Six Fenwick wrestlers advance to sectional meet
By Rick Behren Contributor February 7, 2012 4:14PM
Fenwick's Mike Kozyra battles St. Ignatius' Marco DiPalo at the St. Patrick Regional on Saturday. | Stacia Timonere~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:13AM
Fenwick didn’t let a little rust prevent six of its wrestlers from moving on to state sectional action after victories in Saturday’s Class 2A St. Patrick Regional.
Three of the six Friars who advanced to the Grayslake Central Sectional, which begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday and continues at 10 a.m. Saturday, have had limited time on the mat this season because of various surgeries, but they came out strong against some tough regional opponents and continue on their run to make it to the state tournament in Champaign.
Fenwick sophomore Danny Freitag (113 pounds), who is coming off knee surgery, advanced with a second-place finish after he defeated a former 3A qualifier by fall before a loss in the semifinals. In limited action this season, Freitag has compiled a 7-2 record.
Senior Matt Garelli (120), a state champion last year who also has had recent knee work, remained undefeated at 16-0 with two victories Saturday, while senior Tony Aguilar (126), who returned to action just a couple of weeks ago, is also headed to Grayslake after earned a victory in his first match before a close loss in the finals to even his record at 9-9.
“Those three have seen limited action this year and hopefully they are ready enough to take the next step at sectionals this weekend,” Fenwick coach Jerry Ruffino said. “I think all three are looking good right now and should catch up to the rest of the pack even more after another week of wrestling and be able to make it downstate.”
Fenwick had two more weight-class champions with sophomore Mike Kozyra (145) and senior Graham Joss (160) winning a pair of matches, and junior Dudem Ikedionwu (152) placed second.
“Kozyra is 29-8 and he won a tough back-and-forth match that was 17-16 before he pinned his opponent,” Ruffino said. “He can wrestle with anybody, but he’s a wide open wrestler so anything can happen. He’ll have a pretty tough sectional, but he has beaten some tough kids this year.
“Joss won a 3A qualifier last year and I think he has a fantastic chance to go downstate. It will be interesting to see how he does in sectionals since he won handily here (at regional).”
Ruffino added he believes Ikedionwu can qualify for a trip to the state meet despite a 14-15 record. He won his semifinal match and made it to the finals at the regional, but then lost an 8-4 decision.
“He’s a longshot to get downstate, but we’ll see. If he keeps wrestling like he has been anything can happen.”
Ruffino said with another week of wrestling under their belts, Fenwick could potentially send five or six wrestlers to Champaign beginning Feb. 16.
“Under the circumstances, even with all of the injuries we’ve had, it wouldn’t surprise me to have six of our wrestlers advance. They are all wrestling pretty well right now and it could be an exciting end for me,” said Ruffino, who will retire at after the season.
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