Two Mustangs Place at IL Greco State Tournament

The "unofficial" Spring season came to an end as two members of the DGS Wrestling program participated and placed in the 2014 IL Greco State Tournament.  Greco Roman Wrestling is a unique style where wrestlers cannot use their legs to trip their opponents and cannot grab their opponents legs with their hands.  While there are a lot of upper body throws in Greco, the main focus of Greco is in the hand fighting, mat awareness, and mental toughness it builds.

Senior Michael Hobbs added to his hardware collection as he won the 285 weight class in the Junior Division.  Hobbs was not challenged on the day as he tech falled everyone in his weight class, including lifting a wrestler who weighed over 250 lbs over his head and bringing him to the mat.  Hobbs now qualifies for the Asics Junior National Tournament in both Greco and Freestyle where is already a 3X All-American.  Hobbs looks to become a 5X All-American which would make him the most decorated Freestyle and Greco wrestler in the history of DGS.

Freshman Zach Muller also wrestled in the Greco State tournament.  Muller had a small but tough pool in the 220 lb Cadet Division.  Muller dropped his first match to returning Cadet All-American All Stallings and then faced an opponent who had already defeated Stallings.  Muller battled in the first period as has he threw his opponent to his back and looked for the pin (winning 6-3) he was rolled through to his own back and the match ended in a fall.  Muller then won by Injury Default in his 5th place match.  Muller also placed 5th at the Freestyle State Tournament.  Muller will look to qualify for the Asics Cadet National Tournament at the IL Second Chance Qualifier on June 7th.

It was a great Spring for all of the wrestlers who participated and the battle for the custom DGS Wrestling Flips headphones is heating up.  The wrestler with the most points by July 31st will win the head phones.  Points in the summer can be accumulated through the DGS Summer Wrestling Camp, World Wrestling Camp Team Camp, Fargo, and other off-season wrestling tournaments.  Here are the point leaders from each of the classes:

2015:  Marcus Rutledge, Shawn Jager, Joe Nugent
2014:  Cormac Burke, Patrick Azer, Kyler Wold
2013:  Zach Muller, Jacob Liaromatis, Ryan Olsen
Future Mustangs:  Keiran Burke, David Lee, Shawn Lee

DGS Hosts 5th Annual IL Freestyle Club Cup

On Saturday, May 10th, Downers Grove South hosted the 5th Annual IL Freestyle Club Cup.  This is the 4th year that Downers Grove South has hosted the event and during that time it has grown from eight to twelve teams.  The tournament has also drawn clubs from IA, IN, and WI including the Ringers (WI) and Region Wrestling Academy (IN) this year.  Members of the DGS Wrestling team wrestled for Suburban Sprawl which fielded two teams, Suburban Sprawl South (DGS, DGN, West Aurora, Glenbard West) and Suburban Sprawl North (Barrington, Rolling Meadows, Lake Park, West Aurora). The ten DGS wrestlers competed were Jacob Liaromatis, Cormac Burke, Kyler Wold, Shawn Jaeger, Marcus Rutledge, Michael Hobbs, Ryan Gurski, Zach Muller, Ryan Olsen, and Keiran Burke.  Many other wrestlers worked tables and helped with the set-up and breakdown of the field house as this also served as a fund raiser for the DGS Wrestling program.  We also wanted to thank all of the parents and members of the DGS Wrestling Boosters who helped run a great event!

The event was a success as there was a ton of great wrestling happening in our very own field house.  Suburban Sprawl South opened the meet with a win over former Club Cup finalist club Ringers from WI.  Suburban Sprawl South then dropped their next two duals to Team Poeta and Spartan Elite to put them in the 7th place dual with Fox Lake WC.  Suburban Sprawl competed, but fell short to finish in 8th place.  While this may not seem like a successful day, it was a great opportunity for some of our wrestlers to wrestle several quality opponents on the day.  Many of the clubs pull from the entire Chicago area and pay hundreds of dollars to train.  Martinez Elite defeated Let's Get Weird in the championship dual.  Suburban Sprawl is essentially a homegrown team that consists kids starting out in Freestyle and Greco who are looking to get some additional wrestling experience in the off-season.  This is the 7th year of the club and this year we expanded to several different practice locations (Glenbard West and Harper College) in addition to Downers Grove South.  We held several match days with our Suburban Sprawl "brother locations" and also got to know some kids from some of the other high school programs in the Chicago area.  For the fifth consecutive year Suburban Sprawl will also be sending several kids to the Asics Freestyle and Greco National Championships in Fargo, ND in July.  Our official Spring season will conclude next weekend at the Greco State Championships which will be held on Saturday, May 17th at Lincoln Way Central High School.

