Wrestling: After a close call last year, Yorkville’s Hunter Janeczko has sights set on podium

Hunter Janeczko has not stopped thinking about it over the last year.

Yorkville’s junior 195-pounder lost the match last year to medal at the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association state meet. Janeczko lost to a wrestler who took third, and another who placed fourth.

It provided Janeczko with fuel, and a valuable lesson.

“It’s been bugging me all year to get to the top of the podium,” Janeczko said. “I learned to just keep wrestling. I stopped wrestling a couple times last year and it cost me a match. I got a little lazy on my moves. I got to get more technical.”

The wait for Janeczko, and all Illinois wrestlers for that matter, is over.

After last season’s Illinois High School Association state meet was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it returns to Champaign this weekend. A total of 19 area wrestlers will be competing at the individual state tournament at the State Farm Center, an event that runs Thursday through Saturday.

Yorkville, which went unbeaten during dual season and won conference and regional championships, will have five wrestlers competing in Champaign this weekend. Janeczko and sophomore Ben Alvarez at 220 pounds both took part in the IWCOA state meet last year.

Janeczko (32-4) received a particularly difficult draw.

His first match is against Glenbard West senior Phillip Dozier (40-2), who was No. 1-ranked at 195 all season but was beaten by DeKalb’s Bryson Buhk at sectionals. Should Janeczko, himself ranked third recently by the IWCOA, get past Dozier, he’d likely face Marist’s No. 1-ranked Peter Marinopoulos (36-0).

“It’s not the best draw, but I’m going to work with it,” Janeczko said. “I think if I wrestle like I can, I can beat almost anybody. I’m ready for it.”

Yorkville coach Jake Oster is confident that Janeczko is up to the challenge.

Yorkville in the last state meet in 2020 had the 195-pound champion in Nick Stemmet. Oster believes Janeczko has what it takes to reach that spot in the podium.

“Hunter is a guy who can beat both of those guys [Dozier and Marinopolous],” Oster said. “I think he can win a state title. That is the expectations he has for himself. You have to wrestle the top guys at some point, might as well get them right away.”

Alvarez (44-5), fifth-ranked at 220 recently, could face second-ranked Ghee Rachal of Marist in the second round and third-ranked Justin Thomas of Homewood-Flossmoor, who won a 6-3 decision over Alvarez last week, in the semifinals.

“Ben is super capable of winning those matches; he is a top three or four guy in the state,” Oster said.

Janeczko and Alvarez are joined at state by Yorkville freshmen Jack Ferguson (113), Dominic Recchia (120) and Luke Zook (152). Oswego qualified AJ Johnson at 160.

It is the Yorkville freshmen’s first state tournament since 2019 – the 2020 IESA state meet was canceled a day before the event because of COVID. But Ferguson took fourth at state in fifth and sixth grade, Zook was a state placer in sixth grade and Recchia a qualifier in sixth grade.

“So it’s not their first state tournament,” Oster said. “They’ve been in big matches like these before, so they won’t be star struck.”

In Class 1A, Yorkville Christian will have nine wrestlers competing in Champaign this weekend. That group includes Aiden Larsen (106), Isaac Bourge (120), Grayson Johnson (126), Noah Dial (132), Braulio Flores (138), Drew Torza (152), Tyler Martinez (160), Jackson Gillen (170) and Michael Esquivel (285).

It’s a stunning rise in a short time for a Mustangs’ program that had its first state qualifier, Bourge, in 2020.

“It’s unbelievable. I can see them walking through hallways between classes and there’s a buzz,” Yorkville Christian coach Mike Vester said. “They understand the importance of what they’re doing, the history. It’s pretty significant and I don’t feel like they are done yet. It’s always been the intention to get on the podium in Champaign.”

Yorkville Christian last season had five wrestlers qualify for the IWCOA state meet, with three medal.

“I have high hopes that we’re going to land two or three guys in the state finals; Vester said. “To cap off a season like this would be amazing.”

The Mustangs wrestled predominantly larger schools during the regular season, so there isn’t much of a track record against other wrestlers in the 1A bracket. That doesn’t mean they’re entirely unfamiliar.

“A lot of them know each other from years past,” Vester said. “Some of them might have history from a long time ago. Right now, looking at the bracket, there is not anybody in their path that they can’t beat.”

Both Yorkville and Yorkville Christian will be competing at dual team sectionals next Tuesday.

“But we’re not even looking ahead to team state,” Vester said. “We want to make sure they are wrestling toward today.”

Four Sandwich wrestlers will also be competing in the 1A bracket, including Evan Reilly (138), Aidan Linden (152), Sammy Dale (170)) and Alex Alfaro (182).