Wrestling: Providence’s Klimara wins fourth crown
By Mike Clark mclark@suntimes.com January 21, 2012 11:02PM
Oak Park, 01/21/12--Loyola's Santonio Cathery, 160, wrestles Mount Carmel's Notay Jackson. Fenwick HS hosted the Catholic League Wrestling Championships on Saturday. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 22, 2012 1:57AM
Eddie Klimara can’t be accused of taking the easy road.
The Providence senior wrestler is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A at 126 pounds by Illinois Best Weekly. Instead of competing at that weight in the Catholic League meet Saturday at Fenwick, Klimara bumped up to 132 and met Mount Carmel’s Mike Mizaur (ranked second in 3A at 132) in the league finals for the third time in four years.
The match lived up to the hype. Klimara wriggled free for an escape at the buzzer to win 6-5 and become the 12th four-time champ in Catholic League history.
Mizaur took Klimara down for a 5-4 lead with 13 seconds left, but the Celtic wasn’t rattled.
“My first goal was to relax, calm down and focus on what I had to do,” Klimara said. “All I had to do was stand up.”
Klimara (32-1) won two-point decisions over Mizaur (26-5) for conference titles in 2009 and last year. The only year they wrestled at different weights, 2010, both were Catholic League champs.
“It was a little hard going up to [132] because I’m a small ’32-pounder,” said Klimara, who won the Tony Lawless award as the league’s outstanding senior. “Those kids are all two heads taller than me.”
But he stood tall Saturday and now will focus on the IHSA state series, where he’s planning to compete at 126.
Three other wrestlers were chasing their third consecutive titles, and two of them succeeded. Fenwick senior Matt Garelli (10-0), who returned this week after being sidelined by a torn meniscus, beat another returning champ, Providence’s Cole Ferguson (32-8), 7-2 in the 120 final.
De La Salle senior James Buss (30-0) won his third consecutive title at 285 with three falls, including a 4:31 pin of Gordon Tech’s Justin Alonzo in the final.
Mount Carmel junior David Denne (15-6) was denied a third consecutive title, losing 6-5 in overtime to Bishop McNamara’s Channing Dolliger (12-2) in the 220 final.
Mount Carmel sophomore Bryce Brill (36-1) won the meet’s outstanding wrestler award after cruising to the 145 championship with two first-period falls and a 15-2 title-bout win over Brother Rice’s Nuntrae Jackson. Brendan Hall (24-8 at 152) and Notay Jackson (19-2 at 160) also took first for the Caravan, which edged St. Rita 182-177 for its second straight team title.
St. Rita had three champs: Tim Corse (23-6 at 138), Mike Murphy (24-6 at 170) and Ben Threloff (21-6 at 195). McNamara also had three winners: Dolliger, Kyle Simpkins (3-0 at 103) and Steve Licina (22-3 at 126).
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