This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Barrington Wrestlers to Compete In State Meet

Barrington's Aaron Castagna (289) wins sectional championship while Ryan Wilt (189) takes second place, but both are heading to Champaign to wrestle in the IHSA state meet.

Normally it would be risky to hold reservations for a hotel near the IHSA state meet, but Barrington's coach Alex Stroble was willing to take the risk considering how his team has been performing lately.

“You never know what's going to happen but we had qualified nine wrestlers for sectionals,” Stroble said of his team that is currently ranked fifth in the state. “Wish we could have had inked a few more out but this is a very tough and difficult sectional.”

“We ended the meet on a very good note though,” Stroble said referring to the two Barrington matches that occurred late in the meet.

Find out what's happening in Barringtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The last match of the tournament was the 289 pound match between Barrington's senior Aaron Castagna (38-4) and Zion-Benton's senior Devon Dodds (24-7) that would decide the sectional championship. Castagna, who has really been picking up steam as the season nears to a close, has captured the conference and regional championships, has now built on his impressive wrestling resume by pinning Dodds to secure the sectional championship.

Castagna gained control of the match quickly by recording a take-down but Dodds would escape seconds later to leave the score at 2-1 to end the first period. Castagna would continue building on his momentum during the second period by scoring a reversal but moments later he was really able to capitalize on his position by pinning Dodds just as the second period would end, at the 1:55 mark.

Find out what's happening in Barringtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Castagna, who said he was nervous all week on the thought of not making state due to the tough competition expected at sectionals, was able to find some solace in knowing thy enemy.

“There are some tough guys in the [289] bracket,” Castagna said, “But I've beaten a lot of these kids earlier in the season and I told myself that I have to have the confidence that I can make it [to state].”

“Usually you see wrestlers try to just use their weight but Castagna brings both strength and athleticism to the mat,” Stroble said of the number eighth ranked wrestler in the state. “He has come such a long way at the heavy weight level.”

Barrington's other wrestler to punch his ticket to Champaign was in the 189 pound category. Junior Ryan Wilt (30-14) hit a buzz saw of a competitor in the state's fifth ranked wrestler in the division, Wheeling's senior Chris Johnson (37-2). Wilt was pinned very late in the match (1:29 in the third period) but not without giving the Wildcat wrestler an intense battle through out.

'[Wilt] wrestled a great tournament and did a great job fighting the best he could,” Stroble said. “Chris Johnson is an extremely tough kid though.”

“[Johnson] in ungodly strong,” Wilt said of his match. “He just got good position and once he locked on me there wasn't much I could do.”

But Wilt wasn't too disappointed in his second place finish, not only considering his opponent, but also since last year he wrestled junior varsity and had big expectations entering this season.

“My goal coming into the season was to make state, nothing less,” Wilt said following his match.

Wilt and Castagna will be wrestling at the IHSA state meet at Assembly Hall in downstate Champaign Urbana home of the University of Illinois. The two day meet begins Friday, Feb. 18, and will conclude on Saturday.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?