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KANKAKEE — The Bradley-Bourbonnais wrestling team will retain its All-City crown for yet another year. The Boilermakers cruised to their 19th All-City title in a row on Wednesday, beating Bishop McNamara, Manteno and host Kankakee by a combined score of 192-55.
Bishop McNamara went 2-1, beating Manteno 48-35 and Kankakee 53-29. Manteno beat Kankakee 42-30 to go 1-2 at the meet, while Kankakee went 0-3 on the day.
Boilermakers continue All-City dominance
Bradley-Bourbonnais head coach Mickey Spiwak said he was happy to see his team show up and execute at a high level on Wednesday. Although they had the advantage of winning 12 matches by forfeit on the night, they still went 21-10 in matches that took place.
Spiwak said that it was nice to see individuals really thrive on the mat Wednesday and not let pressure get the best of them.
“It’s exciting seeing certain individuals step up and compete,” he said. “It’s a tough sport where I don’t think it’s odd to freeze up or be nervous, but those aren’t the guys I want to see on the mat.”
In particular, he liked what he saw out of sophomores Jayden Cooper and Kayden Roach. Cooper won two matches by fall and a third by forfeit while Roach won two matches by fall and one by decision.
“I’m excited when I see a guy like Jayden Cooper go out and be relentlessly hitting moves,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of kids like that. Kayden Roach was down a lot of points against Kankakee and came back one point at a time and eventually pinned the kid. I’m happy with our performance overall.”
With regionals coming up quickly on Feb. 8, Spiwak said that the team just needs to keep themselves prepared and get into a good position to find success in regionals and beyond.
“At this point the hay is in the barn, so to speak,” he said. “We’re not going to do anything crazy that could cause an injury in practice. It’s more tampering down, looking sharp, but staying kind of light in intensity.”
Fightin’ Irish looking to get hot heading into regionals
Bishop McNamara came into the season knowing the team would be relatively young and inexperienced. They came into Wednesday’s All-City meet knowing they would have to overcome some forfeit losses off the bat.
Head coach Jake Kimberlin said that he has been pleased with the team’s progress throughout the season, and their improvement was evident on Wednesday.
“We knew we were going to lose several matches because of forfeits,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys and first-year wrestlers. They have improved all year, and it showed today. They were in matches that, at the beginning of the year, they wouldn’t have been in.”
Drew Lowenstron went 3-0 at 215 pounds for the Irish, winning once by forfeit and twice by fall. Blake Arseneau also went 3-0 at 132 pounds.
Heading into regionals. Kimberlin said he hopes to see the All-City success from his small-but-strong group translate well for the future.
“I think we’ve got a couple guys that definitely have a shot to qualify for state, and if you’re one of the guys down there, you can place if you put together a good run,” he said.
Panthers taking big steps toward the future
Manteno started 10 wrestlers on Wednesday for All-City. Eight of them were freshmen or sophomores.
Head coach Ed Spiewak said that Wednesday was the best he’s seen his young team compete so far this season.
“Half the team is brand new to the sport of wrestling,” he said. “But not only are the newer guys finally clicking, but the freshmen and sophomores are starting to understand what it takes to wrestle at the varsity lineup. This is the most proud I’ve been all year in this young group. I’m just really excited for the future.”
In their win over Kankakee, the Panthers had Brady Anders (138 pounds), Kayden Budimir (150), Connor Harrod (165) and Shaun Chantome (175) all won by fall.
Looking ahead to regionals, Spiewak said the team knows they will face some stiff competition. Regardless of how they fare, he said he believes the team is taking the steps necessary to build a strong foundation.
“It’s not going to be easy and we understand the competition,” he said. ”We also know that this group, if they stay together and work hard towards getting experience and getting more time on the mat, they’re going to be a really difficult squad to deal with over the next few years.
Shorthanded Kays put up strong fight in All-City
Kankakee suffered some tough losses as the hosts of All-City on Wednesday with some key pieces unavailable. But head coach Brad Burns said he was happy with how they performed.
“I was pleasantly surprised, because we had a lot of guys sick and a lot of guys hurt,” he said. “Basically I was wrestling a bunch of babies and freshmen. But in Kankakee you’ve got to grow up quick. I was surprised that they wrestled as well as they did. They answered the bell.”
Healthy and productive for the Kays on Wednesday were senior Rogelio Cornejo and junior Jacob Vinardi. Both went 3-0 in the meet.
“Jake and Ro, we expected that from them,” Burns said. “They just went and took care of business.”
Heading into regionals, Burns said he hopes to see the team be able to have a handful of wrestlers keep their seasons alive.
“We’re looking to hopefully get out at least four,” he said. “If we get out four, we’ll be okay.”
Girls wrestling continuing to grow at All-City
Both Bradley-Bourbonnais and Kankakee had their girls wrestling teams compete on Wednesday. There were four girls matches, with each team winning a pair of them.
For Kankakee, Isabella Kilpatrick beat Bradley’s Alyssa Larios and Faith Joslin beat Bradley’s Kylie Rapier.
For the Boilermakers, Sommer Boswell took down Kankakee’s Ruby Salazar and Sophia Domont beat Kankakee’s Tamira Welch.
Spiwak said the growth of the sport has been great to see, and the girls team has become an integral part of the program.
“I love the way they fit into our team, and the passion everyone has during their matches is really cool,” he said. “Our girls are some of our best student-athletes on the bench when it comes to being good teammates. They’re some of the most coachable people in our program. On average they probably listen better than our guys.”
For Kankakee, Burns said that the program has been fortunate to have girls wrestlers that have really found their footing with the sport, and newer members have taken to it quickly as well as they’ve solidified themselves as a respected girls program in the sport’s infancy.
“Our girls are solid,” he said. “They’re wrestling well. We’ve got some young ones and some first-year wrestlers that have soaked it up like sponges and they’re doing well. I’m very, very pleased… We’ve been fortunate enough to always have girls that have kind of led the way.”