Wrestling: Hinsdale South qualifies five team members for sectionals

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Updated: April 10, 2012 11:54AM

With only the top three wrestlers in each weight class advancing through Saturday’s IHSA regional tournaments, the third-place mat provides annual heartbreak.

Hinsdale South senior Brett Kerstein may have had the perfect attitude, and he used it to qualify for the Class 3A De La Salle Sectional.

“I only started wrestling when I got to high school,” Kerstein said. “A lot of these guys have been wrestling their entire lives, so I probably don’t feel quite the same pressure that they do.”

Kerstein won his third-place match to become one of the Hornets’ five wrestlers to make it through the Lyons Township Regional.

Kerstein (220 pounds), Joel Lawrence (132) and Nick Perisin (106) survived, with each finishing third to make sectionals. Nick Carlson (113) and Justin Maslow (138) secured sectional berths by winning their respective semifinal matches. Both placed second.

Sophomore Maslow tangled in one of the closest regional title matches of the day, taking on Hinsdale Central’s Ernest Battaglia. Maslow earned the first takedown and took a 4-3 lead on a reversal in the first period, before Battaglia reversed him right back to take the lead en route to an 8-5 victory.

“I’d never wrestled (Battaglia), and on my feet I felt pretty good,” Maslow said. “I knew he was good on top, but I got out both times. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend. Now I know there are only four (sectional) spots to get Downstate, and I want to be one of them.”

Maslow (28-8) opened with a decision over Morton’s Brad Fricke (24-6), and then beat Argo’s Jason Davidson (26-13) 5-3 in a semifinal match.

Freshman Carlson (24-10) won 10-0 in his semifinal match against Reavis’ Mutaz Matriyeh (22-13), before being stopped cold on the title mat by Hinsdale Central’s George Tolbert (30-13).

In his first match of the day, Kerstein (18-9) held an 8-4 lead and was riding Morton’s Eddie Rodriguez when he slipped off. Rodriguez capitalized, nearly pinning Kerstein — and eventually winning 9-8.

Kerstein reeled off three wins in the wrestlebacks to become a sectional qualifier. He reversed LT’s Juan Montes twice and rode him out from there to place third with a 6-2 win.

“I was pretty comfortable riding him, but after my first match I was a little nervous,” Kerstein said. “I was a little nervous about riding, but I made sure to throw the legs in comfortably.”

Lawrence held a 6-4 lead when he pinned Stagg’s Roshan Lukose in the third period of his third-place match, while Perisin won a major decision against LT’s Chris Letsinger for third place.

The Hornets’ Keneen Freeman (120), Marc Kosiek (126) and Mihajlo Vujisic (170) each finished one win away from making sectionals.