It was a final tune-up before the weekend’s Illinois Central Eight Conference Tournament as the Lisle wrestling team visited Streator early Wednesday evening for the squads’ last ICE dual of the season.

And the Lions looked tuned in.

Lisle came out victorious in eight of the night’s nine contested varsity matches, six of those victories coming via first-period pinfall in a 63-12 Lions team triumph at Pops Dale Gymnasium.

“Any time there’s conference duals, there’s obviously a little bit of extra motivation to get the job done,” Lions coach Brandon Wolak said. “This was our last dual of the season too, and I told the kids, ‘Let’s finish on a high note before we go into the conference tournament and then the postseason.’

“It was a good collective win for our guys, and for our girls.”

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Lisle's Ibraheem Harb wrestles Streator's Eastyn Ehm during a meet on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 in Pops Dale Gymnasium at Streator High School. (Scott Anderson)

The ICE dual opened with its lone varsity girls match, Lisle’s Sophie Crescenzo pinning Streator’s Olivia Brandenburg in 1 minute, 44 seconds at 125 pounds.

Switching to boys competition from there, the next two bouts were the night’s most competitive.

At 106 pounds, the Lions’ Sebastian Lara built a good advantage in points early, leading 6-2 after one period. Lara had to hold on for dear life against Streator’s Brody Sliker to notch an 8-7 decision, one that looked as if it might go the other way were there a few more seconds on the clock.

“I just want to go out there and compete,” Lara said of being the first to take the mat in the boys meet, “really push the pace sometimes to set a good example, being a team captain.

“I feel like I did well tonight getting in my shots. Working on top was little hard, but getting in my shots well kept me in it.”

After forfeits at 113 and 120 – there were six forfeits on the night, four accepted by Lisle, one by Streator and a double forfeit at 138 – Ved Chaudhari at 126 pounds scored the Bulldogs’ lone on-the-mat triumph with a third-period pin of Lisle counterpart Charles Wang in 5:33.

“I knew I would win in the end, to be honest,” said Chaudhari, who led 3-0 at the end of one period but trailed 7-5 going into the third. “It was only a matter of time until I got up, and then he made a mistake and I used it to pin him. He cradled me but went the wrong way, and I ended up on top of him.

“Right in front of my teammates as they were all screaming at me, that made it a lot better.”

Also recording contested victories for Lisle’s boys were Alexander Ferari over Garritt Benstine at 132 (17-0 technical fall in the second period) and via opening-period pinfalls Johnny Consuegra over Carter Heider at 150, Ibraheem Harb over Eastyn Ehm at 157, Zach Sirovatka over Alijah Henson at 165, Bequer Zamarripa over Noah Pryor at 175 and Wilson Wunder over Ricardo Armenta at 215 pounds.

Streator’s win other than Chaudhari’s at 126 came at 275 pounds, a forfeit victory for Bulldogs heavyweight Zander Austin to complete the dual’s scoring.

Both Streator and Lisle are gearing up not only for this weekend’s ICE Conference Tournament in Coal City – weather permitting – but the upcoming IHSA postseason. While Lisle already looked to be in postseason form, Streator coach Kyle Lowman, too, saw encouraging signs from his Bulldogs despite the defeat.

“Brody went out at 1-6 and had a great match against a kid [Lara] who’s been whooping butt in the conference,” Lowman said. “The following match, Ved had a nice win there in a real close one. ...

“I think our couple seniors are ready [for tournament season], and our first-year wrestlers will get that experience and know what to expect for next year.”