Throughout the year, Joliet Catholic has challenged itself by competing against some of the best boys wrestling teams in the midwest and even the nation. The hope, coach Ryan Cumbee said, was that those competitions would prepare the Hilltoppers for the postseason.

At Saturday’s regional tournament, that hope came to fruition and then some.

The first seven championship matches of the Class 3A Minooka Regional were all won by JCA wrestlers, four more Hilltoppers finished second in their weight classes and two others took home third place. That dominant effort resulted in 254 team points, 86.5 more than the second best team as Joliet Catholic cruised to a team championship.

“I think that we prepared all year long for this,” Cumbee said. “We’ve wrestled teams from across the country so when we’re here in our region we’re not intimidated and I think that showed today.”

The regional tournament began with the lightest weight class at 106. Joliet Catholic’s Kane Robles wrapped that up for the Hilltoppers with a 17-5 major decision over Noe Hernandez of Lockport to pick up the first win of the day for JCA.

“It feels good,” Robles said. “I put in the work and it paid off this tournament. We practice hard as a team and we’re always just focused on scoring. It was good.”

JCA kept it going at 113, though the match barely even got started before it was over. Colton Schultz pinned Nick Murdock-Schey of Joliet West in just 39 seconds to take the win.

Finn McDermott made it three straight for the Hilltoppers, winning a 7-3 decision that went the distance over Lockport’s Anthony Sutton at 120. The 126-pound bout was over fairly quickly as Lukas Foster earned a technical fall with 25 seconds left in the opening round over Jakob Crandall of Joliet West.

Jason Hampton kept the good times rolling at 132 with a 7-1 decision over Maddux Tindal of Minooka. Adante Washington extended the Hilltopper streak at 138 with a technical fall over Sean Volf of Plainfield South in 1:41.

The final JCA champion was Matthew Laird, who earned a hard fought 5-3 decision over Naseem Jaber of Lockport at 144.

At that point, though, the rest of the teams decided they’d seen just about enough of JCA atop the podium.

Joliet West claimed its lone champion of the day at 150 pounds when Coehn Weber bested JCA’s Dawson Mack in a 7-2 decision to secure a bye at next week’s sectional.

“It feels pretty good,” Weber said. “I felt pretty good going into the match so it was good to take care of business. It feels good to know I get that bye at sectionals so I can see who I’ll be wrestling first. I’m looking forward to shooting my ticket to the finals.”

Joliet West finished fourth as a team with 125.5 points.

Anyone who’s followed boys wrestling this year shouldn’t be surprised by the result at 157 pounds. While JCA’s Nolan Vogel fought valiantly, former state finalist Justin Wardlow of Lockport continued the final season of his brilliant career with a 4-2 decision.

“It feels really good to get to go back to work this week,” Wardlow said. “I’ve got to work on a couple of little things that will make a big difference this week for sectionals and then at state.”

The regional hosts got in on the fun before it was all over, too. Kaden Meyer gave Minooka its first champ of the event at 165 with a 4-0 decision over Joliet West’s Aiden Brown. Lockport picked up its second champ when Chris Miller beat JCA’s Vince Skedel by technical fall late in the third round.

Lockport finished second with 167.5 points on the day.

Plainfield South picked up one of its two champs at the 190 spot when Chase Piercceal pinned Minooka’s Santino Capodice late in the first round.

“It feels great to come out, work and compete,” Piercceal said. “I just have to push the pace during the matches next week. I plan to stay focused and be technical. I’ve got to stick to what I know I’m good at.”

Plainfield South’s other champion was at 215. Mason Bucon trailed JCA’s Ryker Czubak 5-1 in the second period before turning the match around and earning a pin midway through the same period to take the gold medal.

The Cougars finished fifth with 82 points.

Finally, Minooka closed out the day with a champion at 285. Robbie Murphy got the pin on Joliet Central’s Evan Patton just 54 seconds into the match to take the gold.

“Going into sectionals with a higher seed is definitely good,” Murphy said. “Being at home definitely helped with confidence and comfort.”

Minooka was third with 164 points.

Finally, Joliet Central (56 points), Plainfield Central (34.5) and Romeoville (14) finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.