Wrestling: Huntley Middle School wrapping up historic season with 17 vying for state titles in DeKalb

Already in the midst of a historic season on multiple fronts, the Huntley Middle School wrestling team will look to add an exclamation point to the season Friday and Saturday at the Illinois Elementary School Association State Championships at the NIU Convocation Center in DeKalb.

Actually, they’re looking to add multiple exclamation points at the end of a season that saw the 1,000th win in program history and a program-record 17 state qualifiers.

J-Barbs head coach Patrick Kiley said the success of the program, this season and historically, is a reflection of the importance of the sport in the community.

“Just going through a program that has so much continuity from top to bottom is a great model for other programs,” Kiley said. “When you have the head coach [at the high school], Sam Hiatt, also being involved with his brothers in the club and at the middle school, we all work together to show the same type of technique, have the same philosophies and there’s no infighting. It’s all community based, and we all have a goal in mind.”

Kiley said the goal, first and foremost, is getting wrestlers ready for the high school level.

“We love to win, we love to be competitive,” Kiley said. “But we know our job is really to get them ready for high school. Winning a state title and 1,000 victories and all those things are great, but our reward as coaches down here is watching them run out and wrestle on the varsity mat at the high school and eventually go down to Champaign.”

The team reached its 1,000th victory against Rochelle on Jan. 13. The team’s first coach, Arch Richoz, started keeping track after the team’s first state finish in 1970. That got passed down from coach to coach and was kept when the Huntley and Clinton Rosette program split into two in 2004.

When they reunited in the 2016-17 school year, the wins were added together.

Kiley said there have only been five head coaches in the program’s history, including the split. That plays a big part in the success. Clinton Rosette won three state titles in that stretch, he said.

The last title came in 2017, the first year the two schools reunited. This year, Kiley said, the J-Barbs are on a roll going into the Class AA finale at the Convo, having won a regional title by 300 points and the sectional crown by 200.

Last year they finished just inside the top 20.

Preston Kjell placed third last year and is back at 135 this year. Brennan McCarter (112), Jayden Gianone (75), Dede Calhoun (70), Julian Hernandez (100) and Lucas Moncrief (215) qualified last year and are heading back this season.

“This year we have an eighth grade loaded team and kids with a lot of experience,” Kiley said. “We’re hoping we can get some kids to score some points, get some placers and try to see if we can get another state title.”