1. 2001-02 Sterling Golden Warriors
Record: 24-3
Head coach: Don Mekeel
Accomplishments: First place at Carson DeJarnatt Invite, NCIC, regional and sectional tournaments; First and only Sterling team to advance to state tournament
Top performers: Chris Mekeel (119, 38-8); Adam Rodriguez (215, 38-8); Ryan Mekeel (145, 38-10); Ben Zulauf (171, 32-10); Chris Craft (112, 30-14); Brett Walzer (140, 29-12); Brent Nelson (135, 27-14); Josh Zulauf (160, 26-18); Kevin Megli (152, 25-12); Josh Hughes (275, 21-12); Cory Scott (189, 21-19)
Football, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls track, tennis, golf – you name it and the Sterling Golden Warriors were good, if not great at it. For a good chunk of the 1990s, though, the wrestling teams didn't quite measure up.
When Don Mekeel took over the program in 1994, the team was coming off 5-12 and 9-8 seasons. Mekeel worked at it, but 12 dual wins was the best his first four teams could muster.
The tide began to turn in 2000, when Sterling put together an 18-5 mark, and young, varsity-ready talent was on the way. That set the stage for a big 2001-02 season.
The Golden Warriors opened with wins over Rockridge, Ottawa and LaSalle-Peru – all solid programs, before getting edged by Machesney Park Harlem. The only other regular season defeat for Sterling came against Oregon, a Class 1A power which went on to finish second at state.
Tournament wins came in Sterling's own DeJarnatt Invite and the NCIC, but the best was yet to come.
The road to the Class 2A team state tournament is always a rocky one, but these Golden Warriors had the goods to get it done. They won the Moline Regional, then topped Woodstock 29-24 and DeKalb 30-27 at the Rockford East Sectional to earn their trip to state.
In the finals at Naperville North High School, Sterling ran into one of the state's elite programs, Glenbard North, which rolled to a 55-6 victory. Ben Zulauf and Adam Rodriguez won decisions for the Golden Warriors' only points.
"We hadn't won any tournaments and finished eighth in the NCIC a couple of years before this," Mekeel said, "so to do some of the things we did and finish in the top eight at state, it was kind of surreal."
Two of Mekeel's sons, 119-pounder Chris Mekeel and 145-pounder Ryan Mekeel, each won 38 matches to lead Sterling. Adam Rodriguez also won 38 matches at 215 pounds.
2. 2002-03 Oregon Hawks
Record: 22-4
Head coach: Mark Gale
Accomplishments: Won regional, sectional and placed second at state tourney; Won Big Northern Conference, Princeton, Stillman Valley and Plano tournaments
Top performers: Kevin Rogers (152, 44-4); Jason Johnson (171, 43-6); Mike Guzman (189, 41-8); Jason Benesh (145, 35-6); Andy Tremble (119, 33-6); Jeff Gale (112, 32-14); Steve Weir (160, 30-10); Joe Smith (130, 30-15); Brett Rogers (140, 30-16)
The only thing this Oregon team couldn't do was handle teams much bigger in size. In the regular season, the Hawks' losses came against Sterling, Belvidere and Fox Lake Grant, Class AA schools which rarely find their way onto smaller school's schedules.
Oregon won every tournament it entered until the state championship match, against Lombard Montini. It was a rematch of the 2001-02 final, and head coach Mark Gale juggled his lineup to avoid matchups which didn't go in his favor the previous year.
The result was not a good one – a 50-6 loss – but it did little to diminish this team's greatness.
"Montini was just an unbelievable team," Gale said. "They picked up a couple of kids and just destroyed everybody. They almost beat the two teams that were in the Class AA finals. We were better than every Class A team in the state except one.
"I'd put the 2002-03 team right up there with our state champions in 1998 as far as ability, work ethic – you name it. We just didn't get it done in the final match."
