2025 Times Girls Wrestler of the Year: Ottawa’s Juliana Thrush

It was another fantastic season for Ottawa junior Juliana Thrush.

Thrush finished the season with a 35-7 record, won championships at the Metamora Regional and Geneseo Sectional and placed sixth at the Individual State Finals at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

It was her third sectional title and third trip to state, also placing sixth as a sophomore.

For all her accomplishments, Thrush is named the 2025 Times Girls Wrestler of the Year.

“I feel wrestling is a sport that no matter how good you think you are you can always be better,” Thrush said. “Even if you work hard and advance to state, that next offseason everyone that is coming back for the next season is going to be working hard to get back and do better. You just have to do the same and more. The wanting to see how good I can be is my motivator.”

During the regular season, Thrush earned first-place finishes at the Ottawa Holiday Hootenanny Invite, Normal Community Invitational and Interstate 8 Conference meet.

She also placed second the Canton Invite and “The Munch” Invitational hosted by Pontiac and fourth at the Minooka Thanksgiving Throwdown Tournament.

Looking back on the season, Thrush said her favorite memories were actually away from the mat.

“It didn’t matter whether it was getting on the bus at 4:30 a.m. to go wrestle at Canton or somewhere else, or after school to a meet or tournament, we’d sing karaoke as a team,” Thrush said. “It was so fun. It’s just something we started doing this year to get everyone going and in a good mood.”

At the Metamora Regional, Thrush stormed to three consecutive wins for the title, capturing the victories all by pin in a total of 3 minutes, 24 seconds.

Then at the Geneseo Sectional, it was three more dominating pins to the title, this time in a combined 2:09.

Thrush open competition at state pinning Grayslake North’s Allison Poole in 46 seconds in the opening round and then posted a fall in 3:04 over Fenton’s Ariana Solideo in the quarterfinals.

But from there the Pirates’ standout lost her next three matches to finish sixth.

“Wrestling is such a mental sport,” Thrush said. “You have to be in the right mindset whether it’s in a practice or a tournament. You can be a much better wrestler than your opponent, but if you’re not ready to go in your head you’re still at a disadvantage.

“That is something I feel I didn’t do in my last three matches at state. After losing in the semifinals, I didn’t get back right mentally like I should have and then lost my next two. It’s something, a mental block, that I had after a tough loss all season.”

Thrush said the final three state matches, while disappointing, showed her things she needs to work on heading into next season.

“This offseason I need to expand my offense approach. I need to be able to have multiple attacks,” Thrush said. “My go-to is a bear hug and then toss, but I feel like (state) weekend showed me against the really good and strong girls that’s not always going to work. I need a Plan B and C.

“I’m happy I was able to get a medal, but it’s not where I wanted to be. I’m going to work hard in the offseason to not only get back here next season, but to finish higher.”

She said along with the technical part of wrestling, the mental side will be strong priority.

“The mental side of wrestling is something I’m going to be working on the most in the offseason,” Thrush said. “I’m also going into next season with an open mind. This year I was so caught up in my own goal of a top three at state that I just put a little too much pressure on myself.”