Feb. 17--Rudy Yates has this weekend all planned out.
"I can't wait, because they have really good ice cream at (Champaign's State Farm Center)," the Sandburg senior said. "I'm looking forward to having that after I'm done."
Yates is hoping to celebrate his third state title, as well as continued progress toward his third unbeaten season, with that treat.
He's one of three wrestlers chasing a third Class 3A title -- St. Rita 145-pound junior Austin O'Connor and Oak Park-River Forest 160-pound senior Isaiah White are the others -- in the state tournament, which opens a three-day run on Thursday.
To get back to the top of the awards stand, Yates may have to survive a rematch with Marmion junior Anthony Cheloni at 132 pounds. They met in Saturday's Batavia Sectional final and Yates held on to win 5-4 after hitting a five-point move early in the bout. They are on opposite sides of the state bracket, so Yates (40-0) and Cheloni (38-7) could meet in the 132 final.
"When I had him on his back, I was saying to myself, 'I'm going to pin him right now,'" Yates said of the sectional meeting. "Then when he rolled me through, I think it freaked me out a little bit. ... It carried over (for the rest of the match), but I won't let it happen again."
Yates is 161-3 in high school, with two of those losses (both one-pointers) coming over a 24-hour span in the 2014 state tournament. Yates finished fourth that year at 113 for Brother Rice before transferring to Sandburg. He won at 106 in 2013 for the Crusaders and at 126 last year for the Eagles.
"Sophomore year, that definitely hurt and I don't want to feel that again," he said.
O'Connor (43-0) is trying to stay on track to become the 15th four-time state champion, and his third trip to Champaign doesn't seem much different from the others. He won at 132 pounds last year and 106 as a freshman in 2014.
"I feel the same every year," O'Connor said. "I try to motivate myself the same as the year before. I want the same thing, the same result."
He might have to beat another returning champ to win his third title, as Lockport senior Shayne Oster (31-3), last year's 138-pound champ, is on the other side of the 145 bracket.
White (22-0) is one of a Class 3A-best 11 qualifiers for Oak Park-River Forest. He won titles at 152 last year and 138 in 2014 as a sophomore. Mount Carmel, which dropped down from 3A this season, leads Class 2A with 13 qualifiers.
Other returning 3A champs looking for a repeat are Plainfield East's Michael McGee (at 120 this season), Glenbard North's Austin Gomez (126) and Marmion's Nathan Traxler (182). Hinsdale South's Josh King, the 3A champ at 220 last season, is chasing a 2A championship at 285 this weekend.
mclark@tribpub.com
