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player ready...York’s Tommy Helton and Glenbard West’s Darien Kaufmann have had a long history of wrestling each other.
According to Helton, the senior heavyweights have battled time and again over the past four high school seasons and even more during the offseason at freestyle and Greco-Roman events with their club teams. Helton and Kaufmann were teammates while representing Team Illinois in national dual-team meets.
In the latest matchup between two of the West Suburban Silver’s best 285-pound wrestlers on Feb. 6, Helton (36-6) defeated Kaufmann (32-5) 1-0 in the Class 3A Glenbard West Regional final. Helton’s winning point came with an escape to start the second period.
“We are good friends and all that,” Helton said. “It’s fun facing him. I thought we had a good match and know what each other is doing.”
Kaufmann beat Helton 5-2, on Dec. 11 in a dual meet in Elmhurst. The two rivals also split their head-to-head matches last season.
Helton received a first-round bye for the Conant Sectional on Feb. 13 and will face Nathan Edwards (25-13) of Hoffman Estates or Dylan Ramirez (25-7) of Niles North in the quarterfinals.
The finals begin at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13.
“I think they boost (each other),” York coach Terry Clarke said. “Tommy is one of the premier heavyweights in Illinois and so is Kaufmann.”
The West Suburban Silver was loaded at heavyweight this season. Matt Allen of Hinsdale Central is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by illinoismatmen with only one loss. Kaufmann is rated No. 5, while Helton is No. 7. Kaufman and Helton are the highest ranked wrestlers at Conant.
The top four wrestlers in each sectional advance to the state meet, which begins Feb. 19 in Champaign.
Helton went 0-2 last season at state and lost 2-1 to Lincoln-Way Central’s Bryan Ditchman in the first round.
Twitter @geomwilcox