Girls wrestling: Burlington Central’s Victoria Macias ready to show growth at IHSA state tournament

Burlington Central’s Victoria Macias is ready to show off her growth at this weekend’s IHSA Girls Individual State Finals in Bloomington.

Macias finished fourth at 110-pounds at last season’s tournament as a freshman and spent the last year developing her technique and approach, hoping to improve upon last year’s performance.

“Doing how I did, it drove me harder to pursue my goals and come back stronger this year and the rest of my high school career,” Macias said.

Macias leads a group of eight McHenry County-area wrestlers who will compete at the second IHSA state tournament Friday and Saturday at the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. Huntley’s Janiah Slaughter (100), Taylor Casey (110) and Aubrie Rohrbacher (125), Dundee-Crown’s Perla Lomeli (140), Crystal Lake Central’s Mailei Hudec (170), McHenry’s Natalie Corona (145) and Richmond-Burton’s Jasmine McCaskel (140) all will compete at state.

Casey will join Macias in making her second straight state appearance while Lomeli, McCaskel and Hudec became the first wrestlers from their respective schools to qualify for the tournament.

Macias spent her offseason and sophomore season learning from her fourth-place finish last season. Macias said she worked on her approach, not looking down on herself and psyching herself out before big matches, while also wrestling against different types of wrestlers throughout the season so she would be ready for whatever style she saw at the state tournament.

Macias is excited to show her growth against some of the best in the state.

“I’m hoping this state tournament will help me grow as a wrestler so I can continue,” Macias said.

Five McHenry County-area wrestlers enter the weekend ranked in the Top 10. Slaughter (23-4) and Macias (27-7) are ranked No. 2 and 4, respectively, by Illinois Matwomen while Lomeli (22-9) is sixth, Casey (22-7) comes in at seventh and Rohrbacher (28-5) is eighth.

Huntley coach BJ Bertelsman is excited to see how well his Red Raiders can do this weekend given their experiences this season. Bertelsman credited the Dan Gable Donnybrook Tournament at the Xtream Arena & GreenState Family Fieldhouse in Coralville, Iowa, at the beginning of December as one of the major tournaments that could be useful at state.

The Red Raiders learned how to compete against some of the best wrestlers in the Midwest and inside a big arena. Slaughter took third, Casey placed eighth and Rohrbacher took ninth.

Bertelsman thinks his wrestlers’ state brackets shaped out well, and he’s excited to see how well his young wrestlers can compete despite Slaughter and Rohrbacher being freshmen.

“If they can perform the way they’re capable of doing, then they’ll be fine,” Bertelsman said.

Competing in only the second sanctioned IHSA tournament still is a big honor for many of the wrestlers. While many are looking to come back home with either a state championship or medals, they also know how important it is to be competing this weekend.

“I’m really excited to represent my school,” Macias said. “It’s really exciting, and I’m really happy.”