Central Wrestlers Bring Home the Hardware

Crystal Lake Central brought home plenty of Class 2A hardware with a championship, a runner-up medal and a third-place finish from its five wrestlers.

At 195, Gage Harrah needed only 1:44 to dispose of his first three opponents. He pinned Andrew White of Nazareth Academy in :21 in the opening round, Trey Pempilton of Freeport in :35 of the quarter finals and Oliver Newton of Geneseo at :48 of the semifinals.

In the championship bout, Joey Valdivia of Grayslake Central made Harrah work for his crown as the Crystal Lake Central champion earned a 6-2 decision.

Clayton Lutzow took his first three matches at 138 to move into the championship bout before earning a second place medal. In the preliminary match, he pinned Rob Lane of Mt. Zion in 4:46 before stopping Sean Havlovic of Fenton in the quarterfinals, 5-3.

Lutzow had a major decision over Kyle Graumenz of Troy in the semifinals before falling in the title round to Angelo Silvestro of Marmion, 7-3.

Jason Fugiel worked his way through the consolation round to finish third at 152. After pinning Alex Alvis of Bloomington in 5:16 and Sam Kellett of Marmion even quicker at 1:20, he fell to Austin Culton of Sycamore, 7-4 in the championship semifinals.

Once in the consolation bracket, Fugiel pinned Clayton Bass in 1:43 to earn the right to fight David Frazier of Cahokia for third place. He won that match with a fall at 2:59.

Central’s two others wrestlers, Michael Zalesco at 145 and Kyle Fugiel at 126, lost in the first round.

Prairie Ridge

In the Class 3A Meet, top seeded Prairie Ridge senior Zach Synon did not have to wait long to avenge his only loss of the year.

After an opening round victory over Jonnhy Gahagan of Oak Park to run his season record to 43-0, Synon lost for the first time to Mech Spraggins of Belleville West, 6-2, to put him in the consolation round.

Synon made short work of his next three foes besting Sean Murray of Wheaton North, 13-4, Austin Schoen of Lake Park, 8-2, and Jon Marmolejo of Glenbard North on an injury default to get his rematch with Spraggins in the third place match.

The margin of victory was the same in the rematch with Synon winning the third place medal, 6-2.

Crystal Lake South

Mike Romanelli of Crystal Lake South ended his high school wrestling career, falling 3-2 to eventual sixth-place winner Greg Cameron of Plainfield Central.

Romanelli began the tournament with a first round win over Vince Ambrose of Providence Catholic, 12-2, before being pinned in the quarterfinals by Josh Marchok of Schaumburg at 1:55.

Before facing Cameron, Romanelli took his first consolation match, 6-4, over Ben Threloff of St. Rita.