Three Central Wrestlers Return to State

Three Grayslake Central wrestlers have earned a return trip to the State Championships, coming up this weekend at the University of Illinois.

Senior Bobby Raines (35-8), junior Joey Valdivia (26-4) and senior Kevin Hein (32-10) all came away victors from the Sectional Tournament at Antioch High School on Feb. 12. Raines is now ranked 7th in the state.

Raines had a difficult morning when he was pinned for the second week in a row by Devin Tortorice (35-6) of Wauconda, who himself was eventually pinned by Cameron Kennedy (17-0) of Richmond-Burton in the championship match. Raines returned to the mat with a vengeance in the wrestlebacks. First, he pinned Zach Heumman of Johnsburg in 1:04. Then he took third place at 103 pounds by pinning Luke Pritchett of Grayslake North in 3:40.

"I was very disappointed with myself after losing to Tortorice," said Raines. "I focused all of my anger on my next two opponents. I was not going to let them get in the way of going downstate again. I have worked too hard this year to allow that to happen."

Valdivia was a primal force on the mat pinning 4 of 5 opponents. Facing eventual Sectional Champ Joe Dedick (40-3) of Richmond-Burton in the semis, the two 189-pounders battled each other like a pair of gladiators on the floor of the Roman Colosseum. Dedick eventually came away with a 2-1 victory.

After a quick pin of a River Grove foe, Valdivia squared off against Chicago Marshall’s Michael Tate (31-3) for third place and the chance to go downstate. Drawing upon an untapped reservoir of inner strength, Valdivia lifted Tate off of his feet twice and brought him down hard to the mat both times. In the final period, Valdivia put a vein-popping crush hold on his adversary to secure a pin and a return trip to state.

"Not quite the result I was looking for in my match against Dedick, but at least I’m going back downstate and that’s at least something that I’ve accomplished here today," Valdivia said with a huge smile. As he quenched his thirst with a cup of blue ice cream he said, "This tastes good but going downstate is even sweeter."

Head Varsity Coach Dan Catanzaro expressed concerns about the 189 and 215 pound divisions. "These divisions are really stacked with some excellent competitors," he said. "There are five to six state qualifiers at 215 and some of them are not going to be going downstate this year."

On Friday, the ref had barely finished blowing his whistle to start the match when he had to blow it again to signal a 17 second pin for Hein. Hein had a bye in the next round (probably because he scared off the next contestant when he tore into his last opponent like a great white shark to a bleeding seal). No wonder he’s ranked 7th in the state for 215 pounds.

On Saturday, Hein faced his nemesis from cross-town rival Grayslake North, Jimmy Prince (35-9). Hein had decisioned Prince during the regular season, but lost to him two weeks ago in the FVC Tournament by an 11-10 score. Then the next week he lost to Prince again in the Regionals by 9-8 margin. Hein vowed before the match that the result would be different this time around.

The match went back and forth and eventually was tied up at 5-5. Then Hein took the lead with about 30 seconds to go. Prince fought furiously to score, but the clock ran out and Hein was moving on to the championship bout against Brian Kent of Wauconda. Kent had defeated Prince 8-4 in the Regional Finals held at Grayslake North.

Facing Kent (33-1) in the finals, Hein came up a bit short and lost 13-9. "What can I say? He was just a bit better than me today, but I am going downstate again with Bobby and Joey," said an elated Hein. "We all faced some tough competition today and had to overcome adversity but we survived and now we move on."

Assistant Coach Stewart was proud of the way the boys wrestled. "It’s a great day for both Grayslake schools. I enjoy the tournaments and talking with the other coaches and wrestlers. We’re fierce competitors on the mats, but we’re all part of the larger wrestling fraternity. We understand the rigors and trials of the sports and have a deep respect for those who go all out for excellence on the mat."

Catanzaro is looking forward to the state tournament. "We’ll be leaving on Thursday with the weigh-in this Friday at 6:45 a.m. Class 1A and 2A first-round matches begin at 11 a.m. this Friday morning. These three young men have worked hard and are deserving of the opportunity to earn medals. It’s another step forward in our endeavor to build a top-quality wrestling program here at Grayslake Central. Richmond-Burton is the model that we aspire to emulate."

Information about the State Tournament schedule can be found at this website:

http://www.ihsa.org/activity/wr/2010-11/1sched.htm

NEXT MEET: IHSA State Tournament at Assembly Hall, University of Illinois, 11 a.m. Feb. 18.