Sandburg’s Michael McAuliffe won the 103-pound championship in Class AA on Saturday night, besting his father Michael’s second-place finish at 112 pounds 30 years ago for Reavis.
“I can tell the whole family now that I’m the No. 1 wrestler in the family,” said the younger McAuliffe.
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Living the nickname
With echoes of “Beast” roaming through Assembly Hall, Fremd’s Robert Panayi powered through the bracket to win at 215 pounds. He recorded three falls, including a record time of 2:37 in his 9-2 finals win over previously undefeated Andy Greenawalt of Naperville North. Panayi (37-0) can lay claim to the title of state’s best at 215 pounds. He pinned Class A champion Dan Haeflinger of Harvard in December to give him his only loss.
Medal of courage
If the IHSA gave rewards for courage, Conant senior Ryan Drake would certainly have won one. He wrestled the state tournament with a partially torn ACL in his left knee. The senior 215-pounder was one match short of placing, and both of his losses were by a combined three points. Drake finished the year 34-5.
Records fall
Friday and Saturday saw record-setting pins at 112, 145 and 215 pounds. St. Rita’s John Starzyk pinned his opponent in 24 seconds at 112, Marty Engwall of Providence recorded a 17-second pin in the consolation bracket at 145 and Haeflinger dropped his Class A championship foe in 58 seconds. Greenawalt set a Class AA technical fall weight-class record at 215 pounds when he ended the third-place match at 4:07.