Wheaton N. bags Batavia crown

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BY ALAN FERGUSON
Chicago Sun-Times

After just missing out on the title at the Batavia Invitational last season, the Wheaton North wrestling team made sure to finish the job this time. The Falcons put five wrestlers in championship matches, got three titlists and earned their first tournament win at Batavia since 2002.

Nate Fitzenreider (125 pounds), Ryan Early (135) and Eric Terrazas (145) won titles for Wheaton North.

''This was nice, really nice'' Fitzenreider said. ''Our team is getting better and better. The improvement at the end of the year is amazing from everybody.''

Maine South wound up third behind a surging Lemont. The Indians, who came up 23 points shy of Wheaton North, got three titlists in Matt Leibforth (112), Ryan Leibforth (152) and Gordy Kickels (189).

Maine South's Joe Brewster won his team's only championship with a decision at 103 pounds.

The marquee matchup of the night came at 119, where Batavia's Jon Escamilla edged Argo's Josh Thompson 2-0 with a third-period reversal. Escamilla (23-1) rode out Thompson (20-3) for the entire second period and for more than a minute in the third period to earn the victory.

Escamilla shared Outstanding Wrestler honors with 285-pound teammate Kevin McFarland, who beat McHenry's Jordan Walsh 10-4 in his final match.

Other titlists included McHenry's Neil Anderson (130), Buffalo Grove's Kyle Czarnecki (140), Morris' Brenton Valentine (160), Rockford Boylan's Zack Smith (171) and Streamwood's Chris Dunning (215).

AT GENESEO: St. Rita won the invitational with 209 points, and Minooka was second at 176.

Steve Zimmerman (135), Albert White (152) and Jerome Ward (189) took first for the Mustangs. Brian Bokoski (103) and Kevin Bokoski< (130) led Minooka.

Iowa City West's Nate Moore (125), the No. 1 rated wrestler in his class in Iowa, defeated Providence's John Starzyk 6-2, breaking Starzyk's streak of 122 consecutive victories. Providence winners included Brian Reynolds (160) and Martin Murphy (145).