Feature Stories

Breaking News: Rob Sherrill and the IWCOA are teaming up to release the first ever – IWCOA Girls State Wrestling Rankings! We plan to release 3 ranking issues with the first arriving between January 15-18. Girls/Coaches should complete the “Rankings Survey Form” by clicking the button below.  The form should be completed by Friday, January 10, 2020.

Rob Sherrill

A native of Chicago’s south suburbs, Rob Sherrill first covered wrestling for the Star Newspapers in 1978. He gradually expanded his focus statewide, starting The Grappler in 1981. He joined the Chicago Sun-Times in 1983, covering wrestling and other high school sports for the paper for 12 years. That same year, he started The Illinois Best Weekly, the state’s first weekly statewide rankings publication, which continues to this day. He also assists the state’s Web site, illinoismatmen.com, in producing rankings and other content. The voice of the Class 3A state tournament on the IHSA-TV network, Sherrill was a color analyst for the first television broadcast of the state tournament in 1987, and continued in that role for more than a decade.

In 1992, Sherrill initiated the first national Super 25 Wrestling Teams run by USA Today, and produced the Super 25 for the national newspaper for six seasons. He has been the National High School Editor for WIN magazine since 1997.

A resident of Nashville, Tenn. since 1997, Sherrill is a three-time recipient of the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) Newsperson of the Year award, one of many local, state and national awards he has received. He was inducted into the IWCOA Hall of Fame in 2006.

IWOCA Feature Story By Gary Larsen

1/4/2020

The high school wrestling community is ready for it, from coaches to officials and from parents to athletes.

An IHSA girls wrestling state tournament is on the horizon. It’s merely the logistics of how, where, and when that remain.

“It’s important to the IHSA that they do it right, and I understand that,” IWCOA Executive Board Member Colleen McGlynn said. “They have a plan for the state tournament but they don’t have a plan for how to qualify girls yet.”

An IHSA girls wrestling advisory committee will meet in January, to draw up the next step in the process. That process can’t happen fast enough for the more than 800 girls state-wide that now wrestle at the high school level.

The Illinois High School Holiday Open that took place on Dec. 23 saw more than 150 girls of all ages compete at Niles West. The event was sponsored by the IWCOA, which has thrown its weight behind the move to take girls’ high school wrestling to the next level.

“Their connection to the IHSA is invaluable and the IWCOA is the organization to help us move this forward,” McGlynn said. “I know they have the ear of the IHSA.”

For the IWCOA, it wasn’t a difficult decision to arrive at.

“If you look at our mission, our charter, it’s to support and grow and promote wrestling at all levels, primarily at the high school level,” IWCOA president Nate Kessen said. “That’s our mission, so for us it was kind of a no-brainer to get behind this and push it forward.”

Girls have long competed on boys’ high school teams in Illinois, but the nation-wide movement towards the creation of girls-only sanctioned competition is now a locomotive roaring down the tracks.

Eighteen states currently sanction girls’ wrestling at the high school level, including California, Texas, and Washington.

The key component towards growing the sport at the high school level in Illinois is the formation of a sanctioned state tournament. And as the saying goes: if you build it, they will come.

McGlynn just hopes it gets built sooner than later.

“Once you offer a state series and a state tournament, teams will start building. We already have teams building,” McGlynn said. “We already have schools with twelve, thirteen, fourteen girls on a team and they’re initiating dual competition.”

Downers Grove South and Oak Park and River Forest have two growing girls programs that squared off in a dual meet under the spotlight this season.

Dual meets will remain essentially informal events for now, but teams are gearing up for the future.

“Last year we had a smaller roster but this year we’re almost filling a whole lineup,” DG South coach Vince Liebich said. “It was really awesome and I was super pumped to see the girls wrestle under the lights like that. I think the more fun they have, the more people are going to see that, and the more girls that will want to be a part of it.”

