Valdivia Earns Second Place In State Wrestling, Hay Places Fifth

Five wrestlers from Grayslake Central and Grayslake North went downstate and came away with a second and fifth place between them in the Class 2A Meet.

In the 195-pound class, Joey Valdivia of Grayslake Central took runner up honors while teammate Dylan Hay was fifth at 145.

Valdivia won his first three matches defeating John Tomala of Lemont, 23-9, pinning Demario Walker of Galesburg in 1:12 and edging Jake Davis of Sycamore, 5-3, before losing to Gage Harrah of Crystal Lake Central, 6-2, in the title bout.

Hay captured his first two matches getting by Steve Lalowski of Sycamore, 6-3, and Xavier Montalvo of Montini, 8-2, before dropping his semifinal bout to Lavion Mayes of Mascoutah, 12-6.

Cast into the consolation bracket, Hay fell to Connor Bass of Yorkville in the semifinal, 6-0, before taking the fifth place medal with a victory over Johnny Major of Burlington Central, 7-6.

Central’s third wrestler in the tournament, Jimmy Molitor at 220, scraped by Alex Fritz of Marmion Academy, 3-1, before losing in the quarterfinals to Edgar Ruano of Montini, 14-3. He won his first wrestleback, 4-2, against Patrick Bennett of Chatham before bowing out before Daquence Goodman of Bowen, 2-1.

Kasan Christensen gave the best performance for Grayslake North when he won his opening round match against Jacky Dezir of Bowen, 6-4, before losing his next two bouts, to Seth Gonzalez, 3-2, of Yorkville and a pin to Copache Tyler of Springfield Southeast in 1:45, for elimination.

Jimmy Prince of North dropped his first round fight, 4-3, to Cody Snodgrass of Marmion Academy.