3A Wrestling: Yorkville's Shewan makes dramatic trip to state podium

Yorkville wrestler Bryce Shewan knew that receiving an All-State finish in the 182-pound bracket would require wrestling a solid six minutes on the mat – or more.

The senior battled through two overtime victories in the Class 3A 182-pound bracket last weekend at the State Farm Center in Champaign to capture fifth place to cap his high school wrestling career with a 45 wins, which ties a single-season school record at Yorkville.

"The odds are definitely against him. After winning his sectional, he got a bad draw in the state bracket and knew he'd have to beat someone really good to earn a state medal," Yorkville head coach Joe Fornell said. "He remained confident and worked really hard."

Shewan, who will start his offseason by taking several college visits, gained some extra attention from Division I programs after his finish in the talented field of wrestlers.

"In that bracket alone, there were three of the top 15 guys in the nation," Fornell said. "He's going to take some official visits to Campbell University in North Carolina and Southern Illinois, and we're working on maybe some other bigger schools. Purdue just reached out to me too. He definitely wants to wrestle Division I next year."

The Yorkville athlete opened the bracket with a 7-4 win over Glenbard West's Jack Vesevick, but lost a 5-1 decision to Willowbrook's Jack Jessen, who went on to take third. In the wrestleback quarterfinals, he won by tech fall (20-5) in 4:00 over Harlem's Dalton Hambrock to move into a rematch with Prospect's Matt Wroblewski after losing to Wroblewski earlier this year in tournament action.

Shewan won a 3-1 overtime decision to advance to the consolation semifinals and guarantee a top-six finish. After a 5-2 loss to Schaumburg's Tony Vezzetti in the next round, Shewan ended his day with a 3-1 overtime win over Lincoln-Way East's Brian Burns.

"On Saturday morning he wrestled the Prospect kid who had beat him 11-3 during the year, so Bryce was able to get some revenge and beat him at the last second in overtime in a real exciting match to get him on the podium," Shewan said. "He really performed well and he was able to keep his composure through his matches."

Senior Joey Nauman also represented Yorkville downstate and finished his year with a 13-9 record in the 170-pound weight class after dropping both state bouts. Nauman lost a 12-6 decision to Oak Park-River Forest's Rolliann Sturkey, who went on to take third, and then lost a 7-1 decision to Sandburg's Brian Krasowski, who went on to take fourth.

"He doesn't hang his head about it. He had a tough draw," Fornell said. "One of my goals this year was to make sure he got down there to state. He deserves it."