A sanctioned state tournament will help that cause. McGlynn will again be involved in helping organize the annual girls’ state tournament in Springfield in March of 2020. But the event is not sanctioned by the IHSA and takes place nearly three weeks after the boys’ state finals in Champaign.

By that time, many girls who wrestle on boys’ teams have stopped training or moved on to their spring activities.

“We get a couple hundred girls to show up but you have eight hundred girls certify and ninety percent of those girls are done wrestling at the end of January,” McGlynn said. “We’re asking those girls to hold on until March to wrestle in a state tournament, and that’s why we have so much attrition.”

Boys programs will continue to see more and more girls join wrestling as the IHSA sorts out specifics and logistics. Niles West coach Anthony Genovesi had six girls wrestling in his program last year and that number increased to 10 this season.

Genovesi was happy to see the large number of girls competing at this year’s Holiday Open.

“If boys can learn from the sport, why can’t girls learn from it?” Genovesi said. “I have three young daughters that I brought here today. I don’t know if they’ll wrestle, but I want to at least show them that there’s another opportunity out there for them.”

One of the referees working the event in Niles was Grace Kristoff, the 2018 NWHOF Illinois Chapter Tricia Saunders Award Winner (pictured) who wrestled on the boys’ team at Belleville-Althoff and now wrestles at McKendree College.

Mary Kelly, Cassie Inman, Caitlyn Chase, and Haley Augello are just a few of the trailblazing Illinois wrestlers from years past who can relate to the odyssey that Kristoff similarly followed as a teenager.

As a lower-weight high school freshman, Kristoff held her own but by the time she became an upperclassmen, wrestling closer to 150 pounds, the task grew exponentially tougher.

“Those were men I was wrestling and I got whomped on,” Kristoff said. “It was terrible.”

Kristoff sees a better future for female high school wrestlers once the sport becomes a bona fide, sanctioned IHSA sport. Organizations like the IKWF and ILUSA are fostering girls’ involvement, which would also likely increase.

“I think they’ll get a lot more experience, you’ll have less kids quitting, and more girls participating and wanting to join,” Kristoff said.

Vernon Hills junior Magdalena Zucek placed third at 138 pounds in the Novice Division at Niles West, and she believes that once wrestling is sanctioned, perceptions can only change for the better.

“It’s empowering,” Zucek said. “It makes girls sports more relevant. When you think about wrestling, you think about guys wrestling but now that it’s on the girls’ horizon it’s going to give people a different perspective on girls’ and boys’ sports, and how they really aren’t that different. It makes it more credible for us.”

Vernon Hills coach Jerry Micelli was present at Niles West to coach Zucek and Kylie Schuldt, who placed second at 113 in the Elite Division.

Both girls wrestle on Micelli’s boys’ team at Vernon Hills. His opinion is clear on the subject of girls’ growth into the sport.

“I love it,” Micelli said. “I think it’s good for the sport and it’s about time. Our culture is changing and I think it’s pretty cool.”

Rankings have been posted to the Rankings Page . View them HERE

It’s been a long time since Lena-Winslow/Stockton faced any adversity on a wrestling mat. Almost a year to the day, in fact.

After losing to Coal City in the final of the 2018 edition of Abe’s Rumble, the Pantherhawks didn’t lose again, breezing to the 1A state title by dethroning defending champion Aurora Christian.

Having graduated just two starters from that team, Lena-Winslow/Stockton has blown away the field again to start this season. Only nine of their first 17 dual-meet victims this season managed to score in double figures.

But LWS was not the only story at the BoS Center in Springfield. An Abe’s Rumble field that co-organizers Jeff Hill of Petersburg Porta and Matt Grimm of Auburn expanded to a record 60 teams in 12 pools saw the top four teams in the IWCOA rankings, LWS, Coal City, Vandalia and Tolono Unity, dominate their way to the semifinals.

