Wrestling: St. Charles East, second place after Day 1 at Dvorak, sends four to semifinals

MACHESNEY PARK – As a two-time state champion and recent Walsh Ironman tournament 126-pound champion, Ben Davino is no doubt St. Charles East’s headliner in its varsity lineup.

Freshman Dom Munaretto – also a 2022 Walsh Ironman champion at 106 pounds – is another potential star in the making for the Saints in his own right.

“[Munaretto is] always super scrappy,” Davino, a St. Charles East junior, said on Saturday at the 34th annual Dvorak Tournament of his freshman teammate. “He’ll wrestle with our heavyweight if he can. He’s a super scrappy [and] tough kid. And, I love that about him. He’s never really willing to stand down, and that’s a great thing. He has a super bright future.”

The tournament spans two days, with the semifinal and championship matches commencing on Sunday. Munaretto, Davino, Tyler Guerra and Jayden Colon all prevailed in their quarterfinal matches in the championship bracket to lead the Saints to a second place standing heading into Sunday.

AJ Marino (120), Ethan Penzato (132), Gavin Connolly (152), Lane Robinson (160) and Brody Murray (170) are still alive in wrestleback rounds.

“He’s showing he’s ‘that guy’ early on and that’s great,” Davino said of Munaretto. “That’s great to see. I’m super excited to watch him in the rest of his high school career, especially have this year and next year to be with.”

Munaretto also received a first round bye before prevailing over Mount Carmel’s Lukas Tsirtsis by technical fall. In the quarterfinal, he beat Cleveland (Tennessee)’s Cole Dyer by another technical fall.

“It feels amazing,” Munaretto reflected on his Ironman tournament performance last week. “I’ve been working really hard in training and getting better. Just working on fixing my mistakes. The kid I had in the finals beat me last time [in the Super 32 tournament]. He game-planned me. Last time I wrestled him and I lost, I just kind of panicked and I wasn’t ready to have a close match. But, this time, I was prepared and got the win.”

Munaretto has a variety of practice partners, all playing a role into helping shape his early success so far.

“I just wrestle all-around; just get a bunch of different looks, working on my technique and getting better,” Munaretto said.

Davino, for his part, received a bye in round one at the Dvorak; then, won by technical fall over Hersey’s Maksim Mukhamedaliyev 12-5 the following match. In his quarterfinal, Davino pinned Lincoln-Way East’s Tyson Zvonar.

Guerra, the Saints’ junior at 138 pounds, won over Glenbard North’s Solomon Gilliam by technical fall in the quarterfinal. At last week’s Ironman, Guerra lost in the blood round for the second consecutive season.

“It’s kind of made me focusing opening up my offense a little more,” Guerra said. “Just getting into my attacks and not getting sucked in to other people’s matches. Learning from my losses, taking what I could find what I’m doing wrong and just fixing it. [Coach Jason] Potter helps me a lot in the room. We go over my matches and we make adjustments. I’m always learning and getting better.”

Guerra took third at last year’s IHSA state meet. Clearly, earning first is now the goal.

“I started lifting a lot more, so I’ve gotten stronger,” Guerra said. “I’ve just been training a lot. I just focus on everything I can do to get better: My eating, running, wrestling, everything so far.”

Colon defeated Yorkville’s Ryder Janeczko in his quarterfinal match by technical fall. Colon was wrestling for his first time at Dvorak.

“It’s pretty good. I like it,” Colon said of his impressions of the tournament. “It’s always fun to see new competition because we don’t see half these teams before state. It’s always good to see some of the kids before you head down to state.”

“He’s an awesome wrestler,” Davino said of Colon. “He doesn’t stop and it makes me mad a lot, so that’s always something good to have in the room to get you going. He just pushes me, so he’s definitely one of my best drill partners.”

St. Charles East had seven total wrestlers advance to the championship bracket quarterfinal round – Munaretto, Davino, Guerra, Colon, Penzato, Connolly and Murray.

The Saints entire lineup, though, comes in “every time to win.”

“We’re pushing ourselves in the room to do that and by state, we’re going to be super high-caliber,” Davino said, “And just be better than what we are now, which is impressive so I’m excited for the end of the season.”