The new year is off to a good start for the wrestling team at the Clint Arlis Invitational, before the conference tournament. A total of 13 Lemont wrestlers competed in this stacked meet, held at Batavia High School. Seniors Alex Pasquale (285 pounds) and Noah O’Connor (150 pounds) led the way as they finished the tournament in first place.
Seniors Daniel Taylor (190 pounds) and Nico LoCoco (157 pounds) placed third and fifth, while sophomore Cory Zator (138 pounds) earned fifth place. This was a great tournament for the team to gain some confidence before the crucial SSC tournament.
Usually a transition from back to back competitive tournaments takes a toll on athletes, but not these wrestlers.
“[the transition was] pretty easy. Our conference isn’t very competitive or good besides a few good wrestlers here and there, but the Clint Arlis was like a mini state tournament and really tough.” senior Carter Mikolajczak said.
The wrestlers dominated the rest of the conference, claiming the conference championship on Jan. 20. Carter Mikolajczak, Alex Pasquale and Cory Zator all took home first place honors. Matteo Vitra, Aiden Rudman and Ewald Trickle earned second place. Daniel Taylor, Julian Vallianato and Nico Lococo finished in third.
Coming off an injury from the football season, Pasquale bounced back earning two first place honors.
“Coming off an injury at first going into matches I was kind of scared that I was going to hurt my shoulder, but once I started winning I had my confidence back and I started being more aggressive, taking more risks and going back to doing the things I was good at,” Pasquale said.
The team has made huge strides since the start of the season. Most of these wrestlers are multi-sport athletes, and many football players transitioned from football season to wrestling within a couple days.
“Going into wrestling season straight from football took a toll, just because a lot of people were hurt and sitting out,” Mikolajczak said. “So nearing the end of the season, now a lot of our holes in the lineup have been filled and just wrestling throughout the season has made us better.
The team has come together at the right time for the competitive and state tournaments.
“I feel like our team really stepped up. We’ve been working so hard recently and we are really peaking at the right time and now it’s getting close to the state series. I have a really good feeling that we could end up placing at team state,” Pasquale said.
The state tournament will take place in February and the team has lots of confidence going in. The community will be wishing them the best of luck in hope of a state championship title.
