Wrestling: Four area wrestlers advance to state
BY CURT HERRON For Sun-Times Media February 9, 2013 10:44PM
Naperville North's 113-pounder Wayne Yuan (top) ties up his opponent Jim Pellegrino of Sandburg on Saturday in Palos Heights. Yuan won the third-place match to qualify for the state finals. | John Booz~ For Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 11, 2013 7:27PM
All wrestling teams enter sectionals hoping they can advance as many competitors as possible to the state finals in Champaign.
But when you’re competing in the toughest sectional in the state, you better have realistic goals and be happy about any qualifiers that you get.
That was the story for the three area squads who participated in the Class 3A Shepard Sectional in Palos Heights.
Naperville Central advanced a pair of individuals to next week’s finals while Naperville North and Metea Valley each had one qualifier.
North’s Wayne Yuan (33-8) bounced back from a semifinal loss with a pair of wins to take third at 113 to give the Huskies their lone qualifier.
“After my junior year I was so disappointed after coming up short so I worked hard this summer and the entire season and never gave up in any of my matches and it paid off for me,” Yuan said.
Central’s Luke Roth and Ben Williamson both fell in Friday’s quarterfinals, forcing them to win three times on Saturday just to earn state trips.
After being beaten for the first time all season, Roth (34-1) took third at 220 while Williamson (35-12) settled for a fourth place finish at 132.
“Last year I fell one win away from going to state so this feels awesome,” Williamson said. “Coach told me that if I wrestled my hardest and stayed aggressive that I could end up on the podium.”
Metea’s Breon Hoosier (27-5) also won three matches on Saturday and eventually settled for a fourth-place finish at 170.
