Wrestlers Finish Fourth at State

Ken Hoving is very proud of Barrington’s third trip in three years to the state meet but that wasn’t what really impressed him about last weekend’s fourth place finish.

“We were without some key guys,” he said of losing two key wrestlers Ryan Wilt and Jared Parvinmehr to injuries during sectionals and the individual state meet respectively.  “We did a great job of coming together (as a team) considering (the missing wrestlers).”

“We had a goal of making a run at the state title but missing certain guys makes you change your mentality a little,” Hoving went on to say of why the tournament’s outcome could have been different, implying that he felt with a full team they could have been holding the first place trophy.

It was a very busy week for every member of Barrington (17-2) wrestling team.  After ending the regular season undefeated for the second straight year in dual meets, the Broncos had little time to rest following last week’s individual state meet and the team sectionals and began gearing up for the 3A team state meet that was held in Bloomington over Feb. 25 and 26. 

Hoving not only prepared for the weekend meet but was also very busy as he eagerly awaited the birth of his first child, Julia Hoving, on Tuesday.

“It’s been busy all week,” Hoving said of the countless trips to home, the school, the hospital and the different meets.   

Minus some key wrestlers and full of distractions the Broncos began the two day tournament with a win over Grant that secured them a spot during Saturday’s (Feb. 25) grueling finals. Having already navigated a difficult wrestling season, the Broncos began Saturday knowing that in order to take home a trophy they would have to wrestle three times and some of the Broncos saved their best for last.

“Daniel Davidson (220) probably wrestled the best he has all season,” Hoving said of his senior that won all three matches on Saturday that helped build and keep momentum. 

“And (sophomore) Luis Hernandez (195), he was filling in for Wilt, had a huge win,” he went on to say.  “This is a kid that just started wrestling and had a big win against a state-qualifier.”

With a convincing win over Naperville Central 44-16, the Broncos began Saturday inching closer to the state title. However, they ran into a very tough semifinal match with Oak Park and were not able to sustain the momentum losing the match 35-21. Sandburg (Orland Park) would eventually beat Oak Park to win the state title.

After the lose to River Forest, Barrington was hoping to bounce back and take third place in the meet against Carol Stream (Glenbard North), a rematch from earlier in the year. Barrington kept the match close and was down just five team points (22-17) before Glenbard North pulled away with 12 unanswered to take a 34-17 lead. Barrington would finish in fourth place in the tournament with their 34-21 loss.   

“We had faced Glenbard earlier in the year and got beat pretty badly, but we ended up winning three matches that we lost the last time, and only lost eight matches to six this time,” Hoving said of the third place match.

Hoving said that a lot of the team success at state was due in large part from the consistency of wrestlers he saw perform all year like Adrian Gonzalez (106), Coord Wiseman (145), Kevin Conrad (136), Nick Shealy (152), Ben Calamari (285) and Mark Shealy (182) but also a very nice bounce back performance from Cameron Thomson.

“He had been struggling a little bit during sectionals and the (individual) state tournament,” Hoving said of his 170 pound senior wrestler.  “He came back really strong for the team state.”

The Barrington wrestlers will be honored for their accomplishment with all the members of the team taking a ride on a Barrington Fire Department truck through the city ending at the high school. All those wishing to attend the rally to support the wrestlers should be at Barrington High School’s main gym at 2 p.m.