WEEK 12 PREVIEW
Varsity is making the long drive up to Deerfield this Saturday for a dual against the host team, slated to begin at 10:00am - giving everyone a bit of extra time to make the trip up there. It looks to be a good dual - Deerfield is currently ranked 8th in the state, with 9 wrestlers either listed as ranked or honorable mentions in last week's individual rankings, setting up a handful of marquee matchups - but two that stand out in particularAt 113, 5 Anthony Molton looks to do battle against #6 Dylan Utterback. At 132, you may see #2 Abdullah Assaf take on #5 Holden Heller. (Lineups always subject to change... especially on our team.)
The JV team's season will come to an end this weekend with the SWSC JV Conference Tournament taking place at Lincoln-Way Central this Friday and Saturday. Wrestling is set to begin at 5:00pm on Friday and then at 9:00am on Saturday. Head on over to LWC and support the JV team as many (. . . but not all . . .) of the individuals close out their seasons.
WEEK 11 RECAP
The only action this week came from the varsity, who took home the team title at the SWSC Open, scoring 290 points (side note: 300 would have been really cool to hit). Thirteen of fourteen wrestlers were in the top six, led by seven individual champions. Click here for a full recap of the tournament.
ALUMNI RECAP
It was a bit of a rough one for our collegiate alumni this week... but it happens. They'll bounce back.
Luis Montoya (Elmhurst College): Montoya found himself back on the mat this weekend, and put his best foot forward, earning himself a 12-2 major decision over the University of Chicago's Patrick Mulkerin at 285 pounds. As an added bonus, the major decision tied the dual meet score at 22-22, and Elmhurst won on criteria. So, way to win the dual for the team Luis!
Dan Radcliffe (Central College): Central College took part in the Iowa Conference Duals on Saturday, posting a 2-1 record on the day. Radcliffe followed suit, just like the team. Dan earned a win by technical fall in Central's victory over Buena Vista, as well as winning by major decision in the team's victory over Dubuque. In Central's losing effort to top-ranked Wartburg, however, Dan found himself taking a loss by major decision to 4th ranked Cross Cannone.
Vince Dietz (St. Cloud State University): Dietz posted a 1-1 record this week for St. Cloud, who maintains the #1 spot in the team rankings for Division II. On Thursday, Vince earned a major decision victory in SCSU's dominating 38-3 victory over Minnesota State Moorhead. On Saturday however, Dietz took a loss in St. Cloud's 41-3 win over Northern State. As SCSU's recap put it, Dietz "battled into overtime before falling by a close 3-2 tally to 2016 NCAA runner up Joe Gomez of NSU at 197-pounds." I will add that Gomez is currently ranked 10th at the weight class.
Shaun'Qae McMurtry (Northern Illinois University): Qae wasn't able to pick up a win this week in either of the two duals Northern competed in. On Friday, he dropped a 7-5 decision to EMU's Devan Marry. Sunday, a the Huskies took on Illinois, Qae found himself up against 2-time NCAA Champion Isaiah Martinez. Unfortunately, Qae was unable to give Martinez what would have been only his second loss in college - instead, losing by a 22-7 technical fall in the third period.
Shayne Oster (Northwestern University): In Northwestern's dual against Michigan on Sunday, Oster took a loss by fall in just 0:48 to Michigan's Malik Amine, who was making his collegiate debut. Oster was defending a shot from Amine, got into a scramble and looked to hold the better position for a few seconds before Amine countered and caught Shayne with a figure-four turk, which he used to earn the fall.
Brad Johnson (Oklahoma University): Johnson suffered a tough loss, dropping a 3-1 decision to Jacob A. Smith of West Virginia in the Sooners' win over WVU on Saturday. Johnson, ranked 20th, was the underdog in the bout, as Smith came in ranked 6th.