Harrah wants more

Crystal Lake Central’s Gage Harrah won the Class 2A state wrestling title at 189 pounds last season and finished with a 45-0 record. Harrah’s season is off on the right foot after he won the 195-pound weight class of the Chris Hruska Wrestling Classic on Saturday at Conant. (Lance Booth – lbooth@shawmedia.com)

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If the first tournament was any indication of the upcoming wrestling season for Crystal Lake Central’s Gage Harrah, watch out.

Harrah needed only 77 seconds to pin his four opponents Saturday and win the 195-pound weight class of the Chris Hruska Wrestling Classic at Conant. After winning a state championship and posting a 45-0 record last year at 189 pounds, Harrah is looking to continue that dominance.

“I want to be the most dominant athlete in the state,” Harrah said. “I don’t want any matches to go six minutes.”

Harrah injured his knee during football season but returned for the final few games. He said there are no lingering effects from the injury and that he is 100 percent.

Harrah has had the benefit of seeing firsthand what it takes to repeat as a state champion. Former teammates Trevor Jauch and Joey Kielbasa won three consecutive state titles, and Austin Marsden has won the previous two.

“I definitely want to be a [repeat] state champion,” Harrah said. “It makes you want to step up.”

Losing three state champions has put a hole in the Tigers’ lineup.

Central coach Justen Lehr said it’s an opportunity for kids to step up and make a difference.

“Obviously, we lost some pretty key components,” Lehr said. “We’ll have a lot more closer duals this year, and kids will have to win some close matches.”

Harrah called it a rebuilding year but was still confident they would make it downstate as a team. Lehr preferred to focus on the potential he has on his team.

“I think it’s a year where we focus on getting some kids who aren’t our studs to win some matches,” Lehr said.

Here are four other storylines to follow this year.

Rocket Power

Richmond-Burton is coming off its best season in school history, winning the Big Northern Conference and Grayslake North Regional and qualifying for dual team state.

Because R-B’s football team made it to the Class 4A state championship game, the wrestling team has been forfeiting a number of weight classes in early meets. Rockets’ coach Bret Wojcik said it’s been a rough couple of weeks, but the football team’s success is more positive than negative.

“It’s a domino effect,” Wojcik said. “Those kids are used to having success. It was great for the school and community.”

R-B returns Cameron Kennedy and Jack Dechow who both finished second last year at state. Dechow is nursing a collarbone injury from football but is expected back by mid-December. Other returning state qualifiers are Mike Hrdlicka, Matt Ellis, Garrett Sutton and Brett Okane.

“We’re pretty confident in our kids coming back,” Wojcik said. “Once we get down to the end of the year I think we’ll have a pretty good team.”

New Weight Classes – The IHSA instituted new weight classes for 10 of the 14 classes. And three of the unchanged – 145, 152 and 160 – move up one spot in the order. In total, the changes add 63 pounds.

The new weight classes are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285.

New State Format – The IHSA has made the individual state tournament consistent between the three classes. Now Class 1A and 2A will qualify four place winners at sectional tournaments for state instead of three. Class 3A qualification will stay the same with four qualifiers, but the split between the classes is now distributed evenly by thirds.

As a result of adding qualifiers, the state will begin a day early and run Thursday to Saturday. The changes will also eliminate first round byes for sectional winners.

Marian Central is the only local school to change classes and will compete in the state series in Class 1A.

“We are now a 1A team, which will benefit us greatly in getting some of my guys to the big show, hopefully,” Hurricanes’s coach Buck Riedinger said. “Our schedule is still loaded with 2 and 3A schools, which will help in reaching our goals.”

Lehr said it was the right move to advance wrestling.

“We want to expand the sport,” Lehr said. “The only way to do that is to have more kids have more success.”

Breaking Through – Will this be the year area wrestlers who have placed at state can step up and win championships? In addition to Dechow and Kennedy, Central’s Jason Fugiel and Harvard’s Dan Stott also finished second at state last year. For Dechow, it was the second consecutive time he was the runner-up.

Crystal Lake South’s Nick Fontanetta was third in 2009 and sixth last year. Fontanetta entered both state tournaments undefeated but was injured in his state semifinal match last season and defaulted to sixth place.

Mike Zelasco and Clay Lutzow finished fourth for the Tigers last year at state.