3. 2007-08 Oregon Hawks
Record: 26-4
Head coach: Nate Rogers
Accomplishments: Finished third in Class A state tournament; Won the Polo Invitational; Second at Stillman Valley Invite and Big Northern Conference Tournament
Top performers: Nick Snyder (189, 40-6); Michael Messenger (130, 35-8); Ryan McWethy (160, 34-12); Brad Kaskavage (135, 34-13); Colby Kenney (152, 39-13); Dan Brown (125, 34-15); Robbie Brink (119, 30-18); Dan Gale (171, 30-9); Ben Bruns (215, 30-13)
The key to this team's success was there wasn't a soft spot in the lineup. Nine wrestlers piled up at least 30 wins, with Nick Snyder accounting for 40. The juniors (Brink, McWethy, Gale, Snyder and Bruns) were the core of the team.
There was never a dull moment for the Hawks, right down the final match of the season. Oregon tied Lisle 27-27 in the third-place match at state, but was awarded the victory by winning more matches (8-6).
4. 2002-03 Sterling Golden Warriors
Record: 25-1
Head coach: Don Mekeel
Accomplishments: First place at Carson DeJarnatt Invite, Rex Whitlach Invite, NCIC and regional
Top performers: Ben Zulauf (215, 42-5); Brett Walzer (160, 41-3); Chris Mekeel (130, 36-7); Adam Rodriguez (275, 34-6); Chris Craft (119, 33-9); Cory Scott (189, 32-10); Jake Mango (145, 30-13); Joe Fisher (152, 28-13); Kale Anderson (103, 27-10)
The Golden Warriors, on the heels of a state tourney appearance the previous year, were ranked in the top 10 all season and reached as high as No. 7 after winning the Rex Whitlach Invite in Hinsdale.
Sterling had seven regional champions, and this team's 25 dual meet wins are still a school record. The Warriors didn't lose until the sectional final, 32-14 against DeKalb.
"It was the culmination of all the hard work over the years," head coach Don Mekeel said of his final team at Sterling after nine seasons. "They expected to go to state. The year before was unexpected. They were really let down when it didn't happen, but it didn't take away from what they did that season."
5. 2001-02 Oregon Hawks
Record: 16-2
Head coach: Mark Gale
Accomplishments: Won regional, sectional and placed second at state tourney; Won Polo Tournament; Placed 2nd at Plano and Stillman Valley tourneys
Top performers: Brian Kaskavage (140, 30-5); Jason Benesh (135, 27-6); Erik Bauer (103, 26-4); Brandon Bolhaus (215, 26-6); Jason Johnson (171, 25-3)
These Hawks had a relatively meager win total because a teacher's strike wiped out a portion of their season.
"Two seniors, Brian Kaskavage and Jeremy Stenger, really stepped up to the plate because of the strike," coach Gale said. "We couldn't be around the kids during that time, and Brian and Jeremy really kept the team together and led them beautifully. I remember our first meet back was against Byron. We were losing 33-3, and we came back to win that dual. That was a special group."
6. 2005-06 Rock Falls Rockets
Record: 22-2
Head coach: A.J. Buser
Accomplishments: Third in Class 2A Regional, behind United Township and Dixon; Second in Plano and NCIC tournaments; Fourth in Quincy Invite
Top performers: Kyle Schwarz (140) ; Brett Spencer (152); Lance Mellott (160); David Austin (171); Emilio Ibarra (189); Margarito Ibarra (215); Cody Edwards (275)
Rich Montgomery coached 13 years at Rock Falls and hardly left the cupboard bare for first-year coach A.J. Buser. The upper weights were loaded for the Rockets.
Rock Falls was a Class 2A team this season and had to knock heads with larger schools in the postseason. It finished third at the Rock Island Regional, behind United Township and Dixon but ahead of Rock Island, Geneseo, Moline, Sterling, Alleman and Galesburg.
"The tenacity of this team was something else," Buser said. "It was a self-motivated group. We didn't really have to do a whole lot of coaching."
