With the postseason starting this weekend for wrestling teams across the state, Ottawa, Streator, Seneca and Sandwich all have a number of athletes who will be looking to take a first step towards a trip to the state finals.
Ottawa
Pirates senior Charles Medrow will begin his quest for a third trip to state. Last season, Medrow qualified at 182 pounds but has competed at 195/220 this year. He and his Ottawa teammates are starting at the Sterling Regional and then hopefully on to the Rochelle Sectional.
“Charles will be in a difficult regional and sectional, but he has a good chance to make it to state if he wrestles smart and comes out aggressive,” Ottawa coach Peter Marx said. “He has had an outstanding career so far, and we hope to see it continue through February. We’re hoping he gets back to Champaign and can get a couple of wins at state.”
Marx also feels 106-pound Ivan Munoz (25-2) has a very good chance to make it “if he wrestles to his capabilities.”
“Ivan is in a solid weight class,” Marx said. “We believe he not only has a chance to qualify, but if he makes it down, he has a great chance to place.”
Seneca
Seneca junior Chris Peura (40-5) recently earned his 100th career victory and sits at 105 wins, good for 12th on the Fighting Irish all-time list.
“The success Chris has had has been through hard work in and out of the wrestling room and being a multi-sport athlete,” Seneca coach Todd Yegge said. “He is in the weight room religiously working on his strength training and is very coachable. He listens and tries to improve himself, and it has paid off for him.
“He is a leader in the room and out, and his work ethic is obvious to everyone in all areas of his athletic career.”
Yegge feels Peura, along with seniors Kyler Hahn (106, 20-10) and Collin Wright (170, 34-10), juniors Asher Hamby (160, 33-3) and Nate Othon (145, 34-11), sophomores Tommy Milton (120, 26-18) and Nick Grant (132, 25-15), as well as freshman Ethan Othon (113, 35-8) all have solid chances to advance far in the postseason, which begins for Seneca at the 1A Reed-Custer Regional.
“Our regional is loaded with top individual athletes that are ranked (illinoismmatmen.com) at various weight classes, and there will be five teams either ranked or mentioned in rankings,” Yegge said. “Obviously, many of our athletes will be challenged at the regional, but we believe if we get out of that grind we’ll have a very good chance to qualify top four at sectional individually.”
Sandwich
Indians’ seniors Nolan Bobee (152, 30-15), Bryce Decker (170, 33-12) and Cesar Garcia (195, 16-20) will be looking to finish solid careers, starting at the 1A Plano Regional and hopefully moving on the Oregon Sectional.
“I’m excited to see how our three seniors finish up their season,“ Sandwich coach Derek Jones said. “I think they have all shown growth throughout their careers and been knocking on the doorstep to qualify for the state tournament. Hopefully, they can seize their opportunities as we enter an extremely tough regional.”
Jones said he also is excited to see what Kadin Kern (126, 30-5), Miles Corder (132, 37-8) and Sy Smith (138, 29-15) can do after solid regular seasons.
“Kadin has been recently battling a shoulder injury, but he looks like he is ready to go. Miles has been tough all year and is ready to open some eyes and show his growth in his wrestling. Sy has taken some tough losses over the year, but he has been putting in the work and correcting these mistakes. Hopefully we will see all of them compete to the best of their ability over the state series.”
Sandwich also will have its first ever entry – junior Ashlyn Strenz (115, 19-13) – in the girls state series in a couple of weeks.
“Ashlyn has wrestled on the boys side of things over the past three years and has racked up almost 60 wins,” Jones said. “She is ranked No. 7 at the weight class, last year was a sectional qualifier for us and helped us win a team sectional and earn a trip down to Bloomington for [Dual] Team State.
“Ashlyn is as tough as they come, and our coaching staff is excited to see how she performs in the all-female field.”
Streator
Streator coach Kyle Lowman said Bulldogs’ 106-pound junior Nick Pollet (29-6) – who won three tournament championships during the season – will be looking to carry over his fantastic regular season into the postseason.
“Nick has wrestled very well all season for us,” Lowman said. “He’s hoping to compete well at regional and hopefully advance past that. The regional is going to be overall tough across every weight class, and Nick will have four kids that are ranked above him in his.
“He wrestled a lot over last summer and went to various camps to help him improve, and all that hard work has paid off for him this season. Getting experience has been a big key to his success, and hopefully he can gain even more this weekend.”