Suburban Life Wrestler of the Year: Downers Grove North state champ Ben Bielawski forged triumph through failure

Ben Bielawski’s first three experiences in Champaign were marked by failure.

His fourth was a historic triumph.

The Downers Grove North senior, eighth at the individual state wrestling tournament as a junior, came one match from reaching the podium twice in his first three seasons.

He left on top last month.

Beating Belleville East’s Jonathan Rulo by a 5-3 decision, Bielawski won the Class 3A heavyweight state championship. In doing so, he became the first state wrestling champion in Downers Grove North school history.

“Super proud of him. Super proud of the accomplishment, but I’m more proud of what he had to go through to get there,” Downers Grove North coach Chris McGrath said. “The first three times at state he didn’t get a medal, but he kept working, kept his focus and didn’t let the disappointment get to him. He kept his cool and kept competing and it all worked out.”

By accomplishing Downers Grove North history and forging success through failure, Ben Bielawski is the Suburban Life Wrestler of the Year.

Downers Grove had two previous state champions, but not since the district split into two high schools in 1964. Making history was not lost on Bielawski, who is also an All-State football player. His dad coaches at Downers Grove South and his older brother Drew was a standout wrestler and football player.

“It’s always nice walking in the room and seeing all the names that come before you and see some old coaches of mine,” Bielawski said. “Winning a state championship, you do it for yourself, but you also do it for the people that helped you pursue the dream to get there. It’s cool to get that for more than myself.”

McGrath said he felt Bielawski probably should have medaled the past two seasons. But he also isn’t sure if Bielawski could have realized that measure of success without the disappointment. It fueled Bielawski to work hard, particularly in the weight room. It also reminded him to keep his cool and take it one match at a time.

“He used to get caught in the moment and the pressure and it got to him,” McGrath said. “This year, he focused on winning the next point and it worked to take some of the pressure off.”

Bielawski echoed that thought.

“It was more of a care less to care more situation,” Bielawski said. “I thought I put a lot of pressure on myself sophomore and junior year. This year, it was about being myself and having fun. I love to compete and it started with football. I made All-State and said let’s do the same thing in wrestling. I found my love for competing. It didn’t feel like work. I came in with a smile on my face. I might have left with a bloody nose, but I was still smiling.”

Bielawski wrestled at 182 pounds as a junior, but with a commitment to the weight room and help from his mom’s good home cooking, he hit a growth spurt.

McGrath had another good 220-pounder in Cael Brezina, so the decision was made to stick Bielawski at heavyweight.

It worked to Bielawski’s advantage to the tune of a 45-1 record, his lone loss to Joliet Catholic’s Dylan Johnson at the Hinsdale Central tournament.

“There is an advantage when you start smaller and get to that size. Ben wrestled like a middleweight and it was definitely a competitive advantage,” McGrath said. “He has an arsenal of leg attacks that most heavyweights don’t have because he was a middleweight. He rides the legs on top. Those are competitive advantages that in pressure situations Ben had in his back pocket.”

Bielawski’s season peaked at the best possible time.

He pinned Marmion’s Sean Scheck, ranked in the top two at the time by Illinois Matmen, at Batavia’s Clint Arlis Invitational two weeks before regionals. Bielawski went to his coaches and said he believed he could win it all. It was an opinion that McGrath and the Trojans’ other coaches had believed for some time.

“It was a confidence booster, showing what I was capable of,” Bielawski said.

Bielawski’s next stop is Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he is committed to playing for the football team. He’s in talks about possibly wrestling too, and hopes they can make both work.

If this is the end of the road, wrestling-wise, he’s left quite a legacy in his hometown.

“That is the cool part,” McGrath said. “Ben came in as a great athlete. His brother was an All-State wrestler and football player and everybody knew Ben was a great athlete, which was added pressure. The added failure was good for him. His legacy is endurance. What he endured to end up on top of the podium is incredible. He ended up being a great model to younger guys who struggle. The cool part is the person he became to get to where he got.”