Jacobs didn’t have any individual champions at this year’s Fox Valley Conference meet, but the Golden Eagles exited the gym in McHenry with heads held high.
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Because they also held the team champion trophy.
“This is our first time as a high school to win the conference tournament,” Jacobs coach Gary Conrad said. “We have a versatile room and a lot of solid guys that wrestle hard and believe in themselves.”
Jacobs sent four wrestlers to the title mat, five more to the third-place mat, and was the only program present to have all 14 wrestlers place in the top six of their weight classes.
The Eagles posted a 208.5-201.5 edge over second-place McHenry. Crystal Lake Central was third and Huntley finished fourth in the 13-team field.
Crystal Lake Central won the Fox Division regular-season title and McHenry won the Valley Division, but Jacobs’ depth carried the day on Saturday.
“We’ve had some great coaching the past few years and this really shows how much the program is improving,” Jacobs senior Michael Ricks said. “Everyone contributed, from the freshmen to the seniors.”
Ricks (170), Cody Ferencz (120), Jake Orth (152) and Loren Strickland (160) all reached the title mat, with Orth and Strickland upsetting No. 2 seeds to reach the finals.
The freshman Strickland played a major role in helping the Eagles win the title, entering the meet with a 14-13 record but beating the second and third seeds to reach the finals.
“He’s a tremendous athlete. This is only his second year of wrestling,” Conrad said of Strickland. “We’re really excited to see what he does in the future. My hat’s off to (Strickland).”
Beau Harrier (113) and Chris Dranka (132) placed third for the Eagles.
Huntley’s Brandon Meyer won the Elgin-area’s first title, a 9-1 major decision at 152 over Orth that started with an ankle pick for a takedown and rolled on from there.
Meyer improved to 36-4 in winning his first FVC crown. “I lost in the finals last year so finally winning one feels great,” Meyer said. “Now it’s time to keep training hard going into the regional next week.”
Huntley also got seconds from Zach Spencer (106), Josh Stenger (113), Ricky Vigil (132), and Dominic Swanson (285).
The day’s marquee title match featured a pair of previously unbeaten wrestlers in Crystal Lake Central’s Andrew Marsden and Dundee-Crown’s Christian Brunner at 195 pounds.
Marsden won a Class 2A state title at 195 last year while Brunner was second in 3A at 182. Marsden had an early takedown en route to a 7-0 victory over Brunner.
“He’s probably going to win 2A again so it was fun wrestling the top guy,” Brunner said. “I wrestled him all summer so we knew what each other was going to do. The takedown was deflating at the beginning but I wanted to wrestle hard for six minutes and keep fighting.”
The Chargers also got a second from Jarrod Raap (182). Dundee-Crown finished seventh, with Hampshire placing eighth.
Hampshire’s Anton Krocko won his first FVC title in a 3-0 decision over Ricks. Krocko’s riding ability stood out and he scored the lone takedown in the second period.
“I first realized I could ride guys at the sectional meet my sophomore year. Since then I’ve worked on turning people and I have 15 or 16 pins this year,” said Krocko, after improving to 32-2. “It feels pretty good to win this, since it’s my senior year.”