PALATINE, Ill. – Two first place finishes highlighted the action at the Harper Open for the #8 Harper College wrestling team.  Charles Argue (Chicago, Ill., Mount Carmel) and Curtis Blaydes delivered standout performances for the Hawks in their final dress rehearsal for the Midwest District meet on Feb. 12 at Triton College.
 
Argue won the title at 197 after he was victorious in all three of his matches.  Two of his three wins were via pin, including the final against Ben Perna, who was unattached.  Argue also pinned Illinois State's Matt Schefke in the first round and defeated Dan Carey of Waubonsee in the second round 15-4.
 
As he has all season, Blaydes performed exceptionally in the heavyweight division.  To start the day, he pinned Illinois State's Andrew Kordek in 2:15.  Blaydes then beat Coty Anderson of Calumet College 4-2 and later defeated Northern Illinois Parker Settecase 9-4 in the title match.
 
Conor Infelise (McHenry, Ill., McHenry) dropped the championship match at 133 Northern Illinois' Thorian Twyner.  The defeat ended Infelise's 18-match winning streak.  On his way to the finals, Infelise beat Waubonsee's Felipe Rodriguez and Illinois State's Colin Carstens.
 
Khari Washington (Broadview, Ill., Proviso West) returned to the lineup after missing the last few weeks.  The fifth-ranked wrestler at 174 showed a little rust in his first match in losing to Illinois' Brandon Lopezx but regrouped to win his final two matches of the day and claim third place.  Washington pinned Triton College's Michael Murray and beat Hannibal-LaGrange's Ian Taylor 7-1.
 
Brandon Dillenbeck (Goshen, Ind., Goshen) took fourth place at 184 for the Hawks.  He pinned Illinois State's Julio Perez in his first match.  After losing to Shane Rosenberry of Northern Illinois, Dillenbeck topped Kennedy-King's Ameer Bogan to advance to the third place match.
 
Two of Harper's own wound up battling each other at 141.  Josh Tardy (Naperville, Ill., Naperville Central) defeated teammate Vince Gottardo (Elk Grove, Ill., Conant) 5-4 for fifth place.  Tardy won his first two matches of the day before falling in the semifinals while Gottardo lost in the first round before working his way back up through the loser's bracket.  Nick Finkenbinder also took fifth at 165.