New Trier’s Patrick Ryan was within one win of advancing to the 2015 Class 3A state wrestling tournament. The then-freshman just needed to beat Deerfield’s Kyle Clough at the Barrington Sectional.
Instead, Ryan lost the 113-pound match 4-2 in overtime.
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“Maybe I wasn’t expected to (advance) as a freshman but I don’t know if I’ve gotten over that loss yet, two years later,” Ryan said. “It’s been a tough pill to swallow. That was just one in a list of tough matches that you lose over a career, and you use as motivation because you don’t ever want to feel like that again.”
Ryan has bounced back. He went 37-10 last season and became a Class 3A state qualifier at 132 pounds. This season, Ryan, a junior, is 26-5 and ranked eighth in the state at 138 pounds by Illinois Matmen.
But there have been more setbacks — and chances to overcome them — along the way.
Ryan reached the sectional title mat in Barrington last year, guaranteeing himself a place downstate. But with the sectional title on the line, Ryan lost a 12-5 decision to Deerfield’s Kenny Kerstein.
This season Ryan and Kerstein met at Hinsdale Central’s 24-team Rex Whitlatch tournament on Dec. 17, and Ryan beat Kerstein via a 9-3 decision to place fifth at 138 pounds in one of Illinois’ most formidable regular-season tournaments.
“I’ve been more consistent this year,” Ryan said. “A huge part of the sport is mental and I’m cognizant of the fact that my mental state wasn’t where it needed to be in the past. I stopped worrying about what the other guy does and stay to my style of wrestling. Now, I’m going out there believing I’m going to win.”
Ryan also placed third at Prospect’s 17-team tournament and he won an individual title at a 41-team tournament in Whitewater, Wis., in December.
“I’ve coached him for the past eight years and it’s been rewarding to watch him improve each year,” New Trier coach Marc Tadelman said. “There was a time when he wasn’t consistently beating the state’s top three kids. He had close matches with them but wasn’t beating them. Now he’s turned that corner.”
Tadelman said Ryan is good in the top, bottom and neutral positions, so scouting him can be difficult for opposing wrestlers.
“That makes him dangerous — he can score from all three positions,” Tadelman said. “If I was coaching against him, I’d have trouble deciding what position to pick because he’s good from all three.”
Ryan hopes that his first trip to Champaign has him set up for yet another step forward. Last year, he lost his first-round match downstate to eventual runner-up Dylan Duncan of Montini, then lost his second match, and he left town empty-handed.
“I don’t know if it was realistic to think I could have won it last year, but I believe I should have come out of Champaign with a medal,” Ryan said. “I was too nervous the first time I stepped out on the floor there last year but now I know what it’s going to be like and I won’t let that atmosphere get to me next time.”
If there’s going to be a “next time,” Ryan will have to first get through a regional and then yet another competitive Class 3A Barrington Sectional. He’ll also be chasing his first Central Suburban League title at the conference meet at Maine South on Jan. 21.
“I was a runner-up there last year so that’s another thing that’s been bugging me,” Ryan said. “That’s definitely my first goal at the end of the season.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press