The home stretch is rapidly approaching for the 2025-26 wrestling season, the SouthWest Suburban Conference Meet just over two weeks away.

A pair of SWSC opponents took to the mat Thursday when Lincoln-Way East traveled for a dual at Bradley-Bourbonnais, with the visiting Griffins taking a 59-20 win over the Boilermakers.

One of Lincoln-Way East’s win belonged to senior Kaidge Richardson, who beat Bradley-Bourbonnais’ Kaleb Allard by technical fall 22-3 at 150 pounds.

Richardson said he felt the team performed well in what was their third-to-last dual on the regular-season schedule.

“There were definitely some points left out there, and some things we could’ve done better,” he said. “But overall, I think we performed pretty good.”

The two duals left for the Griffins after Thursday will be at home against SWSC opponents, first against Homewood-Flossmoor on Friday and then against Lincoln-Way Central on Jan. 14.

They have the Clint Arlis Invite at Batavia on Jan. 17, a week before the SWSC Tournament at Homewood-Flossmoor. Regionals await the week after that.

Richardson, a two-time state qualifier, is looking to head into the upcoming postseason strong once again. He said the experience he’s had wrestling in big postseason matches over the last few seasons will be beneficial heading forward.

“I think the experience from the last few years will definitely help me a lot,” he said. “There will be less nerves and stuff like that. I’m definitely just looking to keep getting better as I head towards the postseason and sharpen up everything I do.”

The first four wins for the Griffins on Thursday came via forfeit. Dino Dajani took one at 113, as did Lucas Ankarlo at 132, JT Theis at 138 and James Tverdek at 144.

The came Richardson’s win at 150, followed by Max Mularz’s victory over Coen McGill at 157 and Zach Ankarlo’s win over Jonathan Schafer at 165, both by fall.

Colton Zvonar beat Bradley-Bourbonnais’ Shawn Lee by fall at 190 before Justin Powers got the Griffins a win at 215 by fall over Elijah Wiggins.

Ryan Stingley wrapped the night with a win by fall at 285 over Khalan Clemens.

As the Griffins head toward the postseason in search of a third straight regional title, coach Collin McKillip said he’s been happy with how the team has consistently competed throughout the year.

“The goal for the kids is just to compete every time to the best of their ability,” he said. “Once we get through next week, being our last dual meets, it really becomes an individual sport for them, and the team aspect comes along with it. ...

“If we get a chance to win a regional and represent at the regional, we’ll take that.”

For Bradley-Bourbonnais, the night got off to a good start when Cullen Parks got a win at 106 over Timmy Lorimer. Zach Hoffner got a win by forfeit at 120 before Raziel Perez downed Nick Williams by technical fall 22-4 at 126.

The Boilermakers’ final win came from Kayden Roach at 175, who beat Omer Farhan 20-4 by technical fall in what was the highest-energy match of the night, although things slowed down a bit after a frenetic first period.

“I felt good,” he said. “I was kind of having an off day, but we trained a lot on technique. I feel like my technique was pretty on point tonight, and I was able to get the tech fall.”

The Boilermakers are keeping busy in the two weeks leading up to conference, with two duals, a tri-meet and appearances in the Sullivan Slam and Reed-Custer Comet Classic still ahead.

As the season winds down, coach Michael Spiwak said he hopes to see guys be able to reap the rewards of the work they’ve put in all season.

“It’s an interesting time of the year,” he said. “In some ways you can fix some technique things and technique decisions. But a lot of the muscle memory stuff, a lot of the strength stuff, a lot of the hay is already in the barn this time of year.

“The people who have done the work, it’s showing.”