Entering Saturday of the IHSA Girls State Wrestling Tournament, only four girls from the Illinois Valley still had a chance to finish on the podium. Only two had a shot at a state championship and only one made the final match.

It was still a successful year for the area, of course, but no doubt locals were holding out hope that they’d have one wrestler bring home a state title.

In the end, she brought home second, but all things considered, it was one heck of an achievement.

Ottawa’s Juliana Thrush was the lone area wrestler to make the finals and faced Phoenix Molina of Tolono Unity in the 235-pound bracket. Thrush went wire to wire with the eventual champion, more than holding her own before Molina won state by a 2-0 decision.

Still, Thrush was all smiles after the state title match.

How couldn’t she be? Last year, she got to take a group picture with all of the podium finishers as the sixth place finisher. This year, she closed out her career as the second-best wrestler in her weight class in all of Illinois.

Not too shabby.

“Last year I got sixth, so it’s a much better feeling to be on the podium instead of just next to it,” Thrush said. “It’s a different feel. I like it.”

When Mike Tyson came out of retirement last year to fight Jake Paul, he told reporters after the boxing match that he only did so to prove to himself he could do it. He didn’t do it for anyone else.

Thrush held a similar mindset. She plans to take the lesson she learned from this season and apply to other areas of her life in the future.

“I did this,” she said. “I proved I could do it. It’s honestly one of those things where I can carry it with me wherever I go or whatever I do. If I can do this, I can do anything.”

Thrush entered the weekend as the two seed, knocking off Asreilla Wallace of Glenbard North by a 7-1 decision in the first round. She bested Esmeralda Bustamante of Noble/ITW Speer by fall in 3:22 after tha.

Thrush reached the finals after taking down Lockport’s Rebekah Ramirez by 2-0 decision earlier Saturday.

While Thrush was the best finisher in the area, she wasn’t the only one to get a group photo at the end.

Dwight’s Avery Crouch has consistently defied the odds throughout her short career. Hailing from a true 1A school, the sophomore had to go up against girls from the biggest schools in the state the past two years.

After finishing fourth last year, Crouch entered state hoping to finish in the top three at 135. She drew the toughest draw possible Saturday, going up against Lockport’s Claudia Heeney. Heeney entered as a two-time state champion and finished the weekend as a three-time state champion.

Crouch, though, lasted longer than most of Heeney’s opponents have. Their semifinal match went 4:46 before Heeney won by fall, sending Crouch to the consolation bracket.

In the consolation semis, Crouch was within 7-6 of Michelle Naftzger from Erie, but Naftzger got the upper hand and won by fall at 3:36. In the fifth place match, Crouch lost a 9-3 decision to Joliet Central’s Isabel Barrera.

Still, for a kid from Dwight to finish in sixth at state? Not too bad at all. She said she’ll be using the end of the year as motivation moving forward the next two years of her career.

“It’s not the result I wanted,” Crouch said. “Even placing as a sophomore, though, is pretty good. I just have to put the work in this offseason to finish atop the podium next year. That’s where my mindset is.”

The other two area wrestlers to wrestle Saturday were both in the 125-pound weight class. Kiely Domyancich of La Salle Peru took a 3-0 lead on Lemont’s Molly O’Connor, but was bested by fall in 3:37 to end her weekend.

Samantha Greisen of Seneca lost by fall in the consolation semis by fall in 4:57 to Yariah Shaw of Danville.