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Here are some things to keep an eye on as the girls wrestling postseason gets underway this weekend.
Who, when, where?
Regional girls wrestling meets begin Friday and conclude Saturday.
Metamora is where Joliet Catholic, Joliet Central and Joliet West will all be competing. Joining them from the Herald-News coverage area will be Minooka, Morris, Lincoln-Way (co-op), Peotone, Plainfield Central, Plainfield South and Seneca.
Another regional to keep an eye on is the Darien Regional at Hinsdale South. That’s where Bolingbrook, Lemont, Lockport, Plainfield East, Plainfield North and Romeoville will be competing.
The Pontiac Regional is where Dwight has been assigned.
From there, it’ll be on to sectionals on Valentine’s weekend. All teams advancing out of the Metamora Regional will head to the Geneseo Sectional in two weeks; any Dwight wrestlers advancing will head to the Highland Sectional; while qualifiers from Hindsdale South will take part in the Schaumburg Sectional.
State begins Feb. 28 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington and ends March 1.
Back-to-back?
One name everyone will be keeping an eye on at state will be that of Lockport’s Claudia Heeney.
The Herald-News area had three state champions last year – Heeney at 135, her teammate Morgan Turner at 110 and Peotone’s Kiernan Farmer at 170. Turner and Farmer graduated last spring, but Heeney is back and has been dominating this season.
Still just a junior, Heeney cruised to a gold medal at the Morris Invitational just before Christmas. She only lost one match all of last year and will be looking to make it back-to-back trips to the top of the podium in Bloomington.
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Don’t call it a comeback
Plainfield Central came into the season with just six girls on its roster and has lost many duals as a result of such low numbers. Individually, however, it’s seen tremendous progress for all six wrestlers
Senior Alicia Tucker won a state title in the 155-pound bracket her sophomore season before coming up short in the 170-pound state championship match last year. She’s still at 170 this year and has looked powerful, picking up a win on her senior night against Joliet Central by tech fall 18 seconds into the second round. She also just won an individual conference championship Friday.
She said that night her eyes were set on one goal.
“Definitely [trying to] win another state championship,” Tucker said. “That’s always the goal.”
Here come the Indians
Given the still growing numbers of girls wrestling, the focus if far more often on the individual standings than the final team numbers. With that said, keep an eye on Minooka as the postseason progresses.
The Indians are coming off a Southwest Prairie Conference championship in which they scored 173 points. Angela Morales and Sabina Charlebois each won individual championships for Minooka and will be looking to capture more hardware.
Charlebois is a three-time national qualifier.
SWPC names to watch
Along with Morales and Charlebois, there were plenty of other local conference champs to monitor this weekend and beyond.
Teagan Aurich and Keira Enright of Plainfield South both won individual titles. Both have qualified for state twice in their careers and will be looking to do the same as seniors.
Daniela Santander and Henessis Villagrana of Romeoville brought home conference gold as well last weekend. Both qualified for state last year. Remarkably, Santander is a junior, while Villagrana is only a sophomore.
Alisa Carter and Izabel Barrera each won conference titles for Joliet Central, which is in its first year as a solo program after sharing a co-op with Joliet West in the past. Barrera was a sectional qualifier last year.
“I like that we’re willing to correct our mistakes from week to week,” Central coach Marcus McCullum said. “As long as we’re learning and building our confidence, I can be satisfied.”
Shania Davison joined Tucker as a conference champ for Plainfield Central. Alejandra Flores, a two-time state alternate and statistically the best girls wrestler in Bolingbrook history, also won a conference title.
Plainfield North’s Viki Rodnikova – a sophomore and conference champion – is attempting to become the first Tiger in program history with a state tournament appearance.