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Fanthorpe, Naperville North thrive in unfamiliar setting.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Daily Herald Reports

Naperville North wanted to meet some new people this holiday season, and what a first impression the Huskies made.

In the program's first try at the Don Flavin Invitational in DeKalb, the Huskies topped the 10-team field by 37.5 points Thursday. Ten Huskies were unbeaten in the first- and third-place contests. Rockton Hononegah (186.5) placed second, followed by Prospect (174.5), West Aurora (145), Hinsdale South (135), DeKalb, Glenbard West, Shepard, York and United Township.

Huskies coach Tom Champion substituted the journey west for the team's longstanding berth in the Batavia Invitational partly because he wanted to do some scouting.

"There's a lot of teams (at Batavia) we wrestle in dual meets," Champion said. "York is in our sectional, DeKalb we may see through the state bracketing, so we wanted to get a chance to wrestle some different competition."

Nick Fanthorpe and Andy Greenwalt are still looking for any competition. The Huskies 119-pounder and 215-pounder, respectively, remained unbeaten. Greenwalt, who placed fourth in Class AA last year, scored three first-period pins, while Fanthorpe claimed the lower-weight Outstanding Wrestler award (DeKalb's Ryan Ackland earned the upper-weight prize) with a pair of pins and a 6-2 title- match win over United Township's Alex Alaniz.

The 2003 state champ and 2004 state runner-up broke a scoreless tie with a takedown with 13 seconds left in the championship bout, then scored two more in the third period against an opponent who was content to defend.

"It frustrates you when you go out there to wrestle a guy who doesn't want to score," Fanthorpe said. "It's hard to wrestle a guy like that. He was strong, and he was pretty...

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