Valdivia, Raines and Hein Pin Down Success at IHSA Regional Tournament

While the Regional Tournament at Grayslake North held many unexpected results for the Grayslake Central Rams, it was no surprise that Joe Valdivia, Bobby Raines and Kevin Hein, returning state qualifiers from last year, made it back to Sectionals by finishing in the top three of their respective weight classes.

Junior Joe Valdivia (22-3), wrestling at 189 pounds, finished second at the Regionals replicating his second place standing at the Fox Valley Conference Tournament. He pinned his first two opponents in less than a minute each time. Then he came up short in the championship round losing 7-5 in OT to Antioch’s Zach Epker. Expect these two to duel again at Sectionals this week in a battle of strength, speed and endurance.

Senior Bobby Raines (32-7), competing at 103 pounds, took third place at the Regional Tournament by pinning three of four foes. Though he was pinned by Devin Tortorice of Wauconda in the second round, Raines came back strong and pinned Grayslake North’s Luke Pritchett to take the bronze and advance to Sectionals. He is a returning state qualifier from a year ago and looking to make a return appearance this year.

"I made a mistake in my match in the second round and it cost me," said Raines. "But that won’t happen again and I won’t get pinned again. I can beat that guy if I wrestle smart and listen to my coaches."

Senior Kevin Hein (29-9) took third place at Regionals winning by technical fall (winning a match by 15 or more points) over Teddy Montemayor of Antioch. Hein is also a returning state qualifier and took fourth in the state. He lost yet another close match with his nemesis Jimmy Prince (34-7) of Grayslake North this time by a 9-8 decision. Hein lost to Prince in the Fox Valley Conference meet by an 11-10 decision.

"In order to beat Prince, Kevin has to wrestle his match," said Head Coach Dan Catanzaro. "He can’t get conservative against a good opponent like that. He needs to do the things that make him successful and wrestle in the positions that he is comfortable in."

For Catanzaro, the highlight of the Regional Tournament was "putting  eight wrestlers into the finals. While it was a pleasant surprise to see Tom Browne, Mark Long and John Curtis in the finals, it was disappointing for our fourth place finishers to lose their matches. It was also disconcerting to see some of our kids react to adversity the way that they did."

Senior 119-pounder Tom Browne (17-22) took fourth place at Regionals, fighting through a bloody nose.

Junior 125-pounder Mark Long (15-22) also took fourth place after he upset the heavily favored Sean Bergstrom of Grayslake North (31-9) in the first wrestleback match by a 5-3 decision.

Junior Dylan Hay (32-7) took fourth at 145 pounds and was extremely disappointed in not advancing. Hay was a returning state qualifier at 130 pounds from last year, but has struggled at times since he had to move up 3 weight classes due to a growth spurt.

"We are not going to use his weight change as an excuse," said Catanzaro. "He could have won both of his matches had he wrestled the full six minutes and the last overtime in a good position."

Senior 171-pounder John Curtis (27-16) also came in fourth thanks to a tremendous effort during his wrestleback match with Grayslake North’s Andrew Soulis (22-14) by a 6-3 decision.

For the four Rams who took fourth place, if any of the top three finishers fail to make weight or become injured this week, then the fourth place finishers would be able to replace them in the Sectional meet as per IHSA rules.

The uncharacteristic actions of Junior Sean Keever took away a year’s worth of hard work. Keever (26-15) took second place at 140 pounds. In frustration during the match, he displayed unsportsmanlike behavior which led to a disqualification and eliminated him from moving on to Sectionals next week. Afterwards, Sean walked up to his opponent and apologized for his actions.

"We (the coaches) talked with the team about how to respond to adversity," said  Catanzaro. "It is better for Sean and the rest of the team to learn this lesson now rather than later in life. As an adult, you or I would lose our job if we lost our temper like that."

Looking to the Sectionals with Valdivia, Raines and Hein advancing on, Catanzaro said: "We think all three can qualify for state if they wrestle well. Both 189 and 215 have four state ranked wrestlers and the 103 has 3 ranked grapplers and one guy is an honorable mention wrestler. In all three brackets, our kids will need to beat multiple quality opponents to get back down state."

NEXT MEET: IHSA Sectional Tournament

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

Saturday, Feb. 12 at Antioch High School 11:00 a.m.