Wrestling notes: Yorkville’s Ryder Janeczko, after delayed start, rounding into form at right time

Ryder Janeczko’s wrestling season was put on hold before it even started.

But he’s rounding into form at the right time.

The Yorkville junior broke his collarbone in a dirt bike accident in October, and had surgery one week before wrestling season started. On Saturday, he won the 157-pound championship at the Southwest Prairie Conference meet, one of five Yorkville wrestlers to win their respective weight classes, as the Foxes rolled to the conference championship.

Also winning titles were Yorkville’s Donovan Rosauser, Jack Ferguson, Luke Zook and Ben Alvarez.

“I was just wrestling smooth and fluid,” Janeczko said. “Everything meshed like it should have been. It was good, the team did good, took first – we were expecting nothing less. I finally wrestled how I thought I would all year. It was nice to get back to my old self.”

Janeczko, a returning state qualifier, said his No. 1 concern was how he would turn out when he was cleared to compete.

He had just five practices before the Don Flavin Tournament in late December in DeKalb. He was thrown right into the fire, going from the Flavin to the Cheesehead Invitational, in which he took 15th, and the Illini Classic, in which he placed third.

“I was pretty much thrown in and had to survive,” Janeczko said. “The first couple weeks were tough, but I’m starting to get there. Definitely came back during the heart of the season, that’s for sure.”

Janezko had started drilling right around the Dvorak and went 2-2 in his first duals, losing to two kids ranked in the top 10. He finally got back on the winning side, record-wise, at the Illini Classic, and is at 13-8 after the conference meet.

“He came in during the meat of the schedule and it showed that he hadn’t been on the mat,” Yorkville coach Jake Oster said. “It took time to get back to who Ryder is and who he has been. We saw a little bit of it at Illini Classic and he looked good at conference. It’s good to see Ryder confident in himself.”

A confident Janeczko is a dangerous wrestler.

“He is as tough as they come,” Oster said. “He is strong, he has been wrestling for a long time. When he is feeling confident he is a hard guy to beat. A confident guy is what we need. His conditioning has got better. When he is back he is a threat to medal.”

Janeczko, who lost both his matches at state last year, has his eyes on a better showing in Champaign. Yorkville wrestles Batavia in a dual as a tune-up to regionals that the Foxes host Feb. 2.

“Last year state didn’t go my way, bracket was pretty good to begin with,” Janeczko said. “I definitely have high expectations this year.”

That goes for Yorkville as a team, after taking fourth at Team Dual State last year.

“We think we have a great draw for the state duals this year,” Janeczko said. “Our goal is to be going for a state championship.”

Oswego’s Griffin wins 100th match

Oswego’s Joey Griffin won the 165-pound title for fourth-place Oswego at conference. Along the way, Griffin won his 100th varsity match.

Griffin is the 15th wrestler in Oswego program history to reach the 100-win mark. Even more impressive, he did so with a shortened COVID freshman season.

“It’s always a big one,” Oswego coach Andrew Cook said. “We’ll see how high he climbs up on our leaderboard. It’s a testament for him to get through and get to 100.”

Also at conference, Oswego’s Brayden Swanson was second at 138 pounds, Jonny Theodor was third at 113, and Dillon Griffin was fourth at 144.

“We had a pretty decent conference tournament,” Cook said. “Our conference is crazy tough top to bottom. Every match is a battle.”

Yorkville Christian getting healthy for postseason

Yorkville Christian has had to patch its lineup together.

Head coach Mike Vester estimated that the Mustangs have not had one match this season where they had their entire lineup in a roster that’s only 18 or 19-deep to begin with. Yorkville Christian’s 120-pounder was lost to a torn UCL at the beginning of the season. At one point the Mustangs were without three of their top guys, including second-ranked Aiden Larsen at 113 and Grayson Johnson at 138 with a back injury.

“We were piecemealing there for a while,” Vester said.

That said, the Mustangs have been able to piece together some good matches. They lost to Downers Grove North by seven points, spotting 18 points in forfeits, beat Rock Island and were close to Lincoln-Way West, top five in Class 3A.

Yorkville Christian, the Class 1A champ in 2022 and runner-up in 2023, will be competing at the Class 2A Crystal Lake Central Regional the first weekend in February.

“I feel like there’s been some moments that we’ve been able to get a glimpse of what we’re capable of,” Vester said. “My hope is everybody is healthy for next week. I think we can surprise some people. Nobody is picking us but there’s been a lot of winning done in that room.”

That included two-time state runner-up Ty Edwards, who has just one loss, and Larsen, who has just two. Robby Nelson, ineligible last year, has come back to record 30-plus wins with just three losses. Johnson is back healthy.

“Some of the guys wrestling have been doing it at varsity for the first time. There is an early adjustment period,” Vester said. “We don’t know a lot about the teams at regionals, but because we’ve been around the wrestling circuit there is enough familiarity to know that it will be a toss-up.”

Girls regionals this weekend

The wrestling postseason starts this weekend with girls regionals. Oswego and Oswego East are headed to Shepard, with Yorkville, Plano and Sandwich going to Minooka. Boys regionals start the following weekend.