Our DGS Summer Wrestling Camp will begin on the week of June 16th and many members of the DGS Wrestling program will head to the World Wrestling Camp Team Camp in the Wisconsin Dells from June 23-26.  For more info on the camps please follow the links below:

World Wrestling Camp Team Camp Form

DGS Summer Wrestling Camp

 

Three Mustangs Place at Freestyle State!!!

The 2014 Freestyle State Tournament was once again a showcase of some of the best freestyle wrestlers in the nation. IL has won several national titles in the National Duals and Asics Cadet/Junior Nationals over the past five years, and 2014 looks to be no different.  The Downers Grove South Mustang Freestylers Competed for Suburban Sprawl, which also included wrestlers from Downers Grove North, Barrington, Lake Park and Rolling Meadows.  There were a total of thirteen current and future Mustangs wrestling for Suburban Sprawl.

Incoming Freshman David Lee (Jefferson) and Keiran Burke (DG Cougars) competed in the Schoolboy division along with 7th grader Jeff Nugent who wrestled at 120 lbs.  It was a great experience for these young wrestlers and they will be seasoned Freestyle veterans when they get to high school.  Freshman Ryan Olsen (126 lbs) and Jacob Liaromatis (132 lbs) each won a match in their brackets as did Sophomore Cormac Burke (132 lbs).  Sophomore Ahmir Hooks (126 lbs) went 2-2 at the tournament, while Sophomores Calum Bonds (132 lbs) and Patrick Azer (113 lbs) also competed.

Freshman Zach Muller, who was fresh off a broken hand, bounced back with a gutty performance and a 5th place finish at Cadet Heavyweight.  Zach was no doubt the smallest wrestler in his bracket, however he was about an inch from pinning IHSA State Placer and eventual champion Bryan Ditchman.  With his 5th place finish, Zach will also have a chance to wrestle at the Northern Plains Regional on Team IL.  Junior Marcus Rutledge placed 6th in a tough Heavyweight bracket and battled through some tough matches.  Marcus literally had just brought his bout card back from his one match, when they gave him another one for his next match.  Marcus moved well and showed some some of the other top Heavyweights that DGS will be just as tough at Heavyweight next year as they were this year.

Speaking of tough Heavyweights, Michael Hobbs placed in this top tournament once again.  This time, his 2nd place finish ensures him a spot on Team IL for the National Duals and the Asics Junior National Duals in Fargo, ND in July.  Hobbs wrestled one of the marquee match-ups of the day vs current State Champion, former All-American and BFF Adarios Jones who was wrestling for Impact Wrestling Club, but is from Moline, IL.  It was a great match between two competitors and friends with one having to come out on top.  Hobbs just missed exposing (putting him on his back) Jones as they went out-of-bounds and fell just short.  Despite the loss, Hobbs probably had more "5's" than anyone else in the tournament as he picked up several kids weighing more than 250 lbs and brought them back over his head for full back exposure.  Unfortunately for Hobbs, they got rid of the "5" rule and Hobbs could only earn 4 for them.  Hobbs will look to add to his hardware collection at Greco State in two weeks as well as the National Duals and Junior Nationals.  Hobbs is already a 3X All-American.  With one more All-American finish, Hobbs will leave DGS as the most decorated Freestyle and Greco finisher in DGS history.

Several Mustangs will compete for Suburban Sprawl at the 5th Annual IL Freestyle Club Cup, which will be hosted by Downers Grove South on Saturday, May 10th in the Field House.  There will also be wrestlers competing at the Greco State Tournament at Lincoln Way Central High School in two weeks.