Wrestling: Unbeaten Roth leads Central into DVC tourney
BY GARY LARSEN For Sun-Times Media January 22, 2013 6:54PM
Metea Valley’s Breon Hoosier puts Lake Park’s Henry Stoever to the mat during the 170-pound title bout at the UEC meet Saturday. Hoosier won the match. | Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 24, 2013 6:16AM
Naperville Central heads into Saturday’s DuPage Valley Conference tournament after posting a 4-3 record in DVC duals this year, capped by a 71-3 win over an undermanned West Chicago team on Jan. 18.
Leading the postseason charge for the Redhawks will be senior Luke Roth and his 25-0 record at 220 pounds.
“Luke is healthy, and I’m sure he and the rest of the guys are ready for the (DVC) tournament,” Central coach Rob Porter said. “This year he just seems to be real healthy and improving as far as his conditioning is concerned.”
Roth was well-tested in a semifinal match on Jan. 12 at the Mahomet-Seymour tournament, when he won a 2-1 decision over Belleville West’s Tremont Davis (25-6) on his way to winning the title at 220.
“It was a close match score-wise but Luke was in control. He was in on takedowns the entire match and that was a good win for him,” Porter said. “Luke and Ryan Berg are always practice partners and I’m sure that’s helping them both this year.”
Berg (195) also won a title at Mahomet, but the Redhawks’ second-place team finish was also built on the backs of wrestlers like Shuji Mizoguchi (106), Derek Wilke (113), Louie Giovannetti (170), and Joe Saleh (285).
“Obviously Luke and Ryan did great, and we had a whole slew of kids come back for fifth, which means those kids had to go 4-1 in the tournament,” Porter said. “We had a great time at that tournament.”
In addition to individual titles from Andrew Geers (285) and Connor Swier (182) at Saturday’s Upstate Eight Conference meet, along with a second from Justin Killacky (120) and a third from Justin Klein (132), Neuqua Valley placed four additional wrestlers in placing second in the UEC team score to St. Charles East.
Alex Skarr (145), Brent Lindenman (170), and Godfrey Collins (220) each placed fourth, and DJ Warkenthien (195) placed sixth for the Wildcats.
Beyond third-place Metea Valley’s title-mat wrestlers in Breon Hoosier (1st at 170) and Kenan Carter (2nd at 138), the Mustangs also got a pair of thirds from Alex Toepfer (152) and Ahren Marmolejo (160), fourths from Joey Riordan (106) and Axle Ariza (113), and fifths from Sam Elston (145) and Sam Freedlund (220).
Devin Kane (126) also took sixth for Metea but he injury-defaulted in his last two matches of the day.
Fifth-place Waubonsie Valley — this year’s Valley Division champion — got an individual crown from Anthony Touchstone (220) and seconds from Jimmy Davis (132) and Howard Beatty (145).
Anthony Napolitano (195) placed third for the Warriors, Sean Sarkauskas (152) and Jack Timberlake (182) were fourth, Mitch Kroening (170) finished fifth, and Willie Hampton (106) and Jake Laws (160) took sixth.
Davis used a five-point move to take a 7-5 third-period lead over St. Charles East’s Isaiah Vela, but Vela came back to win 9-7 on the title mat at 132.
