Klimara, Cooper, Oster take titles

Lockport's Jameson Oster beat Marion's Steve Murphy 10-1 in the 119-pound match on Saturday.

(John Patsch/Staff Photographer)

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CHAMPAIGN -- The Joliet area could not have asked for a much better start to Saturday's Class 3A state finals at the Assembly Hall.

Providence Catholic's Eddie Klimara and Edwin Cooper and Lockport's Jameson Oster all walked away with championships in the first three weight classes.

But the good times didn't continue as the next three title contenders all fell to highly-regarded individuals at their weights.

Klimara capped a 33-1 season by winning 2-1 over Harlem's Derek Elmore in the 103 championship.

"This feels really good, especially after all of the hard work I put in this year," Klimara said. "I worked really hard the past couple of weeks to get to where I'm at."

A year ago, Cooper (38-1) lost the 103 state title to Wheeling's Max Nowry. But Saturday he claimed a 6-3 victory over Batavia's Logan Arlis in the 112 finals.

"I came into this tournament real focused and did what I had to do so I'm real happy," Cooper said. "I just kept going after it this year because I didn't want to have the same thing happen."

Oster, who was fourth at 112 last year, posted a 10-1 win over Marian Catholic's Steve Murphy in the 119 finals. His brother Jake won the 112 state title in 2004.

"Ever since my brother won it, I said to myself that I wanted to do that, I wanted to do more than him," Oster said. "It feels good since all of my hard work over the last 10 years is showing."

Lockport had two other individuals competing for titles, seniors Kevin Bialka (152) and Mark Stenberg (171), but both of those lost to top-ranked wrestlers.

Bialka (44-3) battled Fenwick's Bobby Barnhisel to a 0-0 score through regulation but allowed a five-point move in overtime to drop the 152 pound title match.

"You don't really dream about it coming down to an overtime loss," Bialka said. "He won the match, don't get me wrong. If I would have worked a bit harder I might have had more gas at the end."

Stenberg (39-4) dropped a 19-6 decision to Grant's Lee Munster in the 171-pound championship. Last season Stenberg finished sixth at 160.

Lockport had only had 9 wrestlers who advanced to state championship matches prior to Saturday's finals. The 3 placewinners is a new record for the Porters.

Romeoville junior Donny Simpson (36-4) dropped a 13-3 decision to Prospect's Matt Boggess in the 140 title match. A year ago he won a small school title in Wisconsin.

"He's the real deal and he deserved to win today," Simpson said. "I wanted to win but I just didn't do the things I needed to win. This just makes me want to get back to practice right now."

A total of nine other individuals from area schools finished between third- and sixth-place to receive all-state honors.

Lincoln-Way Central senior Justin Farmer bounced back from a 7-3 semifinal loss to Highland Park's Danny Fisher to take third place at 130. It was the third straight year he placed at state.

Lincoln-Way East senior Chris Narel lost 12-11 in the 285 semifinals to De La Salle's Curtis Blaydes. He took fifth place to earn his second state medal.

Minooka senior Brian Bokoski earned all-state honors for the second time in 3 years after finishing in fifth place at 125. Senior teammate Ryan Warczynski claimed his first state medal after taking sixth at 152.

Providence senior Jake Wojcik fell 7-0 in the 130 semifinals to Oak Park's Nick Dardanes. He won his second state medal after claiming a fifth place finish.

Plainfield Central junior Eric Oyster bounced back from a 5-2 semifinal loss at 140 to Prospect's Matt Boggess to claim sixth place.

Lincoln-Way East senior A.J. Knoll got pinned in 3:52 by Oak Park's Dan Martin in the 145 semifinals. He went on to claim fourth place.

Plainfield South senior Andrew Haney became his school's first medal winner when he took sixth at 130. Lincoln-Way Central senior Pete Damiani also claimed a sixth-place finish at 171.