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player ready...On the same day Stevenson’s football team won a state title, the school’s wrestling team just about drove itself into the ground with exhaustion.
Wrestling coach Shane Cook’s boys capped two days of wrestling at Barrington’s 25-team Moore/Prettyman Invitational by placing ninth on Saturday. The Patriots then quickly boarded a bus for a three-hour drive to Champaign to watch the football team win 31-25 over Homewood-Flossmoor in the Class 8A state title game.
“We got to the football game about five minutes after kickoff,” Stevenson senior Tyler Harrington said. “We left after the game and we got back home about 3:30 in the morning.
“It was cool to watch them win the state title. We know a lot of those guys and it was a great experience to see them accomplish that.”
Harrington had another reason to celebrate after winning an individual title at 182 pounds at Barrington. The senior posted a pair of pins and an 8-1 decision before winning 6-2 on the title mat against Lincoln-Way Central’s Jake Dudeck.
Harrington placed second at 170 last year at Barrington event but was dominant throughout this year’s two-day tournament. The senior went 36-8 as a Class 3A state qualifier last season.
“I’ve made a lot of improvements and I’ve been working hard since last year,” Harrington said. “I have more experience and I’m ready to compete this year.”
Harrington played football for the Patriots last year but decided to wrestle year-round. Cook applauded his decision.
“That was a tough decision for him. He knew how good the football team was going to be,” Cook said. “But North Dakota State saw him wrestle over the summer and offered him a scholarship, so it was the right choice for him. They’re a top-25 Division I program.”
Eight Patriots won place medals at Barrington, with senior Zach Horwitz also making a title-mat appearance and placing second at 195 pounds.
“Zach has really made some huge gains this year,” Cook said. “We knew he had potential. He’s back on the mat after an injury, and he has come back in full force.”
Stevenson got a pair of fifths from Brandon Zisman (113 pounds) and Juwon Anderson (170), a sixth from Evan Rodriguez (138), a seventh from Michael Kordek (170) and eighths from Eric Carter (120) and Ben Ponto (132).
Harrington and the Patriots placed ninth at Barrington despite entering no wrestlers at 220 and 285 pounds. Heavyweight Nick Grujanac was a lineman on the football team and will soon return to a team working to challenge Grant and Libertyville for supremacy in the North Suburban Conference.
Grant placed fifth at Barrington and Libertyville finished 12th.
“We have a long way to go and a lot to work on,” Cook said. “We know Grant and Libertyville are two of the best programs in Illinois, so we know we have a lot of work to do before we match their level of competition.”