Glenbard North Gets it Done Against Conat 

Glenbard North went into the 2006 Feutz Wrestling Classic at Conant High School on a mission.

By the end of Saturday’s finals matches, they could safely say “mission accomplished.”

Glenbard North won with a total of 285 points.

“We haven’t won (the Conant tournament) in nine years,” said Glenbard North coach Mark Hahn. “We wanted to win it, but to have 14 of our guys place in the top four, that was pretty good. That showed some team balance and team strength.”

Oak Park-River Forest finished second (174 points), with Providence third (173), Naperville North fourth (126), and Crystal Lake Central fifth (119).

Rounding out the top ten, Ottawa finished sixth (103.50), St. Charles East followed in seventh (91), Leyden finished eighth (89), Proviso East finished ninth (79), and DeLaSalle finished 10th (69.5).

Other notable standings include Conant in 11th (64), Rolling Meadows in 14th (45), and St. Charles North in 15th (38).

One of the four Glenbard North first-place finishes came in the 119-pound class, where Tony Ramos picked up a 9-2 decision over OPRF’s Ellis Coleman.

“I knew I was going to have a tough bracket coming into it,” Ramos said. “I knew I’d be smaller than everyone. I knew I’d have to hit the weights hard, train a lot, be in great condition. You have to be in good condition to push the pace for six minutes. I knew if I did all that and worked on my finishes and takedowns, I’d be able to do it.”

Naperville North had two first-place finishes of its own, one of which came from 215-pound D.J. Bruce. He earned a 3-2 decision over Proviso East’s Phillip Howlett in finals.

“He was just not forcing the issue and I was trying to force the issue,” Bruce said of his finals match. “I just waited for him to make a mistake and I did an arm drag to take him down and then finish out the match.”

In the 171-pound class, St. Charles East’s Frank Savegnago captured a 7-2 decision over Ottawa’s David Close to take home first place. It was a result he worked hard to achieve.

“I never thought I’d take first at Conant,” Savegnago said. “I’ve been working all summer and this is really huge for me.”

Glenbard North’s 125-pound Jimmy Chase also took first place with a 10-3 decision over OPRF’s Lillashawn Coleman.

Naperville North’s Sergo Dzamashville won at 135 pounds with a 5-0 decision over Glenbard North’s Corey Hope. Leyden’s Adam Schammert took third in the same class, pinning Proviso East’s Darius Rutledge at 1:23

“I thought I did really good today,” Schammert said. “It was a big improvement from yesterday.”