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player ready...East Aurora’s Tim Young is riding high heading into next weekend’s individual state finals in Champaign.
One season after failing to advance through regionals as a junior, Young won a sectional title at 195 at Saturday’s Class 3A Downers Grove North Sectional, considered one of the toughest in Illinois this year.
Young’s earned his first trip to the state finals with a 7-2 title-mat win over Mt. Carmel’s Dru Worker.
“This year I just kept my foot on the gas and kept pushing,” Young said. “This feels pretty good and I just thank God for it. I’ll work hard all week and I’ll be ready for next weekend.”
Marmion led all Aurora-area schools with six state qualifiers, with AJ Jaffe (132), Anthony Cheloni (138), Trace Carello (160), Riley DeMoss (170), and Nathan Traxler (182) all reaching the title mat.
Cheloni, Carello, DeMoss, and Traxler were sectional champions, and Mikey Callahan (145) also qualified by placing third.
Traxler won 3-2 over Sandburg’s Patrick Brucki to win his first sectional title, one year after placing fourth in state at 182.
“He’s hard to move and he stays in good position,” Traxler said. “This sectional is one of the harder sectionals and that match is definitely going to help me get ready for (Champaign).”
“I’m much more confident this year. Last year I’d go out there with the possibility of losing in mind but now I go in believing I’m going to win every match.”
West Aurora advanced three wrestlers in Isaac Jacquez (113), Chachi Jacquez (120), and Alex Gonzalez (152). Isaac Jacquez became a two-time state qualifier, earning the sectional title with his 3-2 win over Sandburg’s Robbie Precin.
“I knew I could be a champion and now I want to take it as far as I can,” Jacquez said. “The highest place possible is first place and my goal is to make it on top of that podium this year.”
With four wrestlers advancing in each weight class, Gonzalez earned his downstate berth with a pin in his consolation semifinal match.
“I went in there like it was any other match. I wanted to score points,” Gonzalez said. “I knew no matter what I had to score and went in there not thinking it was about winning. It was about scoring, one point at a time.
Metea Valley’s Kenan Carter (145) advanced, while Waubonsie Valley’s Max Ihry (195) and Tyler Caldwell (285) earned their first trips downstate.
Caldwell secured advancement with a win in the consolation semifinals before placing fourth. The junior missed a month of the season due to mononucleosis before returning to action at last week’s regionals.
“I knew I had to work hard to get my conditioning to where it was and once I did, I knew I had a good shot at this,” Caldwell said. “It feels great and hopefully I can place next week. I’ll definitely give it everything I’ve got.”
Batavia’s Dylan Uzumecki (220) also advanced, punching his ticket downstate with a pin in the consolation semifinals.
Gary Larsen is a freelance writer.