Oak Park-River Forest didn’t sit back and relax after winning the Class 3A dual-team wrestling state title last year.
Instead, the Huskies have remained committed to the program and it’s paid off into a return trip to the state finals.
Ranked the No. 1 team in the country by intermatwrestle.com, the Huskies (25-0) head into Saturday’s dual-team state tournament at Illinois State as the team to beat.
“There’s been no lack of drive or desire,” OPRF head coach Paul Collins said. “Obviously no season is going to be perfect, but we’ve seen so much growth out of guys and in our biggest competitions this year our team has stepped up and been ready to perform for each other.”
The wrestlers have the same attitude.
“Nothing has changed this year,” said senior Ben Bergen, who is 29-15 at 195. “No team gets taken lightly. Leading up to the state series we’ve had nothing but good hard work. I think we put in enough hard work and we sacrificed more time than a lot of other people so I don’t want to say we deserve a state title, but it’s coming to us.”
For senior Alex Madrigal (41-6), he wants that trophy after being unable to compete at the dual-team state tournament last year after injuring his ankle at the previous week’s individual state meet..
He also hopes to erase the disappointment of finishing second place at 120 pounds in last weekend’s state tournament.
Huskies Isaiah White at 152 and Matt Rundell at 160 both won state championships in Champaign, but the other 10 wrestlers who advanced to the State Farm Center mats have additional motivation to chase a state championship team trophy on Saturday.
“I’m sure everyone besides White and Rundell feels hungry because we didn’t get what we wanted at state last week,” Madrigal said. “We’ll be gunning for team state to get some payback.”
Collins added: “To be honest with you, our guys have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder because while they had a great tournament, they feel like they left a little bit in Champaign. We want to go take care of business in Bloomington.”
Collins is wrapping up his first season as head coach after a long career as an assistant to Mike Powell, who stepped down last March. Collins knows he will be judged by whether OPRF brings home its third title in seven years.
“There’s no expectations and no pressure,” he joked. “But it’s pretty special to step in and be coaching the No. 1 team in the state and the country. I’m just trying to embrace it and stay in the moment. Working with Mike for the last nine years and getting the most out of what I could being an assistant has helped me understand what it takes.”
The stakes are high for the wrestlers as well.
“Everyone wants to leave a legacy and for that we need to win as many state titles as possible,” Madrigal said. “The second one would be just as exciting as the first one.”
OPRF opens against Marmion at 11 a.m in the quarterfinals. The Cadets are ranked No. 32 in the country and feature state champions Riley DeMoss at 170 and Nathan Traxler at 182.
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“Marmion will come to wrestle and we have to be ready for that,” Bergen said. “They’re a solid team and they have a lot of really good guys, so we can’t underestimate them.”
The semifinals at 2 p.m. will be have either Lockport and Deerfield and the championship match starts at 6 p.m.
Rob Valentin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press