Barrington Saturday, 2/9/13 Libertyville's Steve Polakowski (Front) works to control Barrington's Miquel Camarena during their championship match at 120 lbs during Saturday's Class 3A Sectional hosted by Barrington High School. | Brian O'Mahoney~for Sun-T
With a sectional title and a high state tournament seed on the line, Hersey’s Hunter Rollins and Libertyville’s Kayne MacCallum left everything on the title mat at Barrington’s Class 3A Sectional.
After MacCallum went up 10-9 on a reversal in the match’s third overtime, Rollins reversed him right back to win an 11-10 decision at 160. Rollins won a 7-1 decision over MacCallum at the Dvorak Invitational in December.
“He fought hard and I knew he’d be coming after me after the Dvorak,” Rollins said. “It doesn’t really matter what happened during the match. All that matters is that I won."
Fifty-six wrestlers advanced from Barrington to next weekend’s state finals in Champaign. Harlem led all teams present with seven state qualifiers, getting sectional titles from Jordon Northrup (126) and Sage Hecox (195). MaCallum was one of six Libertyville wrestlers to advance, while Barrington and New Trier advanced five apiece.
Deerfield freshman Andrew Mehrholtz (106) used a five-point move and two near-falls en route to a 13-3 major decision over Jacobs’ Austin Ryan to win his first sectional title, after winning a 6-3 semifinal decision over previously once-beaten Travis Piotrowski of Prairie Ridge.
Mehrholtz only began wrestling in seventh grade but at 39-2 he’s ready to head downstate and do some damage.
“I had to go through a learning curve,” Mehrholtz said, “and now I’m just trying to stay addicted to scoring, throughout every match.”
Cary-Grove’s Michael Cullen improved to 42-0 at 113 with his 11-1 title-mat decision over New Trier’s Colin Kenyon, before Libertyville’s Steve Polakowski held off a late takedown attempt to win 4-2 at 120 over Barrington’s Miguel Camarena.
“It feels great, especially beating (New Trier’s M.J.) Pritchard here since he beat me at the Hoffman Estates tournament,” Polakowski said, after winning 5-3 over Pritchard in his semifinal match. “Last year I only had one shot I relied on and this year I’m much better on my feet, so I'm more prepared to wrestle downstate."
DeKalb’s Doug Johnson won a sectional crown at 132 and got all he could handle in a 3-1 title-mat win over Crystal Lake South’s Eric Barone, while Manny Silva won a title at 138 as one of Rockton-Hononegah’s four state qualifiers.
Wade Lardy of McHenry won 4-3 over Stevenson’s Justin Weber for the title at 145, setting up a 7-5 title win for Lake Zurich’s Sean Lynch over Mundelein’s Jake Long at 152.
Warren’s Danny Hicks (170) and Jacob Suter (220) both won sectional titles and Barrington had two sectional champions in Mark Shealy (182) and Ben Calamari (285). Suter won his first sectional title after an injury ended his season after last year’s regional.
“I missed out last year but I took first at regionals this year, first here, and I want to take first at state,” Suter said. “This feels great.”
Calamari was one of five Barrington seniors heading to Champaign next weekend.
“It feels special to win (a sectional title) here at home, wrestling here for the last time,” Calamari said. “I grew up in our practice room and to win a big tournament here means a lot.”
Tag(s): Top News Top News Central Suburban North South New Trier Barrington Deerfield Libertyville Top Headlines Featured
