For Neuqua Valley wrestlers, 2002 has a nice ring

The telephones of each Neuqua Valley wrestler rang Sunday morning and, after what happened a year ago, more that a few of the wrestlers flinched when they answered the call.

“One kid said, `You’re not calling for a recount are you?'” said Wildcat wrestling coach Mick Ruettiger.

Last year, Ruettiger had to call his team and tell them that the Class AA regional trophy they took home the previous night wasn’t really theirs. It rightfully belonged to West Aurora, but a computer glitch didn’t award the Blackhawks advancement points at 103 pounds.

Thankfully, Sunday’s calls were to offer congratulations. This year, the Wildcats left no doubt, outscoring Plainfield 204-151 Saturday for their first wrestling regional title. It was something of an upset as Plainfield was favored. Neuqua, which played host to the tournament, wrestled well from the first bout and left no doubt as to who was the champion.

“The kids wrestled awesome,” said Ruettiger, who started the Wildcat program five years ago. “It was a total team effort. We won our first seven matches and upset two seeded kids along the way. The tone of the tournament was set right there. I didn’t know if we could keep it, but I felt confident we could. We’d never been there before.

“We talked about last season’s regional just last week. I didn’t want to bring it up all season. I brought it back out the past week. We didn’t want to have to have a recount. It was nice that we put it away early. We were ahead by 38 points going into the final round and won by 53 so we picked up ground even in the last round.”

The Wildcats won a place in the Class AA dual team tournament. They will compete in the tournament’s Lincoln-Way East team sectional on Feb. 19. Five-time defending state champion Providence, Thornwood and Thornton Fractional South also qualified. The winner will advance to the Class AA state team dual tournament Feb. 23 at Naperville North.

Ruettiger, who coached at St. Charles before Neuqua Valley opened, knows one of the toughest things about the dual meet series is keeping the team together. That won’t be much of a problem as 12 Wildcats will compete in this weekend’s Plainfield sectional. Kyle Krueger (34-5 at 103 pounds), Matt Collum (36-1, 130 pounds) and Nick Vujovic (19-16, 152 pounds) won regional titles, while Kyle Banks (135), Chris Genslinger (160), Joe DeBias (171), Chris Pappas (215) and Matt Barentine (heavyweight) all finished second. Cordero Hightower (189), Mark Vujovic (145), Shane Curtis (140) and Scott Tumang (112) took thirds and also advanced.

Curtis, a junior, upset the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds to advance. Tumang, also a junior, had been called up from the junior varsity because of an injury and had a 3-13 record going into the regional. He defeated Plainfield’s John Carpenter, the No. 3 seed with a 27-14 record, to advance. Freshman Hightower was moved into the lineup for the meet.

“That definitely makes a difference,” said Ruettiger, whose team finished second to DeKalb in the Upstate Eight tournament a few weeks ago. “Being there with St. Charles I know it’s nice to have a big number. At least they have one week of looking forward to the individual sectionals. Then there is a difference getting the kids ready for the next week. I think these kids look at each other and see how important each one of us is to each other. We’ve got some really elite kids but we also have some average kids who have really helped us out in close duals.”

Genslinger, who is 37-3, is one of Neuqua’s elite wrestlers. He finished fourth at last year’s Class AA state meet at 152 pounds. In the regional this year, he lost 3-2 to Plainfield’s George Kappas but has been one of the biggest keys to the Wildcats’ success.

“He has been a big leader for us,” said Ruettiger. “He’s been our leader all year as captain and a guy who has been winning all the time. Then you put Matthew Collum with him, Joe DeBias, Mark Vujovic and Kyle Krueger and that’s a pretty good group. We’re still a young team. We’re bringing kids up from the lower level and they are doing the job.”

The individual sectional will be strong at 160 pounds. State champion Don Reynolds of Providence, Kappas and Andrew’s Aaron Guisinger will be Genslinger’s competition for the three spots in the Feb. 15-16 state tournament in Champaign.

“I just made myself a little harder road in the sectional now,” said Genslinger, a senior. “I have to go through Reynolds now. He beat me 11-6 at the Dvorak Invitational [in December]. He got a takedown in the first period. I kind of backed down in the first period. I have to stay aggressive the whole match. Against him, I have nothing to lose.”

Genslinger has been with the Neuqua program since its second year and has seen it start to bloom. The way he looks at it, this won’t be the last regional championship plaque the Wildcats win. The program has a kids club and three middle schools with wrestling. Last Saturday was just the beginning.

“It was pretty much a relief,” said Genslinger of Ruettiger’s Sunday morning phone call. “This is huge for the program, just like last year but even more. The younger kids coming up know it’s a good program and so do the middle school kids. They know they are going to a good high school and can build on that. Each year we’ve gotten better. The future will just keep getting better.”