Brian Siegel
Staff Reporter
Sectionals has not been a kind place to South wrestlers. The Titans have not sent a wrestler down state since Jesse Causey four years ago, and this year was no different from the last three.
In a Regional Tournament packed with potential state qualifiers, the Titans were in position to send up to six wrestlers to Barrington for Sectionals.
Junior Ross Meyer could not win the third- place match, eliminating him from Sectional contention.
However, the Titans were able to advance juniors Jake Barack and Josh Wells, along with seniors Cullen Hynes, Taylor Neuffer, and Sam Offenberg.
After receiving a one-round Sectional bye for winning his Regional bracket, Barack lost his first Sectional match. This was an all-too-familiar story for the Titans, as they could only scrap together one Sectional win: Taylor Neuffer won his first-round match.
Head coach Tim Cichowski had mixed feelings about the finish.
“Obviously we would have liked to send our guys farther, but we got a tough draw and did our best,” he said.
Looking back on the season, Barack believes Josh Wells was the one South competitor who never stopped fighting.
“[Wells] never stopped wrestling, even when he was down and losing to the Sectional champion and the first seed. He worked really hard,” he said.
That intensity was not enough to overcome Barrington’s Luke Miller and Libertyville’s Nick McDowell.
Despite a one-win sectional, Hynes is proud of the Titans’ Regional work.
“We did not do as well as we were hoping to do, but the fact that five of us even competed and earned a trip to sectionals in the first place was great,” he said.
Although the 2009 season did not produce the results the Titans would have liked, Barack is optimistic about his senior season.
“We had a tough night. We wrestled hard but ran into some tough guys. The season is over, but I think we’re going to come back