Wilmington’s Logan Van Duyne has been wrestling almost as long as he can remember.

“It just came from my family, being around it so much,” Van Duyne said. “We had a mat in our basement that we would all wrestle on. It was just always there.”

After countless basement matches and a dozen years of organized wrestling, the senior took his final season of high school wrestling all the way to the 190-pound championship match at the Class 1A State Finals.

Van Duyne finished second, earning his first career state medal in what was his third straight trip to state.

He has also been named the Daily Journal Boys Wrestler of the Year for the 2025-26 season.

While he said he wishes the championship match had ended differently, he’s had some time to think back and appreciate what he accomplished during the season.

“Right after obviously, like anyone would’ve been, I was very disappointed in the outcome,” Van Duyne said. “Now, after some time has passed and looking back at it, I’m just grateful I was able to be in that position to wrestle for a state championship.

“To remember walking through the march with [assistant coach Jake Murphy], and just being in that atmosphere, it was really cool.”

Murphy stepped into an interim role when head coach Nick Dziuban died at age 37 on Feb. 2, just two days after regionals.

He said it has been great to see Van Duyne develop from a talented but raw freshman into one of the best wrestlers in the state.

“He quickly started to be a leader, even as a freshman in our practice room,” interim coach Murphy said. “His sophomore year when he came in, that’s when he really started hitting it hard in our practices, pushing himself and outworking everyone else on the team.

“That dedication and hard work he’s put into it really paid off. It showed in the last couple years of his high school career.”

For the last four years, Van Duyne has been a key part of a rich high school wrestling community that stretches beyond Wilmington.

That community came together around Van Duyne late this season after Dziuban’s passing.

“I like to think he’d definitely be proud,” Van Duyne said. “It was a good season.”

Even beyond that direct form of support he was given, Van Duyne said he appreciates the bonds he’s made with many of his competitors over the years.

“A lot of the guys around here I wrestle with over the summer,” he said. “A lot of the Coal City guys go to the same club for freestyle as I do, so being able to work with them and see the ways they do stuff has been really cool.”

Wrestling has long been a family affair for the Van Duynes.

Logan’s dad Sam got him started in wrestling with the Wilmington Wrestling Club’s Mighty Cats when he was five.

His uncle John won two individual state titles at Wilmington in 2008 and 2009, while also leading the team to a dual team three-peat from 2007-2009.

Van Duyne competed in the youth ranks alongside brothers Travis, now a junior who has since made basketball his winter sport of choice, and Eli, a freshman who was on the JV wrestling team this year.

“We still get after it on the living room floor,” Van Duyne said.

Beyond the mats, Wilmington sports have been a major part of Van Duyne’s life.

He and Travis just helped the football team win a Class 2A state title in the fall, and his mom Kelly is the head coach of the varsity volleyball team.

It’s a sports community he is grateful to be a part of.

“It definitely brings me closer to the community,” he said. “My social network has grown, and my relationships with different coaches over the years. I’ve known a bunch of fans, and now I’m coaching their kids. It’s really cool.”

After spending the spring and summer doing Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling work to tune up for his college career, Van Duyne will go to Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, joining the Rams NCAA Division III wrestling program and pursuing an electrical engineering degree.

Once his college days are done, he wants to keep wrestling in his life in other ways.

“I’ve been coaching the same program I went through for three years now, so that’s been really exciting,” he said. “My dream goal would be to run my own wrestling club. I would love to do that.”