Nine matches, nine wins and nine pins. Dylan Ervin is bolting fast from the gate this year.
The Metea Valley senior added a pair of Saturday pins to his wrestling record as Metea Valley competed in a quad at Niles West. One week ago, Ervin pinned his way to an individual title at 195 pounds at an 18-team tournament at Conant to start the season.
“To be honest, I wasn’t surprised by that because I put so much work into it during the preseason,” Ervin said.
Metea senior David Rojas (220) also won an individual title last week at Conant, where David Veitch (145) placed second, Jake Toepfer (138) took fourth, and Phillip Simms (113) and Uri Ariza (120) placed fifth.
Ervin placed third at 182 last year at Conant and went 35-7 overall, finishing one sectional win away from advancing downstate. Improvement can be painstakingly incremental in wrestling, but Ervin has done what he can to take a leap forward this year.
“We put him through a pretty intense preseason, and he has matured a lot since the summer,” Metea coach Claudio Torres said. “He’s a captain, this team is young, and I asked Dylan to be a leader and focus on being a good role model for the underclassmen.”
Ervin wrestled at various national tournaments during the offseason, against some of the best high school wrestlers in the country, and the experience left him battle-tested.
“I took the preseason as a chance to get my name out there and push myself to the limit,” Ervin said. “I’ve worked so hard and put so much time into it. I just want to see myself succeed.”
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Metea Valley (3-2 in duals) went into Saturday’s quad ranked 22nd by Illinois Best Weekly. The Mustangs won 46-18 over Niles West and 46-30 over Joliet Central and lost to McHenry 34-33 on a pin in the final match.
Torres was less than pleased with a handful of matches in the loss.
“A hundred percent laziness. There’s no other word,” Torres said. “Three kids got lazy, three losses and we lost the dual. You can’t win like that. But we’re young, and we’re learning.”
As captain, Ervin was up off the bench constantly during the dual against McHenry, talking to teammates who were about to wrestle and encouraging others after they lost.
“I was given the responsibility as a captain as a sophomore, but we had seniors that were good leaders then,” Ervin said. “I watched how they led the team, found my own style, and I know how (Torres) wants me to lead. We’ve got young kids without a lot of experience, and it’s my job to help them understand what they need to do.”
Toepfer, a senior, also went 2-0 at Niles West in improving his season record to 7-3, wrestling at 138 and 145 this season.
“I’m doing a lot better than last year at this point,” Toepfer said. “I placed at Conant this year and didn’t place last year. I’ve been wrestling up at 145, and once I drop down to 138, I know I’ll be better.”
Metea Valley has also beaten Neuqua Valley this season, and the Mustangs’ only other dual loss came Thursday to perennial state power Montini.
“We lost a few close matches that we could have won,” Toepfer said of the Montini dual. “We’ve got a young team, and we have to get kids more experience and make sure they’re learning from their mistakes.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.