Oak Park-River Forest took 10 wrestlers to the individual state tournament in Champaign over the weekend, and five returned with medals.
The Huskies were led by state champion Jason Renteria (132 pounds) and runner-up Anthony Madrigal (126). Drew Matticks (170) placed third, while Jaime Hernandez (138) and Brian Holloway (160) placed fifth.
Matticks, who qualified downstate for the first time as a senior, made his debut count.
“Drew took himself to another level this weekend,” OPRF coach Paul Collins said. “He wrestled at a pace and in positions that I don’t think he knew he could do. That’s the best I’ve seen him wrestle.”
Matticks went 4-1 downstate, capped by a 5-4 decision win on the third-place mat over McHenry’s Jaden Glauser.
“It was all there for me. I knew I put in the hard work, every day since the preseason,” Matticks said. “I just trusted my training, and I was there with my mental game. It all kind of fell into place.
“Surprisingly, the atmosphere didn’t throw me off. I was so focused on what I wanted to accomplish, I wasn’t going to let something like being nervous affect me.”
Renteria won his second consecutive state title with a 16-10 title-mat decision over Lockport’s Abdullah Assaf, and Madrigal placed second in a 1-0 loss on the title mat to Montini’s Real Woods.
Woods earned the only point of the match with an escape and rode out Madrigal for the win.
“(Madrigal) wrestled a tough tournament and a good state series, and we knew it would be a tough match,” Collins said. “He and Woods have very similar styles, and they’re two guys who wrestle at a very high level. We just would have liked to see Tony come out a little more aggressive.”
In his first season as a varsity starter, Holloway ended his individual career with an 8-5 win for fifth against Mount Carmel’s Jack Mulay.
“Brian decided not to play football this year, and this spring and summer he committed to being a wrestler,” Collins said. “At this point in his career, he’s barely breaking the ceiling of what he can do.”
Fenwick freshman finishes fourth
Fenwick’s Jacob Kaminski placed fourth at 195 pounds in Class 2A on Saturday, ending his first varsity season with a 22-2 record.
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Kaminski went 3-2 at the State Farm Center, as the only freshman in the field of 16 wrestlers at 195 pounds.
“There weren’t even any sophomores at 195,” Fenwick coach Anthony Poro said. “Everyone but Jacob was either a junior or a senior. He’s 15 years old, and he was essentially wrestling downstate against grown men.”
Kaminski has been doing that all season, though not against the collection of talent he saw in Champaign.
“At first I was nervous wrestling guys that are older than me, but I got used to it,” Kaminski said. “Most of them are either bigger or stronger, and a lot of them are more aggressive in their style as well. So now it’s a matter of getting to that next level for me.”
Kaminski opened with a pair of wins, guaranteeing himself of a medal, before losing his semifinal match by fall to eventual state champion Jacob Warner of Washington.
Warner is the top-ranked high school wrestler in the country at 195 pounds by InterMat Wrestling.
“You get to see where you are, measured against the No. 1 guy in the country,” Kaminski said. “And you get to see what the best guys are doing in terms of their wrestling style.”
Kaminski won his consolation semifinal match 6-3 over Crystal Lake Central’s Seamus O’Donnell before losing by fall to Oak Forest’s Eric Brenner on the third-place mat.
“There were things I could have improved in each individual match,” Kaminski said. “I could have wrestled smarter or taken it to the other guy more. So I’m happy with how I did, but I’m looking forward to improving.”
Fenwick junior Adam Aguilar, who competed at 132 pounds in his first state appearance, did not medal.
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press