By Bobby Narang
The Illinois High School Association individual boys State wrestling tournament featured several marquee match-ups last weekend.
The three-day tournament on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign, pitted the best in the State, including two nationally-ranked wrestlers from Kane County.
St. Charles East junior Ben Davino and Marmion Academy senior Jameson Garcia have a long history of competing against each other that goes back to middle school.
“I have wrestled him a lot, and he knows me pretty well,” Garcia said of Davino.
That was evident in the championship match at 126 pounds, with two all-State wrestlers locked into an intense battle that captivated the State Farm Center crowd.
In the end, Davino took a 6-1 overtime victory to record his third consecutive state championship, one more than Garcia. After the third period, the match was deadlocked, 1-1, but Davino seized control of the match in overtime to finish the season with a sterling 50-0 record to push his unbeaten streak to 73 matches.
St. Charles East’s freshman Dom Munaretto won the State championship at 106 pounds and senior teammate Jayden Colon took the championship at 145 to give the Saints a trio of individual champions.
“He had some really good read attacks,” Davino said. “I thought I wrestled the positions hard and I stayed on them. I think that took a lot out of him, not being able to score on me.”
Garcia, a Harvard University recruit who finished with a 40-5 record, nearly added the 126 championship after winning the 113-pound crown earlier in his career.
“I knew I could keep up with him,” Garcia said. “I just wanted to get into my attacks and keep the pace. I took a bad shot and he countered it with his own attack. He was able to take advantage of it.”
Marmion junior Jack Lesher continued his season-long march toward redemption by winning the 182 championship by defeating Pekin’s Shamon Handegan, 6-1, to notch his first State championship. Lesher said Garcia helped calm him down before his championship bout.
“Since it was my first time in the finals, (Jameson) knew I was little nervous,” Lesher said. “He just told me to go out there and let it fly.”
St. Charles and Marmion are among the favorites for the weekend Class 3A dual team State finals, which will be held at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
“I look forward to next week and finishing off my career strong,” Garcia said.