Wrestling: Glenbrook North senior McPike peaks at conference meet

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Glenbrook North's Michael Maksimovic gets tossed by Deerfield's Lenny Bloom in the 145 lb. weight class at the Central Suburban League conference tournament on Jan. 21, 2012, at Maine East High School in Park Ridge. | Rob Hart~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:44AM

Glenbrook North senior wrestler Jim McPike was an all-CSL selection as a junior and no doubt will be a repeat member of that team this season.

Now, he can add conference champion to his list of honors.

At Saturday’s CSL Meet at Maine East, McPike pinned New Trier’s Luke Hidder to capture the 170-pound title. McPike, who improved to 19-5 on the season, had defeated Niles West’s Anthony Underwood 14-9 in the semifinal.

“(McPike) has been consistent. He’s been in the finals before, but it’s nice to see him win this tournament. He did it easily and got some big wins, including a pin in the final,” Glenbrook North head coach Mark Rebora said. “He’s been wanting to win for awhile. Last year, he was all-conference, but he didn’t win. This was the first time he won it outright.”

McPike’s performance helped the Spartans (97.50) finish seventh in the 12-team event, which included teams from both the CSL North and South. Glenbrook North was at a disadvantage because it only fielded wrestlers in 12 of 14 weight classes.

“We knew we’d finish about in the middle,” Rebora said. “We have a decent team, but nothing great. The kids wrestled hard and we’ll take whatever we can get from them. We’re happy with the way a few of them wrestled. Nothing works out perfectly.

“We sat out a couple weights, 182 and 113, and that hurts us. But we wanted our wrestlers from those weights to participate in the freshman and JV (conference) meets. They got better experience doing that. (Wrestling in those meets) you can learn how to win instead of coming to varsity and possibly getting pounded.”

Another strong performance was that of Spartans junior Michael Maksimovic, who finished fourth at 145 pounds. In the semifinal, Maksimovic lost 11-3 to eventual division champ Lenny Bloom of Deerfield. Maine South’s Tom Brewster beat the North wrestler 1-0 in the third-place match.

“Maksimovic had a good, solid performance in a tough weight class,” Rebora said. “He lost to Bloom and had a close match with Brewster, who is rated up there.”

Glenbrook North senior Court Ro ended up finishing fourth at 126 pounds, losing to Maine South’s Tony Mastrolonardo 6-0 in the third-place match.

“Cort Ro had a good tournament,” Rebora said. “He was on the attack on offense. He had been a defensive wrestler, but now his offense is clicking and he’s doing a little better.”

Junior Alex Kanellopoulos came in fourth at heavyweight and classmate Max Rothschild was fifth at 220 pounds. Rothschild beat Maine West’s Rogelio Rodriguez 8-3 in the fifth-place match.

Rebora said he also was pleased with the performance of senior Patrick Reed at 120 pounds, even though Reed didn’t have great results.

“He did yeoman’s work, sometimes thing didn’t fall his way. But he was consistent and he’s a solid kid to have out there,” the coach said.

At 6 p.m. Friday, Glenbrook North will host a double-dual crossover against Glenbrook South and Niles West. Maine East also will wrestle the two CSL South foes.

The Spartans will compete at the Glenbrook South Regional on Feb. 4. Rebora said he likely will alter the team’s practice routine leading up to the postseason.

“In some sports they taper (before championship events). We’ll still wrestle. We want to keep in shape, but we don’t want to get hurt or go too hard and pull or strain something,” Rebora said. “We’ll do more situational wrestling to make sure our bodies are healthy when we got onto the mat (for regionals).”