Wrestling: Barrington takes own invite

Updated: November 26, 2011 8:32PM

Dominance in wrestling almost always comes down to who is being the aggressor and pushing the pace.

From a team standpoint, Barrington fit that description to a tee on Saturday. As an individual, Hinsdale Central heavyweight Brian Allen was a force to be reckoned with.

Host Barrington won the champion’s trophy at this year’s Moore/Prettyman Wrestling Invitational, capturing the team title for the first time in the 21-year history of the tournament.

The Broncos ran away from the field in scoring 273.5 team points to the 164 points posted by second-place Plainfield Central. Neuqua Valley (155) finished third and Crystal Lake South (139.5) placed fourth in Barrington.

“I don’t think a lot of people are expecting where we’re coming from,” Broncos senior Adrian Gonzalez said. “After seeing our practices the first two weeks, I thought we might be able to win by a pretty big margin here.”

Gonzalez kicked off the final round of the tournament by winning the title at 106 pounds, and teammate Jared Parvinmehr followed with a title win at 113 pounds. The Broncos had seven semifinalists and five champions, including Coord Wiseman (145), Michael Lurz (160), and Cameron Thomson (170).

Third-seeded Lurz used a third-period takedown to win a 7-5 decision over top-seeded Kyle Ledbetter of Plainfield Central.

“We wrestled in the summer and he beat me 3-2,” Lurz said. “He’s taller than I am so I had to stay low, and I kept the pace up the whole match.”

Barrington coach Ken Hoving was happy with the way his boys pushed the pace throughout the two-day, 30-team tournament.

“It’s something we’ve stressed since the summer,” Hoving said. “Wrestling whistle-to-whistle, whether you’re winning or losing.”

Crystal Lake South’s Nick Fontanetta took the title at 120 pounds with a 1-0 decision over Grant’s Ben Soumar while individual titles also came for Prairie Grove’s Zach Synon (126), Zion-Benton’s Abel Rios (132), St. Rita’s Tim Corse (138), and Crystal Lake South’s Tom Gerszewski (152).

Neuqua Valley’s Connor Swier won a title at 182, along with Plainfield Central’s Jordan Ellingwood (195) and Greg Cameron (220).

Allen pinned his way to the tournament’s outstanding wrestler award in four matches. The top-seeded sophomore placed third in Illinois at 215 last season and at 260 pounds this year he’s aiming to keep Illinois’ heavyweight crown at Hinsdale Central; older brother Jack Allen was an unbeaten state champion last year.

“I wrestled heavyweight over the summer weighing 215 and I couldn’t do anything,” Allen said. “I weighed 260 for football and I thought of going 215 this year, but so far I feel good at heavyweight.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.