'Locked in': Senior wrestlers ready to make more postseason noise at Chatham Glenwood
CHATHAM — The Chatham Glenwood wrestling team can hang with the best in the state.
This senior class is no exception: Jackson Blankenship, Brandon Bray, Aden Byal, Alex Hamrick, Jaidyn Lee and Thomas Vansacik.
Even before high school as eighth graders they claimed second place as a team in the 2019 Illinois Elementary School Association state finals.
They hope to recreate that junior high magic in their final year.
“It was a blast,” said Byal, who recalled taking second place individually, along with Vansacik, in eighth grade. “We knew that this year we're probably going to have our best year of high school so far just because of how we did back in our eighth-grade year. So looking forward to this year, we knew that we were going to be pretty good.”
Robust senior group
The Titans have collectively advanced to the Illinois High School Association dual team state finals in three of the last four tournaments.
The program has also dominated the area individually.
That includes a reign of five consecutive seasons winning The State Journal-Register's wrestler of the year — not to mention three state champions in that stretch: Conner Miller in the delayed 2021 COVID-19 season and siblings Drew and Maya Davis last season.
Drew Davis (40-2) is back as a junior at 113 pounds. A bulwark of seniors further bolster the lineup.
The Titans just hope Vansacik, a ranked wrestler at 126, will be available in time for dual team sectionals. He injured his knee during the regular season.
Vansacik garnered sixth place in the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association state finals as a sophomore.
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“Personally I think it's the best Glenwood high school team I've ever wrestled on,” the lengthy 6-foot-1 Vansacik said. “I think we have a good chance at placing this year and it's just like everybody's got a good relationship.
“We all work hard. We all come together in the room every day and leave it on the mat, so I think we can do good.”
Davis said there’s no holding back for all of those seniors.
“We're just a lot deeper this year,” Davis said. “We're working really hard in the practice room. It shows out on the mat.”
Hamrick trims down
Hamrick and Byal also return as individual state qualifiers from last season.
The former nabbed fifth place as a heavyweight with a 50-4 record and has slimmed down to 220.
That’s despite weighing 240 this past football season as one of the area’s top offensive linemen.
“At the end of last year, I was weighing around 260 and I just felt really unhealthy and slow,” said Hamrick, who is 36-3 and concluded the regular season with his 100th career pin. “So I got with my coaches and we discussed and we thought 220 would be the best option for this year. Not only for how it ends up this year but for college purposes too.”
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It opens the door to wrestle in college at either 197 or heavyweight.
“I've got a great support group around me: friends, family, coaches, and then just everyone's pushing me and I just keep my diet in check and I was able to get it off,” Hamrick said.
Arduous road ahead
Glenwood faces a tough path, but Hamrick thinks the team is capable of handling it.
The Titans host their Class 2A regional before appearing in the Highland Sectional with the top four finishers qualifying for the individual state finals Feb. 16-18 in Champaign.
Glenwood then hosts dual team sectionals if it scores the most points in its home regional. The Titans would likely draw Mahomet-Seymour, which also qualified for team state last season, in a winner-takes-all match.
These perennial powers have split their two meetings 1-1 this season.
“It's rough,” Byal said of the wrestling postseason. “You’ve really got to stay locked in and keep working just to try and push that team as far as you possibly can. It's definitely a grind. It's hard to be mentally prepared for that and keep your body in shape for that. It's tough.”
The Titans dropped to Antioch in the state quarterfinals last season while Mahomet reached the state semifinals.
Glenwood coach Jerod Bruner said the grueling postseason isn’t easy, “but we’ve been there.”
“Definitely got to be more locked in because you can't really lose or else you go home and as a senior it's really, really important because it is my last year,” said Byal, who champions a 37-4 record and may wrestle at either 145 or 152 in the postseason. “I'm not going to wrestle in college, so I really just want to go out with a bang, make it to that state tournament and let loose.”
Contact Bill Welt: 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA wrestling: Glenwood rides into regionals with senior bulwark
