The Oak Park and River Forest High School boys wrestling season ended last weekend at the place they hoped it would, the Class 3A dual meet state finals in Bloomington, but one day earlier than the Huskies would have liked when the Huskies were defeated by Libertyville 45-24 in a quarterfinal Friday evening.
“There were a few toss-up matches that didn’t go our way,” said OPRF head coach Paul Collins
Libertyville went on to finish fourth in the state as Mt. Carmel claimed the state championship with a dominating 59-6 win over Yorkville.
The Huskies (15-3) won five matches against Libertyville. Freshman Michael Rundell (34-10) earned a dominating technical fall win, 21-6, at 106 pounds. Sophomore Zev Koransky (37-8) also earned five points for a technical fall with an overwhelming 23-6 win at 126 pounds. Junior Joe Knackstedt pinned Libertyville’s Antonio Kelly at 138 pounds. Sophomore Tristan Kidd (4-4), a surprise insertion into the lineup at 150 pounds, defeated Libertyville’s Jacob Whisenand 11-6, and sophomore David Ogunsanya (39-11), who moved up to 157 for the match after finishing sixth in the state in the individual state finals at 150 the week before, dominated James Scanio 26-11 for another technical fall. But Ogunsanya’s win was the final one of the evening for the Huskies as Libertyville dominated the higher weight classes.
The Huskies had advanced to the state finals by winning their first sectional championship since 2019, defeating Schaumburg 41 to 24 at Addison Trail on Feb. 20. In that dual meet the Huskies got important wins from sophomore Jeremiah Hernadez at 144 and Hugh Vanek at 175
The future looks bright for the Huskies as they had only two seniors, Ruben Acevedo (19-16) at 120 and Emmett Baker (8-19) at 175 in the lineup against Libertyville in the quarterfinal. The only other senior on the team was Issac Davies (22-18) who usually wrestled at 157.
The Huskies won conference, regional and sectional titles this season only a year after finishing 10-15 in dual meets in the 2022-23 season. Collins liked the progress and is looking ahead to a strong season next year.
“We checked a lot of boxes this year,” Collins said.
Rundell, Knackstedt, Ogunsanya, and 215-pounder Eric Harris (34-12) all qualified for the individual state finals.
Sophomore Aiden Noyes, who mostly wrestled at 132 pounds, also won more than 30 matches this season, finishing with a record of 33-19.
“All of our state qualifiers are coming back, our state placer is coming back,” Collins said, “so we knew there were some milestones we needed to hit this year in order to prepare for next year. Obviously you focus on having a successful season this year and that was our main focus, but as a coach you’re always thinking a year, three, four, five years ahead.”
Epshtein finishes fourth in girls wrestling
For the second consecutive year, OPRF senior Sarah Epshtein finished fourth in the girls state wrestling finals in the 235 pound weight class. Epshtein won three of five matches at the state finals, being pinned in the third place match by Aaliyah Grandberry of Currie.
Epshtein finished the season with a 27-5 record. She has made All-State, finishing in the top six at State, three straight years.
“She’s awesome,” said OPRF head girls wrestling coach Patrick Woulfe. “She does anything you ask her. Any workout we set up; preseason, postseason, in-season, she’s there. She gives her best effort every single day and she’s a pretty awesome kid.”