Seneca’s Chris Peura is The Times 2023 Boys Wrestler of the Year

Don’t be fooled by Chris Peura’s cool demeanor.

Although he may appear relaxed and confident on the outside, inside the Seneca High School junior there’s an anxious, hard-working, somewhat nervous demon driving him to succeed in whatever he does – be it in the weight room, on the football field or on the mat.

And that makes those he competes against nervous, too.

Peura arguably had the greatest season in Seneca wrestling history, breaking Owen Feiner’s mark for wins in a season with 46, tying the school record with 35 pins and just missing its high mark for points scored. He then earned All-State honors by placing sixth at 195 pounds at the IHSA State Meet in Champaign.

“I admit, there were times I’d be all scared and nervous about wrestling certain people. I wish I could have gotten rid of all that anxiousness,” Peura said. “It’s not me to be relaxed, I guess, because I know that every time you step on the mat, no matter who you’re wrestling, the match could go either way. I’m always confident, but there’s always that little bit of doubt in the back of my head, and that makes me work harder.

“Last year against tough kids, I’d kind of back down and submit to them basically. But this year, I kept up with them and brought the match to them … and it went well.”

Well enough to make Peura The Times 2023 Boys Wrestler of the Year.

“Chris had a historic season,” Seneca coach Todd Yegge said. “Obviously, he has worked very hard to get to the point he’s at right now. We’ve never had a state champion at Seneca, but if he improves his technique and works his butt off like he always does, he’ll have that opportunity. We look forward to seeing how high up that podium he can go.”

Not bad for someone who practically had to be pulled into his first wrestling experience by his mom’s neighbor, Lucas Gwaltney, an accomplished mixed-martial artist and youth wrestling coach with the Streator club.

“I didn’t want to start wrestling,” Peura said. “When I was in sixth grade, he showed up and told me to get in the car, he was taking me to wrestling practice. I wasn’t very good, but by eighth grade I made it to state (for the Seneca/Mazon co-op), but it was canceled for COVID. That’s when I developed a passion for it, and I’ve been working on it ever since.”

The pandemic cost him his freshman year, as well, but he was on his way as a sophomore, following the example of good friend and practice partner Gavin Robertson. Peura posted a 41-9 mark, winning his first two matches at the Coal City Sectional, but losing the last two to miss out on state.

Never one to miss time in the weight room, Peura, who now benches 335 pounds, got even stronger – and not just for wrestling. He was star on both sides of the ball for the state-ranked Irish football squad that earned a perfect 9-0 regular season and won a 3A first-round playoff game. He was a Vermilion Valley Conference and Times All-Area first-team pick on the gridiron.

Peura kept that winning momentum rolling, starting with his second straight title at the Irish Invitational and winning its Most Valuable Wrestler for the upper weights through a first-place finish at Port Byron Riverdale’s Jim Boyd Invite and into the Abe’s Rumble in Springfield. There, he had his most memorable match, erasing a 4-0 deficit to beat Lena-Winslow’s Luke Griffin, who had pinned Peura in just over a minute the previous season before.

After taking third at the tough Reed-Custer Invite, Peura picked up his 100th career win against Streator Jan. 17 and cruised into the postseason.

The Irish ace took second to Coal City’s Joey Breneman at the Reed-Custer Regional, then won three straight matches at the Coal City Sectional to secure his trip to state before falling to Breneman in the title match.

In Champaign, Peura whipped Macomb’s Max Ryner and claimed a medical forfeit to set the school standard for wins. He fell in his last three matches, including the fifth-place match against Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley’s Aiden Sancken by a narrow 8-6 margin, but history already was made.

“I obviously wanted to do better at state,” Peura said. “I think my technique could improve a lot. I look forward to doing better next year. My goal is to be more successful than this. It’s gonna take a lot of work for that to happen, but I’d like that state championship.

“We’ll see.”