7. 2008-09 Newman Comets
Record: 19-3
Head coach: Steve Davis
Accomplishments: Advanced to state, losing in quarterfinals; won Goose Lake, Erie and Kewanee invitationals; placed fourth at Plano
Top performers: Garrett Webb (103 pounds, 29-7); Maxx Hubbard (119, 36-7); Austin Hubbard (140, 34-9); Ryan Gilbert (152, 43-2); George Canales (189, 39-7)
The Comets, under 13th-year head coach Steve Davis, don't emphasize team success as much as individual success, but were strong enough top to bottom this season to earn a spot among the top teams of the decade.
Newman's top wrestler was Ryan Gilbert, a state champ at 152 pounds. In the quarterfinals against LeRoy, he delivered a pin to open the match, but the eventual second-place team in Class 1A prevailed 42-24.
8. 2000-01 Erie-Prophetstown Panthers
Record: 20-2-1
Head coach: Tod McCullough
Accomplishments: Three Rivers Conference champions; 2nd at E-P Invite; 3rd at Polo Tournament; 6th at Orion Tournament
Top performers: Justin Hovey (135, 35-4); Chris Thorpe (140, 35-6); Eric Slocum (160, 32-7); Justin Zigler (189, 31-12); Matt Erickson (145, 29-14); Paul Lombardo (171, 26-14); Autam Foltz (152, 25-8); Tony Silva (130, 22-18); Chad Martens (215, 21-6); Matt Barron (275, 21-8); Gabe Ellicott (152, 20-12)
The Panthers boasted rare depth for a small school, with 11 wrestlers who won at least 20 matches. A testament to the strength of their lineup: Gabe Ellicott, who finished 20-12 at 152 pounds, didn't compete at regional as he was edged out by another wrestler, 25-8 Autam Foltz, who earned that spot in the postseason.
Erie-Prophetstown topped traditional powers Oregon, Dakota, Riverdale and Rock Island Alleman, among others, in the regular season, but was unable to advance out of the Savanna Regional. They were nipped by Riverdale by 1 1/2 points.
"We had two holes in the lineup, 119 and 125 pounds, but other than that were pretty solid," E-P head coach Tod McCullough said of his fourth Panther squad. "It was a fun team, but they understood the concept of having a good work ethic."
9. 2000-01 Oregon Hawks
Record: 25-4
Head coach: Mike Papini
Accomplishments: Won 4th straight Big Northern Conference Tournament and 8th consecutive regional; 1st at Polo Tournament; 2nd at Stillman Valley Tourney
Top performers: Jim Roschi (125, 45-3); Andy Ballard (215, 42-3); Eric Berg (135, 43-3); Tony Pedrosa (145, 40-0); Jeremy Stenger (140, 31-13); Ross Whalen (189, 31-13); Erik Bauer (103, 27-13); Nick Bauer (152, 28-17); Jeremiah Harazin (112, 27-13); Daniel Whalen (171, 27-17)
The Hawks were the team of the 1990s with six regional titles, three state tourney appearances and a championship in 1998, but that carried over into this decade.
"With all of our teams that went downstate, we always had three or four kids that you could really count on," Papini said, "but this team, I think maybe more than others, really had to rely on some other kids to step up and perform well. I'm sure a lot of people didn't expect this team to go as far as it did."
10. 2005-06 Polo Marcos
Record: 15-8
Head coach: Mark Downey
Accomplishments: Won regional and sectional tournaments; Finished third in Erie Invite
Top performers: Cort Lawton (130, 42-0); Justin Bush (275, 30-13); Josh Garnhart (125, 27-16); Brian Tyne (135, 24-17); Alex Jakobs (145, 24-16); Aaron Miller (215, 23-18); Scott Powell (119, 22-10); Brad Ohlwine (152, 21-16)
Cort Lawton was the team's headliner with an individual state championship, but he was far from a one-man show as 10 Marcos won at least 20 matches.
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