Dundee-Crown’s Chase Raap witnessed Christian Brunner’s championship legacy from a very close distance.
Raap has gone from being practice partner as a junior for last year’s 195-pound state champion to making his own name as a state qualifier this year at 182.
“Christian has obviously been a huge influence on me,” Raap said.
Raap (40-8) will attempt to add another medal to his school’s proud wrestling heritage at the Class 3A state meet, starting with a Thursday preliminary match against Wheaton Warrenville South senior Placide Niyigena (37-4).
“Just seeing Christian go downstate and work his way through it all, after he won medals before that for two years, has inspired me this year,” Raap said.
Raap was right there preparing Brunner all the way to the state championship. Although Raap did not advance past the sectional, he joined Brunner and Christian Rodriguez for the celebratory fire engine ride through East Dundee, West Dundee and Carpentersville.
After both Brunner and Rodriguez graduated, with Brunner wrestling for Purdue, Raap took over Dundee-Crown’s leadership role.
“It was a really big adjustment at first,” Brunner said. “After practicing (Brunner), practicing with anyone else just isn’t as much of a challenge.
“At the beginning it was a little rougher start. I had to figure out how to push myself on my own without having him there pushing me to be better.”
Raap did it well enough to finish second at Saturday’s Barrington Sectional. In the finals, Raap was tied 2-2 with undefeated DJ Penick of Highland Park in the second period before coming out of a roll on bottom. He lost by pin in 3:01.
“That was a great wrestler and Chase was right with him,” Dundee-Crown coach Tim Hayes said. “He needs more of an anchor in that situation.
“He can’t get too high. He knows that. He just got caught.”
If anyone can learn from mistakes, Hayes said it’s Brunner.
“He has learned and kept focused throughout the year, worked hard at practice,” Hayes said. “He’s constantly asking questions to try to improve.
“His wrestling strength is that he doesn’t let another wrestler’s strength change his style. He’s going in with a set game plan and he’s going to stick to it.”
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Raap hasn’t wrestled Niyigena, but watched him on video.
“Chase is good on the mat, tough on top,” Hayes said. “It’s how he got his win by technical fall in the quarterfinals at sectional (over Deerfield’s Erin Karp).”
Raap is trying to medal in a difficult weight class. There are three unbeaten 182-pound wrestlers: Penick, Willowbrook’s Jack Jessen (47-0) and Marian Catholic’s Kordell Norfleet (39-0). With a win over Niyigena, Raap could wrestle Norfleet.
“When this first started out, my goal was just getting to state for the first time,” Raap said. “As it’s progressed, my goal became a top-five finish.”
Raap’s state run came with sophomore Erick Salinas performing the role as practice partner.
“He and Chase are pretty much the same weight, but Chase is obviously the stronger wrestler now,” Hayes said. “So it was kind of bad luck for Erick because he had to go up to 195 — a 13-pound difference.”
But Salinas has learned, much like Brunner did. He could be a building block as the Chargers become stronger in the future.
“The day after sectional, we still had 20-plus kids at practice,” Hayes said. “We only have four upperclassmen, so we could be building if they all remain motivated and stick with it.”
After Brunner and Raap, there’s no question the younger wrestlers have been shown a path.
Twitter @genechamberlai2