High school wrestling: Cary-Grove surges past Prairie Ridge

CARY – Cary-Grove senior Parker Suyko received some depressing news in October after a football teammate fell on his left leg in practice.

Suyko’s left fibula was broken, and a doctor told him it could take him eight months to recover.

For Suyko, who also wrestles, that was not acceptable.

“I’ve been fighting injuries my whole life and I just had the mindset to get back out here as soon as I could,” Suyko said.

Suyko made a triumphant return to varsity wrestling Thursday on senior night when he pinned Prairie Ridge’s Dayton Gates in 2:29 to win at 152 pounds. Suyko’s victory came during the decisive stretch of the match as C-G rallied for a 34-27 Fox Valley Conference dual victory.

“Ever since I got off my crutches, I’ve been lifting almost every day,” Suyko said. “I’ve been conditioning, I can’t really run yet, but I’m doing everything else to try to stay in shape. It was a great feeling. I always had the end goal of trying to make it back, even though I wasn’t totally sure. It was a great feeling.”

C-G (11-10, 7-2 FVC) tied for second in the FVC with Jacobs. The Wolves (14-9, 3-6) got pins from Tyler Evans (106) and Ryan Koelblinger (113) to help build an 18-3 lead after five matches.

Colin Suyko picked up a forfeit at 132, then Charlie Gruen started a string of five straight C-G wins on the mat with a major decision at 138. Nolan Vincent (145), Parker Suyko and Brad Peters (160) all won by pin.

“I was really focused,” Peters said. “I expected to win my match. It helped me, it motivated me to see my teammates win. I stayed on top. I told myself, ‘I can’t get taken down here.’ I was going for a first-period pin.”

Peters got it, then Wade Abrams (170) won by decision to seal the victory with two remaining weights.

Instead of each team receiving a forfeit – Prairie Ridge at 195 and C-G at 220 – the Wolves’ Kyle Koelblinger bumped up from 195 to take on C-G’s Joe Swanson at 220.

Koelblinger, giving up almost 30 pounds, held off Swanson, 4-3, in that final match.

“PR came out hot; they wrestled really well,” Trojans coach Will Petersen said. “They had a lot of good matches. We had some guys fire back; our seniors stepped up. I don’t think we wrestled our best, but we came out on top and it was a good win.”

Petersen was thrilled for Suyko to get back on the mat.

“We had a lot of high-quality guys fill in for him,” Petersen said. “Parker came up just short of being a sectional qualifier last year and put in a lot of offseason time. The wrestling ability is there. We can’t wait to see what he does this weekend at our triangular and going to the regional. We’re excited for him.”

Koelblinger sat for most of the match, then he and Wolves coach Trey Breeden decided with a couple of matches remaining that Koelblinger would jump up to 220 and face Swanson.

“We weren’t planning on bumping Kyle, but he wanted to get some wrestling in, so …,” Breeden said, smiling. “Kyle doesn’t back down.”

Koelblinger is ranked fourth at 195 in Class 2A by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association, and Swanson is ranked fifth at 220 in Class 3A.

“I was just going to wrestle 195, but they didn’t have a wrestler against me there,” Koelblinger said. “I figured I’d want a match before regional. I was giving up a few pounds. It was a really good match to warm me up for regionals. Joe is a really good wrestler; he really knows what he’s doing out there on the mat. It was a fun match.”

Petersen appreciated that Koelblinger moved up.

“We always anticipate good matchups, and their 220-pounder [Josh Crandall, who was injured] is a stud,” Petersen said. “We were happy they took the challenge and went up against Joey. They’re both high-quality kids, really good friends actually. It was a great match.”

STAR OF THE MATCH

Parker Suyko

Cary-Grove, sr., 152 pounds

Suyko returned from a broken left leg suffered during football season to win by pin in his first varsity match of the season.

THE NUMBER

6: Wins in a row for C-G after falling behind, 18-3, through the first five matches.

AND ANOTHER THING ...

Prairie Ridge 220-pounder Josh Crandall had a cast removed Thursday after suffering a broken thumb in P.E. class while playing volleyball. Wolves coach Trey Breeden hopes to have Crandall, a Class 2A state qualifier last season, back for next week’s regional.

Cary-Grove 34, Prairie Ridge 27

285: Ryan Beeksma (CG) d. Nick Mattran, 7-5.

106: Tyler Evans (PR) p. Adrian Magona, 1:50.

113: Ryan Koelblinger (PR) p. Dan Leon, 3:04.

120: Sam Ilkow (PR) d. Jakob Immer, 7-5 (OT).

126: Beau Smith (PR) d. Andrew Mohr, 6-2.

132: Colin Suyko (CG) by forfeit.

138: Charlie Gruen (CG) md. Eddie Ferree, 16-2.

145: Nolan Vincent (CG) p. Jake Sinchak, 2:25.

152: Parker Suyko (CG) p. Dayton Gates, 2:29.

160: Brad Peters (CG) Spencer Fowler, 1:45.

170: Wade Abrams (CG) d. Nate Dutkin, 7-0.

182: Tommy Evans (PR) p. Isaac Rands, 0:41.

195: Double forfeit.

220: Kyle Koelblinger (PR) d. Joe Swanson (CG), 4-3.