murray sparked host Evanston Blue to a tie for third place in the team standings with 79 points, same as Niles West. Rickover earned the team title with 174 points to 124.5 for runnerup Mather.

Gomez captured the crown at 190, pinning Julissa Az of Mather in 0:32 in the finale, after Murray had topped the field at 145 by with a first period pin of Rickover’s Isabelle Nejia in 85 seconds.