Sports
Wrestling: Drendel Rolls To State Unbeaten
West Aurora senior will take his 38-0 record to the IHSA state tournament in Champaign next weekend.
DOWNERS GROVE–West Aurora senior wrestler Nicholas Drendel’s goal coming into the season was to win every match he was in and eventually win the state championship.
After winning the 125-pound title at Saturday’s Class 3A Downers Grove North Sectional, he has the first part of the equation taken care of. Next weekend at Assembly Hall in Champaign, he has a chance to complete the goal.
Drendel (38-0) was his usual dominant self, pinning DeKalb’s Doug Johnson (38-3) in a mere 1:37 in the finals Saturday.
Find out what's happening in Montgomerywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“My goal is to win every match I can,” Drendel said. “I feel just as good as I ever do. The way I see it, nothing else matters at this point. This is the end of the time that I have.”
In the finals, Drendel leaned on his extensive Greco-Roman wrestling background during the off-season to take care of business yet again.
Find out what's happening in Montgomerywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“He came out strong, but I just went out there and stuck with my stuff and came out on top,” Drendel said. “I just used a move that I use all the time in Greco. The Greco always carries over to the folkstyle. I feel like everybody should do it.”
Drendel will be in one of the most loaded weight classes in the state next week. Eddie Klimara of Providence and Dan Sabatello of Stevenson are also undefeated at 125.
“I don’t even look,” Drendel said. “It doesn’t matter. The rankings don’t mean anything. We’re all undefeated, and we’re all wrestling in the same tournament. We all have the same chance to win the tournament.”
The regional team champions will be well represented in Champaign this weekend. In addition to Drendel, the Blackhawks also received third-place finishes from Miguel Venecia (130) and Greg Jacquez (140) and a fourth from Brandon Walz (112).
Bolingbrook sophomore Jordan Laster (37-5) found himself in a couple of tight spots at 103. He picked up a 2-1 win over Jon Marmolejo of Glenbard North in the semifinals before suffering a 3-2 loss to West Chicago’s Tyler Svestka in the finals.
“I’m happy to make it to the state tournament, but I don’t think I wrestled my best in the finals,” Laster said. “I beat a top-five kid in the semifinals. That was a big win. I was very happy with that. I’ll be fine at state. I’ll be ready to go.”
Plainfield North’s Nick DiNardo (26-7) reached the finals at 140 before falling to Glenbard North star Brian Murphy, 7-0.
Oswego’s Jovan Lee (27-10) also reached the state meet at heavyweight. He finished fourth.
The region also had several near misses. The following wrestlers fell one win shy of advancing to state: Frank Yattoni (112) and Max Larsen (152) of Oswego, Alberto Tijerina (119) and Aaron Hett (171) of West Aurora, Frankie Campos (119) and Malik Snapp (171) of Bolingbrook, Hector Ruiz (135) of East Aurora and Brandon Rivera (215) of Oswego East.
