NEW LENOX • The Illini Classic, the brainchild of Tyrone Byrd, has become not only the premier end-of-season tournaments in Illinois, but also one of the most unique competitions around. The most basic entry for a team into the tournament: a University of Illinois wrestling affiliate. For now, there are only a few non-Illini schools participating in the event; the goal, all Illini teams.
All a whole, the Illini Classic brought out the stars and they performed. Great matchups in the finals, great matchups in the place matches, and great bouts across the board.
This year’s event included several top tier teams from across the state, and with those teams came a number of talented wrestlers competing for a team title, an individual crown, and bragging rights of their coach. And this year, the bragging rights go to Brendan Heffernan of Chicago Marist. Heffernan, not only a 1999 graduate of Marist, but also a Fighting Illini alum. Last week, Heffernan won his 300th career dual meet, and, currently, the RedHawks are ranked number one in Illinois’ 3A classification. As the season now leads for the Chicago Catholic League Conference Championships, this title may be the start of something special at the end of the season.
Marist was led by a senior group that rang up four individual crowns and one runner-up—all five seniors were in the finals.
Michael Esteban (#3, 3A) started the run of four in a row with a 10-2 major decision over John Sheehy (#2, 2A) from Niles Notre Dame at 126 pounds. Next up on the championship mat for the RedHawks was George Marinopoulos. The number two ranked wrestler in 3A at 132 pounds would need all the available time allowed as he took out Elijah Garza (#5, 3A) of Hersey via a 2-1 Ultimate Tiebreaker win.
At 144, it would be a battle between two of the top three wrestlers in the state: Donavon Allen (#2, 3A) versus Maksim Mukhamedaliyev (#3, 3A) of Hersey. However, this bracket was loaded with 3A’s elite. The number two and three, as well as the four, five, and six ranked wrestlers in the state. Along with any of those, the championship bout may serve to be a potential state semifinal or state championship pairing. Overall, this bracket was stacked, and, on this day, it belonged to Allen. He would exit the title match with the title through a 10-5 decision.
And finally, the last champion for Marist came in the form of the nearly untouchable Will Denny (#1, 3A) at 157 pounds, and now #1, 3A at 165 pounds. For this tournament, Denny chose to wrestle up a weight class at 165 and test himself against some bigger opponents—and he would not be disappointed. This may also be the case where Marist was seeing how their lineup would look with Denny at 165 and Ethan Sonne at 157—if so, it looked really good.
Denny would ultimately make the finals where he would be paired with a very strong Anthony Gutierrez from St. Charles East who was ranked number one at 165. In the end, it would be all Denny. The North Carolina State commit would walk away with a 19-4 technical fall in 3:40, proving that whatever weight he chooses to wrestle, he can dominate.
The fifth senior to make the finals was Ricky Ericson (#1, 3A) at 190 pounds; unfortunately, he would have to injury default in a matchup against Marian Central’s Jimmy Mastny (#1, 1A) that all wrestling fans were excited to watch.
Other placewinner for the RedHawks were third place finisher, Ethan Sonne (157); fourth place finisher, Roberto Rangel (106); sixth place finishers, Joe Bronske (113), Caden Campo (120), Tommy O’Brien, (215), and Jack Watson (285); and eighth place finisher, Kevin Bartolotta (175).
With Marist’s five horses at the top, they are a difficult team to beat. Now, throw in some youth and some juniors, and this could be Marist’s year.
In addition to Marist, making noise at this year’s event was team runner-up Clovis North, California, just nineteen points out of first. Coach Gabe Flores had four of his wrestlers make the finals. Two titles were won by both Tyler Sweet (106) and Leo Maestas (138), with runner-up placings being earned by Markez Del Bosque (157) and Jackson Reilly (285).
In other great championship matches, Rocco Hayes of Sandburg (#3, 3A) would square off against Austin Hagevold of Marian Central (#2, 1A) for the 113-pound title. In the end, it would be a 12-6 decision and individual crown for Hayes.
At 120 pounds, fans were in for something special as two number one ranked wrestlers met in the finals; this was also a rematch of the Dvorak finals where Munaretto won an 11-3 major decision. Additionally, there were also two wrestlers in the bracket, but the stage was set for Dom Munaretto of St. Charles East (#1, 3A) and Brayden Teunissen of Marian Central (#1, 1A). However, in what was anticipated to be a close bout, Munaretto opened fast and showed why he is a very special wrestler. The two-time World champion left nothing to chance and closed out his title bout with a 17-2 technical fall in 4:37.
