Sports
Wrestling: Hinsdale South's Pique Rolls to State
Hornets' sophomore 112-pounder wins the sectional crown and heads to Champaign at 40-1 on the season.
DOWNERS GROVE–Hinsdale South sophomore wrestler Sebastian Pique had quite the eventful day at Saturday’s Class 3A Downers Grove North Sectional.
First, the 112-pounder knocked off Glenbard North standout Johnny Gosinski in the semifinals. Then, he was able to avenge, for the second time this season, his only loss of the year in the finals.
After losing to Glenbard East junior Angelo San Juan (36-7) in the first tournament of the year, he turned around and beat him for the title at Palatine. Then Saturday, he continued his redemption tour with a 13-8 decision in the finals.
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“I don’t really like to hold grudges, but I’m really happy,” said Pique, who advances to next weekend’s state tournament at Assembly Hall in Champaign. “I wrestled a little sloppy, but it’s not a big deal. I still did well enough.”
Against Gosinski, Pique (40-1) found the going tough throughout the match, but with so many close matches this season for him, he was able to prevail to reach the finals, 7-6.
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“That was a really close match,” Pique said. “I was hoping to open up more, get some more points, but I can’t complain."
Now, Pique heads to state for the second straight year, but this time, with a new mindset.
“Hopefully I can win state now,” Pique said. “Last year, I just went there with the expectation of trying to win a couple of matches and place. But now, I think I can win. I’m a little more confident.”
Standouts for both Downers Grove North and Downers Grove South found themselves needing to fight back after losses just to reach the state meet. South’s Willie Anaya nearly reached the finals at 160. He was up on one of the state’s top-ranked wrestlers in the weight class, Malik Taylor of Brother Rice. But he was penalized a point for stalling in the third period, forcing overtime. Taylor (26-1) won the match there and wound up winning the title eventually.
“I thought I had it in the bag,” Anaya said. “In the third period, I decided not to put on as much pressure and I got the call. Next time, I’ll just have to go all out. I just wanted to get down to state because I know I could always face him later on and get that win back.”
Anaya (42-3) did just that, finishing third. Teammate Sam Apland (40-6) was fourth at 171 and will join him in Champaign.
One of North’s most decorated wrestlers of all time, Jimmy Nehls (39-5), needed some hard work just to get out of regionals at 130 last week. The road was no easier this week, either. He still had to fight to reach the third-place match, after an injury default in his first match of the tournament, but did it. He defaulted his final match due to the high ankle sprain that made his road so tough at sectionals, but will be in Champaign next week.
He’ll have some company as well. Fellow Trojans Cullen Cummings (125), Dave Tessiatore (140) and Cody Pooler (152) will also make the trek.