And it was Tolono Unity that prevented a fourth finals matchup between LWS and Coal City in as many seasons, rallying past the Coalers, 39-31 in one semifinal. In the pre-season, we wrote that the Rockets had the best group of upper weights in Illinois, whether you’re talking 3A, 2A or 1A.

That group propelled Unity to the championship match, and almost helped them accomplish the unthinkable. But LWS added a second Abe’s Rumble championship to the one they one in 2017, rallying from a 21-point deficit to beat the Rockets, 40-30.

In a semifinal that started at 160 pounds, Unity scored six points in five of the six bouts through 285. Pate Eastin (160), Micah Downs (182), Oran Varela (220) and Logan Wilson (285) scored pins and Connor Eastin (170) won by forfeit. Though 2A state champion Daniel Jezik racked up five takedowns in a 12-4 major decision over state finalist Cade Scott at 195, Tolono Unity still led 30-4, and the Coalers never climbed out of the hole.

The other semifinal featured a battle of unbeatens. Only 3A rival Belleville West, in the season opener, had come within 24 points of Vandalia heading into that match. But LWS won 11 of 14 matches in a 56-12 semifinal win.

With the final starting at 170, state placewinner Case Harmston beat Connor Eastin, 4-1 to give the Pantherhawks a 3-0 lead. Downs, Scott, Varela and Wilson then scored consecutive pins, and suddenly Tolono Unity led, 24-3.

From there on, despite the four consecutive pins, the question was whether the Rockets could break through for another win against an LWS lineup that combined for a 67-5 record at the BoS Center from 106 through 160.

They did – two of them. But decisions by Ben Gavel, 7-5 over Jaden Rice at 126 and 9-7 by Pate Eastin over Andrew Haas at 160 weren’t enough. That’s because LWS followed Wilson’s pin with three straight pins of its own – by Garrett Luke (106), Dillon Raab (113) and Zach White (120) – and Winston McPeek (138) and state placewinner Jason Hermann (152) added pins of their own. Vandalia scored six pins of its own to beat Coal City, 52-20 in the tbhird-place match.

Nearly half of the field – 28 of the 60 teams – entered the BoS Center ranked in the IWCOA.net top 25 rankings or honorable mention. How accurate were those rankings? The ranked or higher-ranked team posted a record of 120-29 throughout the two days, a success rate of 80.5 percent.

Some other teams that impressed:

Dwight – the honorable mention Trojans finished 13th, beating Mercer County, 48-36 and Heyworth, 37-30 in pool competition. Their final match was a 36-33 victory over another top 25 team, Tremont.

Erie/Prophetstown – the Cardinals beat top 25 opponents Monticello, 45-34 and Mount Carmel, 60-24 to win one of the tougher pools. Although the Aces got them back the second day, 36-35, honorable mention Erie/Prophetstown finished 15th.

Fithian Oakwood – the Comets started the tournament ranked No. 19, but beat two higher-ranked teams the second day. In the round of 16, they trailed Prairie Central, 33-11 with six matches remaining before ripping off three pins, a technical fall and a decision for a 37-37 tie, advancing with a 2-1 edge in technical falls. The Comets also beat Petersburg Porta, 46-33 to finish seventh.

Morrison – the Mustangs were the team story of the tournament, finishing the highest of any unranked team. Morrison went 7-2, beating top 25 schools Tremont, 42-33 to win its pool, Monticello, 45-36 to advance to the Gold pool and Fithian Oakwood, 48-30 the second day. They finished eighth with losses to LWS and Auburn.

Sacred Heart-Griffin – the unranked Crusaders went only 5-4, but all four losses were to top 25 teams – Sherrard and Seneca in pool competition and LWS and Prairie Central the second day. They rode their upper-weight trio of Mason Clem (182), Reece Edwards (195) and Jesiah Bradshaw (220) to wins over top 25 teams Robinson and Mount Carmel and two honorable mention teams to finish 11th.