Justus Heeg (#2, 2A) at 150 pounds showed out once again claiming another title. This time, the Providence Catholic freshman defeated Donovan Rosauer of Yorkville (#8, 3A) with a technical fall of his own, 21-5, in 3:40.
As a team, the Fighting Foxes of Yorkville would crown three champions of their own. Jack Ferguson, (#1, 3A) would defeat Clovis North’s Markez Del Bosque 10-3 for his title at 157 pounds, while Luke Zook (175) and Luke Chrisse (215) would have to go through a pair of Lincoln-Way wrestlers.
For Zook (#2, 3A), he would defeat Lincoln-Way East’s Jackson Zaeske (#5, 3A) by fall in 1:28. And Chrisse (#4, 3A) would win by a 12-3 major decision over Nate Elstner of Lincoln-Way West (#10, 3A).
Other champions included Leo Maestas, Clovis North at 138 pounds, and heavyweight Brandon Barvisha of Lincoln-Way West (HM, 3A).
To watch the finals, simply head to IllinoisMatmen.com and become a PRO subscriber today.
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Here are the top ten TEAM SCORES from this year’s Illini Classic:
01 • 274.0 • Marist
02 • 255.0 • Clovis North, CA
03 • 199.5 • St. Charles East
04 • 198.5 • Yorkville
05 • 178.0 • Sandburg
06 • 163.0 • Lincoln-Way West
07 • 157.5 • Lincoln-Way East
08 • 151.0 • Marian Central
09 • 141.0 • Hersey
10 • 119.5 • Providence Catholic
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Here are the TOP EIGHT FINISHERS at each weight:
106 pounds
01 • Tyler Sweet, Clovis North
02 • Ray Long, Niles Notre Dame (#3, 2A)
03 • Christian Corcoran, Providence Catholic (#7, 2A)
04 • Roberto Rangel, Marist (#8, 3A)
05 • Austin Phelps, Schaumburg (#9, 3A)
06 • Daniel Berdich, Stevenson
07 • Lucas Mendez, Clovis North
08 • Ramsey Barton, Yorkville
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113 pounds
01 • Rocco Hayes, Sandburg (#3, 3A)
02 • Austin Hagevold, Marian Central (#2, 1A)
03 • Jacob Rodriguez, Clovis North
04 • Brady Glynn, Lincoln-Way West (#8, 3A)
05 • Evan Mishels, Stevenson (HM, 3A)
06 • Joe Bronske, Marist
07 • Noah Ciolkisz, Lincoln-Way East
08 • Nate Ortiz, Providence Catholic
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120 pounds
01 • Dom Munaretto, St. Charles East (#1, 3A)
02 • Brayden Teunissen, Marian Central (#1, 1A)
03 • Brady Phelps, Schaumburg (#2, 3A)
04 • Noah Avina, Minooka (HM, 3A)
05 • Edgar Mosquera, Riverside-Brookfield (#2, 2A)
06 • Caden Campo, Marist
07 • Jack Hogan, St. Rita (#8, 2A)
08 • Alijah Ortiz, Clovis North
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126 pounds
01 • Michael Esteban, Marist (#3, 3A)
02 • John Sheehy, Niles Notre Dame (#2, 3A)
03 • Shane Stream, Lincoln-Way West (HM, 3A)
04 • Nick Marchese, Marian Central (#9, 1A)
05 • Liam Aye, St. Charles East (HM, 3A)
06 • Riddick Variano, Hersey (HM, 3A)
07 • Roger Martinez, Lyons (HM, 3A)
08 • Aiden Ortiz, Oswego (HM, 3A)
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132 pounds
01 • George Marinopoulos, Marist (#2, 3A)
02 • Elijah Garza, Hersey (#5, 3A)
03 • Madden Parker, Sandburg (#8, 3A)
04 • Tyson Zvonar, Lincoln-Way East (#9, 3A)
05 • Shawn Kogan, Stevenson
06 • Carter Dibenedetto, Lincoln-Way West
07 • Bryce Pasvogel, Clovis North
08 • Nino Protti, St. Rita (#7, 2A)
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138 pounds
01 • Leo Maestas, Clovis North
