Being a face in the crowd does not appeal to St. Charles East junior Ben Davino.
Yearning to find his place, Davino deduced that meant making it to the top of the podium, where champions are annually saluted. And that sounded perfectly fine to him.
“When I was younger, I always loved to compete and be part of something,” he said. “As I got older, I realized I hated being just part of a larger group. I always wanted to stand out.
“That stuff has always motivated me to keep getting better.”
Mark Davino remembers the first time his son, just 8 years old and competing in his first national tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma, responded to early adversity.
“He actually did not have much success,” Mark said of Ben. “He went 2-4 combined and didn’t place. He worked for years to improve to that level.”
Eventually, the young man came of age.
Ben Davino, the 2022-23 Beacon-News/Courier-News Boys Wrestler of the Year, doesn’t plan on stopping, either. State champion is just one notch on his checklist.
“My goal is to be the best in the world,” he said. “I am always perfecting my technique.”
With a dazzling blend of power, speed, technique and athleticism, Davino exists at a level few wrestlers have achieved in state history.
In a riveting match at 126 pounds, Davino captured his third straight Class 3A state championship with a 6-1 victory in overtime over Marmion star Jameson Garcia.
A week later, Davino posted a fall in the second period over Ashton Hobson that helped the Saints secure a 28-24 victory over Marmion for the Class 3A dual team state title.
It was the first state championship in program history for St. Charles East.
“That was definitely the more satisfying of the two,” Davino said of winning the dual team state title.
Overall, Davino finished with a 54-0 record, tying for the 10th-highest total of victories in a single season in state history.
Dating to his only high school loss back in December 2021, Davino has won 79 consecutive matches. He is 91-1 the last two seasons.
His showdown with Garcia, a Harvard recruit, was the most anticipated match of the individual state tournament.
Both were two-time defending state champions. Garcia was the first Illinois wrestler this season to take Davino into the third period.
Davino, who has been virtually impossible to score against, revealed another remarkable fact overshadowed by his dazzling offense.
“Ben is very stingy about giving up points,” St. Charles East coach Jason Potter said of Davino, who has allowed just one takedown in his high school career. “Even in practice, when he trains against some of our bigger guys two or three weight classes above him, he just takes it personally whenever he is scored against.”
Davino takes everything personally.
“I hate giving up anything to anybody I wrestle,” he said. “In my mind, my offense is defense and the kids I wrestle can’t really do anything.”
According to his father Mark, the turning point in Ben’s young life came at the age of 12.
Davino began working with Mike Mendoza, the father of Mount Carmel’s Seth Mendoza, a sophomore who is already a two-time state champion.
“Mike took him under his wing,” Mark said. “Ben began to understand the difference between hating to lose and committing himself to winning. That was the difference.”
Davino, the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at his weight class, also won national tournaments in Iowa and Wisconsin.
“The satisfaction just does not come from winning,” he said. “When I am having fun and being out there with my teammates, those moments solidify why I do what I do.
“It makes everything super exciting.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.