Wrestlers Fall Short At Sectional Tourney

The Illinois High School Association sent Evanton’s wrestlers on a different postseason path this year.

But in a state as tough as this one, there’s no such thing as an easy sectional tournament.

The Wildkits were unable to qualify any individuals Saturday at the Class 3A Conant Sectional as freshman Rodrigo Salinas (157 pounds) and senior Xavier Starks (165) both came up one victory short of advancing to the state finals at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Both standouts were eliminated in Saturday’s consolation semifinals and four other Wildkits also bowed out in the double-elimination format.

Both Salinas and Starks chalked up 40-victory seasons in their first years as regulars in the varsity lineup, but that only made their exits Saturday more bittersweet.

Salinas, the son of ETHS head coach Rudy Salinas, suffered back-to-back losses after advancing to the semifinals with a 4-3 triumph over Isaac Davies of Oak Park-River Forest. He lost to the eventual champion, Thomas Fulton of Wheaton North, via fall in 4 minutes, 34 seconds and then dropped an 8-5 decision to Martin Duarte of Addison Trail.

Coach Salinas said he couldn’t fault wrestler Salinas for his aggressiveness in attempting to win both matches, instead of just hand-fighting and waiting for his opponent to make a mistake. The freshman standout finished 41-10 on the year.

“He was aggressive in that last match, and he tried to execute a couple of moves. It just didn’t go his way,” said Rudy Salinas. “I can’t fault him for the way he locked horns out there with two good seniors and kept them honest.

“He had a scramble situation (against Duarte) where I thought the other kid locked hands (illegally) and impeded his progress a couple of times. But the second referee didn’t see it, and if it didn’t get called, then it never happened. I would have loved another opportunity for Rodrigo to get another scramble going.

“He was looking good against the Wheaton North kid until he made an unforced error in a scramble. That’s on him, and I know when he looks in the mirror he’ll hold himself accountable and not make excuses. There were eight seniors in his bracket and he’s only a freshman, so that tells you he’ll have to opportunities to be a state placer and a state champion. He knows he belongs --- and he knows how close he is.”

Starks, who split a dozen varsity matches as a junior, made a full-time commitment to the sport in his final season and won 43 of 53 bouts. He opened Friday with an 8-1 trimming of OPRF’s Hugh Vanek, and pinned Kosta Carrera of South Elgin in 53 seconds to reach the semis.

He also lost to the eventual champ, DeKalb’s Jacob Luce, who scored a fall in 1:52. Starks then bowed out when Elk Grove Village’s Logan Tosterud, who also beat him in the regional tourney, stuck Starks in 3:35.

“Xavier got refocused this year and set some goals. We liked his (postseason) path, and we thought he had a good chance,” said the ETHS coach. “He was our highest achieving senior (t the two-day tourney) and he’s still learning about wrestling under pressure. He improved in the classroom and got refocused mentally this year. He and Rodrigo were workout partners all year and I think they sharpened each other up to get to this point.”

Sophomore heavyweight Jeremy Marshall (40-11) was ousted with a 1-0 loss to rival Tyler Fortis of Maine South. Fortis, who also beat Marshall during the regular season, scored a second period escape for his margin of victory in the consolation quarterfinals and advanced to State as the third place finisher at 285.

Marshall piled up falls in both of his wins at the tourney and was also pinned by Julian Hutchinson of Lane Tech.

“Jeremy was another guy who had some self-inflicted errors, and he still needs to work on all three phases of his game,” the coach pointed out. “He lost to a kid who’s ranked (in the state) 1-0 and he’s going to be in the mix next year. He should feel good about his performance.”

Senior Eren Atac endured an unfortunate draw at 132 pounds and finished 1-2 at the tourney for a final season mark of 39-11. After clipping Lake Park’s Sergio Hernandez 9-6 in the first round, he came up against Ohio State University recruit Ben Davino of St. Charles East in the second round.

Davino, who is now unbeaten in 46 matches, scored a 19-4 technical fall against Atac. The Evanston grappler couldn’t bounce back from that loss and was pinned in the consolation round by Andrew Wendt of Geneva.

“Eren was excited to wrestle against him,” said Salinas, “but that kid is at a whole different level. That shows you just how tough our state is and you’re going to here a lot about a lot of these guys at the Division I college level.”

Another Kit senior, Bryan Lemus, lost twice at 138. Evanston did have another competitor in the field, freshman Andy Edwards, who didn’t qualify automatically out of the regional but advanced as an alternate at 113 when another grappler couldn’t compete due to injury. Edwards suffered first period pins in both of his bouts.

Edwards’ advancement was ironic because two of his teammates, Josh Marty and Manny Holloway, should have been at Conant Friday and Saturday. Instead, both seniors had to forfeit their chances to make it to State due to injuries suffered at the Maine South Regional.

Marty actually wrestled all season with a bad knee and finally decided to have surgery last week, even though he somehow managed a runnerup finish at 190 pounds at the regional meet. And Holloway was diagnosed with a slipped disc in his back and wasn’t able to suit up at 144.

“I can’t remember ever losing two guys like that,” Salinas said. “Josh was only 50-50 at the regional and had already scheduled that surgery for Wednesday, and we felt it was in his best interests to go ahead with it. He made the decision with our blessing. It’s tough for it to end like that for a couple of great seniors.”