Oak Park and River Forest edged West Suburban (Silver) Conference foe Glenbard West 34-27 in an intense battle on Friday that came down to a single match.
Freshman Lilashawn Coleman emerged as the hero for OPRF after pinning his opponent in the 103-pound weight class to win the entire match for the Huskies.
“We needed it, and Colman delivered,” said OPRF head coach Mike Powell. “We didn’t wrestle particularly well, but we got the job done.”
The Huskies led early thanks to a technical fall by Brad Bolen (119-pound weight class), a majority decision by Robert Demaree (125), a fall by Steven Battista (135) and a come-from-behind win by Mike Smith (171).
Glenbard West won five out of the next six matches to pull ahead 27-18, but OPRF won the next two matches with Blake Dressel pinning his opponent at 215, and Jamar Johnson winning a majority decision 14-5 at heavyweight. This brought the score to 28-27, before Coleman went to work in the final match.
On Saturday, the Huskies (8-1, 2-0) annihilated Von Steuben, 77-3, and Marshall, 79 to -1. Demaree (125) had two technical falls and a pin in the quad match (Hubbard did not show up). Dressel defeated top-ranked Jonathon McGee of Marshall.
The Huskies head to the West Allis tournament in Wisconsin this weekend.
Weekend whirlwind
The Fenwick swim team had double success over the weekend, winning a tri-meet and finishing second at the Barrington Relays.
The Friars downed St. Rita and St. Viator with a score of 247. Chris Bonk took first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:24.9, and second in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:03.12.
Other winners on the day included the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Paul Grusecki, Mike Duggan, William Dietz, and Bonk, who finished first in 1:32.17.
Chris Jones (197.15), Ryan Sullivan (147.50), and Leo Galvez-Roldan (133.35) finished first through third respectively in the diving competition.
Fenwick’s sophomores made a splash at the Barrington Relays on Saturday, leading the Friars to a second place finish with 56 points in the Red Division.
The sophomore combo of Luke Baldwin, John Barrett, Tom Parolin, and David Meyer won the 200 medley relay in 1:45.18.
Patrick Lloyd, Dan Wolak, Jack Ryden and Mike Brown took first place in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:31.05.
The Friars finished runner-up to Evanston, who garnered a score of 70.
Fifth for Huskies
The OPRF swim team finished fifth (40) in the White Division of the Barrington Relays on Saturday.
Kevin Williams, Cam Anton, Dave Watschke and Jack Anderson took first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:37. 87.
The Huskies resume West Suburban (Silver) Conference play with a road trip to Proviso West on Friday, followed by a non-conference meet at Downers Grove South on Saturday.
A press release contributed to this report.