02 • Jadon Zimmer, Lincoln-Way Central (#7, 3A)
03 • Gavin Woodmancy, St. Charles East (#8, 3A)
04 • Jack Kutchek, Lyons (HM, 3A)
05 • Brady Ritter, Sandburg (#9, 3A)
06 • Dominic Recchia, Yorkville (HM, 3A)
07 • Brayden Mortell, Lincoln-Way East (HM, 3A)
08 • Luke Banas, Providence Catholic
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144 pounds
01 • Donavon Allen, Marist (#2, 3A)
02 • Maksim Mukhamedaliyev, Hersey (#3, 3A)
03 • Ryan Hinger, Sandburg (#4, 3A)
04 • Elijah Ornelas, Clovis North
05 • Cal Kirchner, Schaumburg (#5, 3A)
06 • Brayden Swanson, Oswego (#6, 3A)
07 • Kaidge Richardson, Lincoln-Way East (HM, 3A)
08 • Max Rosen, DePaul College Prep (HM, 2A)
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150 pounds
01 • Justus Heeg, Providence Catholic (#2, 2A)
02 • Donovan Rosauer, Yorkville (#8, 3A)
03 • Vance Williams, Marian Central (#2, 1A)
04 • Rodrigo Arcoe, Hersey (#10, 3A)
05 • Dillon Griffin, Oswego (HM, 3A)
06 • Ethan Harvey, Lincoln-Way Central
07 • Vince Gutierrez, Sandburg
08 • Drew Gerstung, DePaul College Prep (HM, 2A)
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157 pounds
01 • Jack Ferguson, Yorkville (#1, 3A)
02 • Markez Del Bosque, Clovis North
03 • Ethan Sonne, Marist (#8, 3A)
04 • Ryan McGovern, St. Charles East (HM, 3A)
05 • Micah Spinazzola, St. Rita (#10, 2A)
06 • Frankie Tagoe, Hersey (HM, 3A)
07 • Alex Lizak, Lincoln-Way East (HM, 3A)
08 • Jasper Harper, Providence Catholic (HM, 2A)
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165 pounds
01 • Will Denny, Marist (#1, 3A 165)
02 • Anthony Gutierrez, St. Charles East (#2, 3A)
03 • Jalen Byrd, Lincoln-Way Central (#7, 3A at 157)
04 • Kaden Meyer, Minooka (#6, 3A)
05 • Caleb Viscogliosi, Yorkville (HM, 3A)
06 • DJ Freeman, Lincoln-Way West
07 • Grant Moga, Hersey
08 • Brayden McKay, Providence Catholic
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175 pounds
01 • Luke Zook, Yorkville (#2, 3A)
02 • Jackson Zaeske, Lincoln-Way East (#5, 3A)
03 • AJ Frescura, Minooka (HM, 3A)
04 • Ahmad Alomari, Sandburg
05 • Hunter Cabral, Clovis North
06 • Abe Leidig, St. Charles East
07 • Sean Christoffel, Schaumburg
08 • Kevin Bartolotta, Marist
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190 pounds
01 • Jimmy Mastny, Marian Central (#1, 1A)
02 • Ricky Ericson, Marist (#1, 3A)
03 • Zachary Kruse, Hinsdale (#4, 3A)
04 • Colton Zvonar, Lincoln-Way East (#6, 3A)
05 • Jackson Cinfel, Clovis North
06 • Ryder Janeczko, Yorkville (#5, 3A)
07 • Jimmy Talley, Lincoln-Way West
08 • Will Pleviak, Lyons
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215 pounds
01 • Luke Chrisse, Yorkville (#4, 3A)
02 • Nate Elstner, Lincoln-Way West (#10, 3A)
03 • Ross Cinfel, Clovis North
04 • Cooper Murray, St. Charles East (HM, 3A)
05 • Dan French, Marian Central (#5, 1A)
06 • Tommy O’Brien, Marist
07 • Aiden Hennings, Lincoln-Way Central (HM, 3A)
08 • Malic Breish, Sandburg
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285 pounds
01 • Brandon Barvisha, Lincoln-Way West (HM, 3A)
02 • Jackson Reilly, Clovis North
03 • Hunter Wahtola, DePaul College Prep (HM, 2A)
04 • Matt Medina, St. Charles East (HM, 3A)
05 • Robbie Murray, Minooka
06 • Jack Watson, Marist
07 • Mike Sisk, Providence Catholic (HM, 2A)
08 • Jimmy Hillman, Lyons
• TC LIFONTI / LEAD WRITER FOR ILLINOIS MATMEN / tclifonti.com
