Cabrera, Downes Win Regional Titles for Grayslake North

"This was a very competitive Regional Tournament," said Tom Frye, head wrestling coach at Grayslake North, after the Feb. 5 competition. "There were several state qualifiers from last year who didn’t make it out of Regionals this year. We are very proud of all of our guys who competed today. We have five guys moving on to the Sectionals who we believe have a legitimate shot at going downstate."

At 119 pounds, junior Angel Cabrera of North was crowned Regional Champion with a pin of Richmond Burton’s Mike Hrdlicka in the first period of their match. Cabrera has a stellar 34–6 record so far this season.

"It was no surprise that Angel won the Regional," said Frye. "He was the #1 seed here, he finished second at the Fox Valley Conference Meet last week and he has 30 plus wins. He’s a junior now and as a freshman, I thought he was one of the best wrestlers we had in the program. So we expected this from Angel and he delivered."

Competing at the 135 weight class was Rich Downes who won the Regional Championship over Tyler Booth of Lakes in a very close contest, 4-3. Downes is a senior with a 36-3 record who also qualified for state last year.

A fierce competitor on the mats, but a gregarious gentleman in an interview, Downes had this to say about his difficult bouts: "I had some tough matches today especially with Booth in the final. He’s a great competitor and I’m sure he’ll be looking for a rematch at Sectionals next week. This is my senior year and my last chance to get back down state and come home with a medal so I am going to leave everything on the mat."

In other matches, Nick Klein (17–7) of the Knights took second to Richmond Burton’s Garrett Sutton at 112 pounds. These two will likely meet again this weekend in the Sectional Tournament at Antioch.

Stone Dax (17–11) of the Knights wrestled well in the 152 pound bracket until he made a mistake in the Championship bout that led to his being stuck by the champ Brett Okane of Richmond Burton. However, he finished second and that means the sophomore is moving on to Sectionals towards a possible rematch with Okane and an opportunity to make it downstate.

At 215-lbs. North’s Jimmy Prince (34–7) advanced to the championship match after winning a hard fought match against Grayslake Central’s Kevin Hein 9-8. Both wrestlers were state qualifiers last year and will likely be competing against each other at the Sectional meet. Prince was very excited about going to sectionals.

"My matches with Kevin (Hein) are always tough matches," Prince said.

"We have experienced so much growth this year and over the last few years in our program," Frye said. "Kids have grown tremendously not just in their wrestling ability, but in their faith in themselves, their self-discipline, their belief that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to do. What better sport is there to do that than wrestling? It is a sport that makes you want to quit and give up so much and somehow it makes you find a way to build character and the confidence to get better each and every day even in the most difficult of times."

Sophomores Luke Pritchett at 103 pounds and Anthony Downes at 125 pounds wrestled extremely hard but fell short of advancing after losing their third place matches to tough opponents. Frye believes the two have bright futures in wrestling. Their fourth place finishes helped North to a third place team standing behind Champion Richmond Burton and runner-up Antioch.

"We talk all the time at practice about how wrestling is a team sport first and foremost," Frye said. "Yet, it is also about individual competition because it’s mano-a-mano out on the mat. But if you are a selfish individual on a good team, the team suffers. Our guys are always up close and cheering on their teammates."

NEXT MEET: IHSA Sectional Tournament

Friday, Feb. 11 at Antioch High School 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 12 at Antioch High School 11 a.m.