High school wrestling: Kaneland seniors set tone in record-setting state tourney

CHAMPAIGN – Coach Joe Orosco knew what the future was going to hold for his Kaneland wrestling team.

The senior-laden Knights had a chance to do something special this season if they wrestled to their potential at the right time.

In doing exactly that, Kaneland set a school record by qualifying five wrestlers and having five wrestlers medal – the most ever in both categories for the program – at the Class 2A state tournament.

Four of those five wrestlers were seniors, including Riley Vanik, the third-place finisher at 182 pounds. That means Orosco expects the Knights to be in full rebuild mode moving forward.

“It hurts us and helps us,” Orosco said of the state showings. “We are going to be starting over. Those seniors leaving opens up four vacancies [in the lineup], not only point scorers, but leadership roles.

“These guys left on a good note, and we hope that plants the seed for these younger guys to say, ‘Hey, they had five this year, let’s work toward that.’”

Vanik’s 5-4 victory in the third-place match in his final high school bout brought noticeable emotions.

One win shy of a chance to wrestle for a state title, Vanik fell in the semifinals. He responded by winning his next two matches in the consolation bracket.

“After losing the semifinal match, the hardest thing to do was bounce back,” Vanik said. “But you have no other choice, really. I was not going to let my senior year end on a loss. To go out like this with these guys and make school history means the world to me.”

Both Austin Kedzie (120 pounds) and Colin Gussman (220) finished in fourth place, while fellow senior Hayden Patterson took sixth (170).

Gussman said that after wrestling for a number of years with his senior group, it meant quite a bit to end it with school history.

“We’re all pretty close-knit, having grown up together and everything,” Gussman said. “That meant a lot to us, even if some of the results this weekend didn’t go exactly how we would have liked. We knew this was it for us and wanted to go out strong.”

Sophomore Nathan Orosco, who took sixth at 106 pounds, will be the lone returning state qualifier for a team that coach Orosco hopes can learn and gain momentum from this year’s accomplishments in Champaign.

“Hopefully, and I’m talking all the way down to the junior high and kids club level, hopefully this is something they can look at and hope to attain and help build our program back up,” Joe Orosco said. “[Nathan] medaled, but we’re going to be starting from the bare bones. I just hope they want to put in the offseason work, maybe not to get to this level just yet, but to get closer.”