Marshall Reaches Mat Milestone For Tourney Champs

Jeremy Marshall notched a milestone individual victory --- the 100th triumph of his career --- and sparked Evanston’s wrestlers to a repeat team title Saturday at the Elias George Memorial Tournament.

The undefeated Evanston senior captured the crown at 285 pounds, adding two more victories after pinning Yardel Villegas of Rickover Academy in the second round in a quick 27 seconds to reach the century mark. He then pinned John Martinez of Amundsen in 35 seconds, and dominated Kenwood’s Dameon Norwood in the first period before scoring a fall at the 1:50 mark to take the title.

Marshall climbed to 13th place on the all-time career victory list at ETHS. He’s a threat to finish in the top six all-time if he can punch a return ticket to the Illinois High School Association state finals this season.

That’s Marshall’s plan.

“No. 100? That’s just a number,” said the Evanston heavyweight after friends and family congratulated him on the accomplishment and posed for selfies. “I was aware that I was close, but I really didn’t know what the number was. I’ve just been working on moving my feet more and wrestling better. Tempo is really the key for me.

“I didn’t have a goal (in wrestling) when I came to high school. I just wanted to be recognized at Evanston, not just as an OK wrestler. I wanted to be a great wrestler.”

Teammates Diego Lopez (175 pounds), Art Bytyqi (190) and Miguel Morales (138) joined Marshall as class champions in a field that consisted mostly of Chicago Public School teams. Evanston entered two separate squads, with Evanston Orange earning the team title with 213 points to 160 for runner-up Mather. Evanston Blue placed 10th with 75.5 points.

At 175, Lopez advanced to the finals with a technical fall and a second period pin before pinning Stephan Crump of Sarah Goode in a quick 39 seconds in the title bout.

Bytyqi, a sophomore, took top honors at 190 with wins over teammate Musa Amin (6-0), John Tribuzio of Ridgewood (fall in 2:09) and Andres Alvarado of Mather (fall in 1:30).

Morales paced a 1-2-3 Evanston sweep in his weight class, at 138, by pinning teammate Melvin Alvarado in 2:42 in the championship match. David Cruz earned third in the class for Evanston Orange.

For Evanston Blue, sophomore Andres Thomas accounted for the only championship by pinning ETHS freshman Tyler Brooks in the finale in 3:29.

Evanston Orange also counted a second place finish from freshman Quinn Muriel at 113, and thirds from Andy Edwards at 144 and Andy Ciriaco at 165.