Wrestling: Jackson Gillen overcame sectional hurdle, led Yorkville Christian to championship heights

Jackson Gillen had an obstacle to overcome this season as significant as any opponent.

Himself.

The Yorkville Christian junior was poised to make state two years ago as a freshman, but lost in the blood round at sectionals. Undefeated going into sectionals as a sophomore, Gillen lost 1-0 in the semifinals to the wrestler who went on to win state.

“The past two years I’ve got in my head too much, and I ended up not making it,” Gillen said. “I thought I had to win, I had to do this and that. I didn’t just go out there and wrestle. I knew I could do it, I just had to go out and wrestle. I needed to get past that mental hurdle.”

He cleared a hurdle, alright. Gillen, and the Yorkville Christian team ascended to unprecedented heights.

With his pin of Lena-Winslow’s Griffin Luke in the Class 1A 170-pound championship match last month in Champaign, Gillen became the first individual state champion in the young history of the Yorkville Christian program.

Then, a week later, Gillen helped lead the Mustangs to the Class 1A dual team title.

It capped off a 49-6 season in which Gillen won titles at the Plano Reaper Classic, at regionals and at sectionals. He also was second at the Mahomet tournament and ninth at the prestigious Cheesehead tournament in Wisconsin, part of a grueling schedule Yorkville Christian faced.

For these achievements, Jackson Gillen is the Record Newspapers Wrestler of the Year.

“Once he got over the hump, he never looked back,” Yorkville Christian coach Mike Vester said. “A lot of people were like ‘Who is Jack Gillen?’ I always expected him to be there, it just didn’t work out before this year. I expected him to get high on the podium. I saw him wrestling back at the Cheesehead and thought he could get a state title if he stayed on that path, and he did.”

Gillen, a Millington resident, started wrestling at a young age, 6 or 7. He followed in the footsteps of his dad and cousin who also wrestled, and joined the Morris Wrestling Club. Eventually he came to the Team 1006, which Vester runs. In sixth grade, he won state in the Midget division.

“I coached him when he was younger and he has the most ridiculous hips,” Vester said. “He can roll people through positions, can do flips and turns and some throws. When he got that man strength he got more dynamic. His hips and upper body strength is a truly great weapon.”

Vester said that Gillen’s style is such that he’s going to get ahold of his opponent and force them into a bad shot – or move them.

“Once he gets a grip on you, it’s hard to get out of,” Vester said. “He’s not one dimensional. His style is to get ahold of you and don’t let go.”

Gillen said he felt relief this season when he finally got to individual state. He didn’t feel nervous. More, excited.

He wrestled like it too, with three pins in his four matches in Champaign.

“When he made it to state, he got the monkey off his back to get there, those first few matches I felt he was looser in the state tournament than he was to get there. That was bad news for people he wrestled,” Vester said. “I think getting down there loosened him and it kind of carried into team duals. He led the team in the duals with energy and dominance. He was the most consistent performer throughout the entire year from bell to bell.”