The old adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” describes this year’s Oak Park and River Forest High School boys wrestling team. Jason Renteria replaced Paul Collins as head coach this season, but the Huskies have sustained the high standards established by Collins.
OPRF began its postseason in impressive style on Saturday, winning the IHSA Class 3A Lane Tech Regional with 266 points. St. Patrick was second with 193 points and York was third with 146.
The Huskies had seven individuals win titles and overall advanced 13 wrestlers to the Conant Individual Sectional, which takes place Feb. 13. While Renteria realizes there’s a lot more work ahead, he expressed great satisfaction with how his team performed.
“Obviously the job’s not done yet, but I’m really proud of the way they wrestled today,” he said. “The focus was definitely at an all-time high across the board. We had a couple of dudes who had to step up for some unfortunate reasons, and they definitely answered the call. [Sophomore] Zach Chasson at 120, Donovan Lopez at 175, and Danny Solano at 190, were backups the whole season, but they stepped up and killed it.”
Junior Michael Rundell, the defending 3A champion at 106 pounds, is wrestling at 113 this year and is looking like a serious contender for that title as he improved his record to 34-3 with a victory via pinfall over St. Patrick’s Jack Koenig in the final.
“It’s the first step in anyone’s state series to get [on the podium] at the end of the season,” Rundell said. “It feels good.”
He was joined in the winner’s circle by junior Jamiel Castleberry (29-3) at 126, junior Alex Cohen (26-13) at 132, senior Zev Koransky (26-8) at 144, senior Aiden Noyes (29-7) at 150, senior David Ogunsanya (27-3) at 157, and junior Lucas Albrecht (7-3) at 215.
“It was a definitely a step in the right direction for me,” Ogunsanya said. “I have big goals this year, and winning the regional was just the first step of many that I have to take.”
In addition to the seven champions, six other OPRF wrestlers are moving on: junior Jordan Dezara (second at 106), Chasson (second at 120), senior Isaiah Gibson (second at 138), senior Jeremiah Hernandez (second at 165), Lopez (third at 175), and senior Pierre Nelson (second at 285).
OPRF hosts a team sectional, Feb. 5, at 6 p.m. The Huskies face Schaumburg in one semifinal with Maine South and St. Charles East squaring off in the other, and the winners meeting for the title.
“I’m really excited to have the team sectional at our house,” Renteria said. “Couldn’t ask for a better spot. We’ve been scratching at this trophy for the past two years and it’s time to go get it.”
Fenwick
The Friars finished second in the Class 2A Rickover Regional with 180 points and qualified 10 for the Antioch Individual Sectional, Feb. 13.
“It was a great regional,” said Fenwick coach Seth Gamino. “[Regional champion] IC [Catholic Prep] is one of the top teams in the state for a reason, but I was proud of my team and the way they wrestled.”
Seniors Jacob Kruszewski and Zikomo Mbewe won individual titles for Fenwick. At 165, Kruszewski (9-15) pinned Westinghouse’s Luke Perez at 56 seconds in the semifinals and pinned Gael Martinez-Cabrera of ITW Speer at 57 seconds in the final.
“Jacob was the number 4 seed going in and he wrestled really well,” Gamino said.
At 215, Mbewe (25-11) pinned Anthony Keating of IC Catholic Prep at 3:18 in the semifinals and pinned Speer’s Yovany Amaya Berrios at 2:25 in the final.
“Zikomo’s wrestling really well. It’d be very exciting if we can get him downstate,” Gamino said.
The Friars’ other advancers are freshman Palmer Brown (third at 106), sophomore Maurizio Campana (second at 113), junior Harrison Brown (second at 120), senior Solanus Daley (second at 132), sophomore Quinn Paris (third at 150), junior Burke Burns (second at 157), junior Ricardo Garcia (third at 175), and senior Adam Calicdan (third at 285).
Gamino likes how his young team has progressed.
“We’re very happy with everyone’s effort,” he said. “The guys are finally clicking these last couple of weeks. As coaches, it’s happy to see; they’ve really worked hard this last month and things are adding up.”