IWCOA Feature Story – Niles West Holiday Open Big Success

by Mike Garofola

Niles West High School –

It wasn’t the 40-plus teams, and over 150 participants that impressed so much last week  at the Illinois High School Holiday Open – it was the excitement in the air from all those on hand that made this day so wonderful.

Sport has the power to teach and change lives – and it appears wrestling has done just  that for those on hand in the giant Niles West field house.

Wrestlers of all ages would compete on this day, and if the energy, passion and pride exhibited by these young women is any indication – then girls wrestling is headed into the stratosphere, and hopefully for all those involved, the next sanctioned sport of the Illinois High School Association.

145-pound Elite Division runner-up Adriana Demos believes so.

After being a part of a national championship in cheerleading, the Warren sophomore went in search of her next challenge, and it didn’t take long for Demos to realize where she belonged.

“After the first day I knew it was the sport for me,” admitted Demos, who was on Team Illinois last season, qualified for Fargo, and currently trains in the room with the boys varsity team.

“I did all I could in (cheer) – so when I got involved in wrestling, the thing I liked (was) you put everything you have as an individual out on the mat, and the physical and mental part of the sport is something I really enjoy.”

Demos, who was unable to participate at Fargo due to a concussion, goes 24-7 when it comes to training.

“Three days a week I go to Izzy Style from 5:00-8:30 to train, but I really like being in the room working with the varsity, and watching guys like Joel Vandervere, who is a real role model for me to follow,” says Demos of Vandervere, who is No. 1 in the IWCOA boys 3A  poll at 138 pounds.

“Joel is great because he’ll see something I’m doing and he’ll offer suggestions on how to improve and be better (and) it makes me feel like I am part of the wrestling program at Warren, and that’s important.”

Demos, whose older brother (Andrew) was a three-time state qualifier, and state medal winner (currently wrestling at the University of Nebraska-Kearney) sees the big numbers here at this tournament as a sign of future in her sport.

“We’re all here because we love the sport, and all of us are doing our best to get better to make it be the best it can be, and I want to see it become an IHSA sport before I graduate in order to compete for a state championship.”

Elgin High School freshmen, Ariana Luna, inspired by teammate Natalie Gonzalez, is thrilled to be a part of wrestling, and believes it is the sport for her.

“Natalie is the one who provided the inspiration for all of the girls at Elgin to be a part of wrestling, and because of her, and the respect given to us by the coaching staff, and the boys program, I know I am in the right sport,” says Luna, who would use a technical fall in her Novice 138-pound final to win top honors.

“It’s not about success, it’s more about effort and hard work, and that’s what keeps me in the sport, but I know if I continue to work hard and improve, I’ll have the success Natalie has,” added Luna, who will play soccer in the spring at Elgin.

For the record, Natalie Gonzalez is a two-time IWCOA state qualifier, and 2018 state runner-up, who also happens to be a starter on the boys varsity team.

“The success of Natalie has given girls wrestling a lot of exposure at Elgin, so when we go out to talk to girls in other sports, there’s more of an interest to participate than ever before,” echoed Elgin assistants, Jon DeCoste and Gary Parciak, who were on hand for the three girls here.

“We have five in the program right now, and we’ve ordered brand new two-piece singlets for the girls to make them feel a part of things (and) all of them train in the room with boys everyday, and I can tell you the guys make them feel like they belong in there (it’s) fun to see,” added Parciak.

Edwardsville made the near 300-mile trip north to be a part of this terrific tournament, and for coach Sarah Doty and her nine wrestlers, it was a road trip worth making.

“We came in the day before, stayed in a hotel, and it was a great way for the girls and families to bond and have some fun before going out there and competing,” said Doty, who brought an impressive resume to her new downstate ‘wrestling’ home.

Doty, who came to Edwardsville after stops in California, and most recently Missouri, is a former three-time college All-American, and obviously excited for the future of a sport that become such a big part of her life.

