Middle school wrestling: Huntley Middle wins IESA state championship

Huntley Middle School won the Illinois Elementary School Association Class AA State Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, finishing with 117 points and besting second-place Bloomington at the NIU Convocation Center.

The team, a co-op with Clinton Rosette, won without an individual champion.

“It’s probably the weirdest title I’ve been a part of,” coach Patrick Kiley said as the J-Barbs won their fourth state title in his time with the program and first since 2017. “We had only six placers and no champion. It was a true team effort.

“We had 17 kids make the tournament, and 15 of them scored points for us. We’d win one or two matches and not place, but still scoring those points to the point with which we pecked and clawed our way to the top until no one could catch us.”

Preston Kjell took second at 135 pounds to finish 40-8 on the year after an 11-3 loss to Beach Park’s Dylan Solesky.

“He was third last year as a seventh grader, so expectations were high for him,” Kiley said. “The top six in his weight class up and down have been beating each other all year. It was just about who showed up and wanted it more. He wrestled a good kid from Beach Park and ended up the runner-up, scoring a lot of points to help us win the title.”

Jayden Gianone (sixth at 75), Julian Hernandez (third at 100), Brennan McCarter (sixth at 112), Ron Ramadani (fifth at 126) and Jayden Coleman (sixth at 275) also medaled for the J-Barbs.

“The state title and individual accomplishments are great and all, but the best thing is to see the community come together,” Kiley said. “We had over 100 volunteers step up and help run the tournament, and all they get is a T-shirt and a pizza party. It’s wonderful to see the community put on a great event for all kids across the state.”

Sycamore 14th at IKWF state championships: The Sycamore Middle School team took seventh in the senior division and 14th overall Saturday at the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation State Tournament in Rockford.

“Everybody wrestled well, and I’m really happy with the performances,” Sycamore coach Kyle Culton said. “I’m super proud of them. Some of them really had their heart it in, had certain goals they were trying to reach, and so many of them went above and beyond what they were trying to accomplish.”

Sycamore finished with 126 points in the 215-team field, won by Alber Athletics out of Freeport. During the season, the team competes in a regular IESA middle school schedule but competes in the IKWF state series instead of the IESA. They won the North Central Junior Conference for the fifth straight season.

Clyde Nott took second at 215 pounds for Sycamore on Saturday. Other state placers were Genevieve Musil (sixth at 64), Liam Schroeder (fifth at 93), Maddox McRoberts (fifth at 188), Collin Hughes (third at 275) and Sawyer Valdez (eighth at 126).

Hughes weighs 198 but wrestled up so as to not have to compete against his teammates.

Culton said Nott, McRoberts and Hughes have pushed each other all year, and Nott and Hughes had pivotal wins against Huntley to power Sycamore to a pair of wins over their conference rivals this year.

Sycamore has won 58 straight duals and is 59-1 over the past three years. Culton said he was thrilled with all that the wrestlers accomplished – the trophy for the seventh-place finish at state, the winning streak and the success against their rivals.

“Three years ago we beat DeKalb for the first time in a long time, and we’ve had a good run against them here lately,” Culton said. “We’ve beaten them twice this year, and one time came down to Clyde in the last match and one time came down to Collin. It’s pretty awesome. I’m happy about that and super proud of my team.”