By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent
During the regular season, only one wrestling team from Illinois beat Mount Carmel in a dual meet.
Joliet Catholic got the better of the Caravan with a 38-27 victory on Jan. 18. That came two days after Mount Carmel lost to Crown Point (Indiana).
The Caravan will be unable to square things with the Indiana team, but they did get a shot at Joliet Catholic and beat the Hilltoppers, 33-26, on Feb. 25 in the IHSA Class 3A team quarterfinals at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
The next day, the Caravan defeated St. Charles East, 35-30, in the semifinals and walloped Yorkville, 59-6, in the state championship match for the fifth state title in program history. The other four came in 1992, 1993 and 1994 in Class AA, and 2022 in Class 3A.
A week prior, the Caravan’s Seth Mendoza (138 pounds) and Colin Kelly (175) won individual state titles in Champaign.
In other team wrestling results, Brother Rice took fourth place in Class 2A.
The Crusaders opened the week with 44-27 sectional victory over Oak Forest on Feb. 20. They followed it up with a 36-27 win in the quarterfinals but fell to eventual champion Washington, 30-28, in the semifinals. They lost the third-place match, 57-17, to Glenwood.
Grand(berry) finish
In three years of girls wrestling being an IHSA-sanctioned sport, Curie senior Aaliyah Grandberry has a trio of top-three finishes.
Grandberry took third this season at 235 pounds, pinning Oak Park’s Sarah Epshtein in 1:41 in the third-place match on Feb. 24 at the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
Grandberry, who was a state runner-up in 2022 and 2023, finished the season 24-1.
She was the only area girls wrestler to win a medal.
Diving in
Even with the IHSA expanding the number of swimming and diving state finalists from 12 to 16, it was a rough go for area swimmers at the state meet as none of them advanced to the second day of competition.
Three area divers broke through the first round and competed on Feb. 24 at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont.
Nazareth’s Cooper Kosanovich finished second with a score of 508.85. Noam Kulbak of Highland Park won the state championship (531.30).
Oak Lawn junior Cohen Laylo finished 14th (422.50) and Stagg junior Ronald Latwis was 15th (421.55).