“The Edwardsville Wrestling Club (EWC) has 20 girls in the sport, all in middle school right now, and we’re growing, and thanks to the support of the boys program over at the high school, we feel like we’re a part of their program, which is the best way for everyone to grow and improve,” said Doty.

“Wrestling is a tough sport, but it’s one that will help all of these girls to learn a little bit more about life itself (the) ups and downs, and (knowing) that hard work and perseverance will pay off in the end.”

“Girls wrestling is on the rise here in Illinois and all around the country, and the girls that came here are a part of the future, and hopefully sooner than later, as a IHSA sanctioned sport.”

Thirteen-year old Rosie Sanders’ father and older brother have been in the sport, so Miss Sanders feels it’s the right sport for her as well.

“I’ve been wrestling for nearly ten years, and I cannot think of being in any other sport than this one,” said Sanders, who enjoys training at the high school alongside the boys program.

Sport is a great driver in gender equity, and in this particular one, it has the power to reach and change lives, regardless of gender – so says Oak Park and River Forest freshmen, Louise Calkins, who would finish second in the Novice 145-pound division at days end.

“Wrestling is obviously not a traditional sport for women, and I know there are those from the older generation who might feel we don’t belong (but) the younger coaches in our room do not feel that way, and the guys don’t either, but I think we all realize it still might take some time for us to earn total acceptance into the sport,” said Calkins.

Passionate about wrestling, Calkins has ben involved in basketball, swimming, dance, volleyball and soccer, and she knows this one is the right one.

“OPRF obviously has a great tradition, so that kind of brought me into the sport, but I’ve become addicted to (it), and have learned it builds character, makes you tougher, gets you in great shape, and as a female, it makes me and others part of history,” continued Calkins, who in her film class made a documentary on wrestling.

The affable Calkins, who was one of nine from OPRF here, trains twice per week at 6:15 in their own room, splitting off on other days to work-out with the freshmen boys team.

“It’s a little frustrating at times to wrestle and train with the boys because they have that genetic advantage over us (but) we all know it will make us better in the long run.”

Calkins and her teammates were part of the first girls dual-meet recently against Downers Grove South, and it was that ground-breaking event, plus this Holiday Open that gives hope to Calkins for the future of her new sport.

“All of us want to see wrestling to be a part of the IHSA, and to have the chance to compete for a real state title, and hopefully that will happen very soon.”

Kalia Del Toro has enjoyed plenty of success already in her young wrestling career, but the Taft High School sophomore believes this tournament, and others on the calendar ahead will have an impact on the shaping of the future of her favorite sport.

“Everyone is here because they love this sport, and they want to be a part of a sport that gives girls the same chance as the boys have (and) when I go to other tournaments, it’s pretty clear to me the sport is growing, and there’s a lot of girls who work hard, and want to see it get the attention it deserves,” said Del Toro.

Del Toro came in from Mixed Martial Arts, while also dabbling in boxing, and jiu-jitsu, but neither compare to girls wrestling according to the Elite 120-pound champ.

“I just love wrestling because it’s an individual sport, it pushes you in so many ways, and it’s hard, and I like the challenge of getting better at something.”

Better is something Del Toro has mastered in her career thus far: she was third at 111 pounds at the 2019 IWCOA Frosh-Soph State tournament last year, Chicago Public League champ at 113 pounds, was an All-American with her fifth-place finish at Fargo, then finished up with a third-place medal at the Illinois Girls Freestyle State championships.

“Wrestling is not a boys sport anymore, we (girls) can do this sport, we’re hard workers, and just as dedicated, so there’s no reason why it cannot be an IHSA sport, and one that we can compete for a state title.”

These are proud times in the sport of girls wrestling – and from the several interviews and chats conducted last week here at Niles West – the athletes involved are fully aware they are the future.

Rankings for the fifth week of the IHSA wrestling season have been posted. State rankings are presented by Rob Sherrill and sponsored by the Midwest Nationals Wrestling Tournament & the IWCOA.

View the rankings HERE!