Even as a senior and a returning state champion, Marmion’s Nathan Traxler welcomes the butterflies.
“I’ll get the jitters once in a while, but that’s helpful. It keeps me on the edge,” he said. “It keeps me from getting overconfident.
“Last year I felt more pressure just because I was ranked No. 1 and hadn’t won a state title yet. This year I think I’ve already proved it. Now I just need to get the job done again.”
In Saturday’s Class 3A Naperville North Regional, Traxler’s 9-4 decision at 182 pounds over Waubonsie Valley’s Mason Kroening was his first step toward returning to the state finals.
Marmion dominated the day with 247 points. Naperville North was next with 133.5. The Cadets sent 10 wrestlers to the title mat and won all 10, taking their fourth consecutive regional title and fifth in seven years.
“We did what we expected,” said Marmion’s Jake Polka, who won the 126-pound championship.
Nate Callaway (106) kicked off the finals with a pin, setting up one of the meet’s wildest, quickest matches at 113.
Metea Valley’s Phillip Sims came out aggressively and earned two early takedowns against Naperville North’s Lucas Van Poucke, but the third time wasn’t the charm and Van Poucke got the pin at 1:17.
“After a while I figured out that (Sims) was just going to dive at my legs, and I just caught him,” Van Pouck said. “I took second last year so I’m hoping to capitalize on this at the sectional next week.”
West Aurora’s Isaac Jacquez (120) also had to come from behind to win 6-5. Trailing 5-0 after two periods to Naperville Central’s Jake Keating, Jacquez turned up the heat.
“I had to win the period and do stuff that I’m not used to. I play defense a lot more but when I’m down 5-0 I had to push the pace,” Jacquez said. “I’m happy I won but I know I made a lot of mistakes, and I have to go back to the practice room and fix them.”
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Marmion won the next eight title matches, getting pins from Polka, Anthony Cheloni (132), and Matt Ferraro (170), a tech fall from AJ Jaffe (138), a major decision from Trace Carello (152), and decisions from Traxler, Brad Gross (145), Nate Jimenez (160).
Wes Kramer (285) finished off Marmion’s title run with a 7-3 decision over Metea Valley’s Bobby Papiernik.
One of the day’s premier matches pitted Metea’s Dylan Ervin against Waubonsie’s Max Ihry at 195. Ervin trailed 3-2 with time running out in the third period when he forced a stalling call on Ihry that sent the match to overtime.
Ervin earned a takedown at the edge of the mat to win 4-3, in the third meeting this year between two of the state’s best at 195. Ervin now holds a 2-1 edge over Ihry.
“Max is a terrific athlete, a terrific wrestler, and we’re terrific friends,” Ervin said. “I lost to him last week and lost my focus, and that was a loss that I needed. Everyone is beatable and a loss like that pushes me even harder.”
Going up against Naperville Central’s Christian Nussbaum, Batavia’s Dylan Uzumecki (39-2) pinned his 24th opponent of the season for the 220 title.
“I lost my first match downstate last year and that was it for me,” Uzumecki said. “I definitely don’t plan on doing that again.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News.