Seniors Alexis Correa and Nolan Allen move on to the IHSA sectional tournament at Conant High School this weekend.

After a strong showing at Regionals on Feb. 4, Correa, who placed third in his weight class (285) and Allen, who placed first in his (152), will compete against some of the top wrestlers in the area this Friday and Saturday. For Correa, one of the captains of the team, this opportunity is a long time coming.

“It’s only up from here,” Correa said.

Allen has not lost a match this season, and Correa described him as the “best wrestler” on the team. Correa’s record is 30-18.

Prior to Regionals, which the captains described as a tough meet, boys’ wrestling placed third out of ten total schools at East Aurora High School on January 21 during the Upstate Eight Conference tournament.

Senior Connor Zentner, co-captain of the Wildcat wrestlers, suffered a knee injury prior to the meet. Despite the issue, he carried his team to victory by placing first in his weight class.

“[I] went in with one day of practice because I hurt my knee,” Zentner said.

Most of the wrestlers faced at the conference meet were competitors the Wildcats had faced previously.

“We have consistently sat around [third place]. It sucks we didn’t get a team title,” said Zentner.

Nonetheless, at the UEC meet, sophomore Jonathan Antonio placed third overall. Other award recipients included sophomore Omar Sarmiento, juniors Scotty Zentner and David Terrazas, and seniors Correa, Diego Avalos, Mark Wimbish and Alan Munoz.

“The competition was terrific. Every wrestler had a school to represent on that mat and we did our best to make that the case, placing third out of ten total schools,” said Avalos.

For the seniors, there have been a number of seasonal highlights:

“Our most fun dual meets were against Bartlett. We won 31-30. And also, Glenbard East – we have a pretty good rivalry with them,” said Correa.