Marist ended their wrestling season on a high note with a state champion and three other placers.
They had a better than average regular season. Marist started the season ranked fourth and finished fourth. They were also ranked 36th in the country according to Intermat Fab 50 national rankings.
They did well at major tournaments, too. They took second place at the Dvorak Memorial Tournament and third at the Don Flavin Invite.
Their success carried into the postseason. The playoffs went well for the RedHawks with 13 wrestlers making it to sectionals. Marist then had eight wrestlers qualify for state: Tommy Fidler, George Marinopoulos, Michael Esteban, Ethan Sonne, Donavon Allen, Will Denny, Ricky Ericksen, and Connor Phelan. Four wrestlers made it to the state semis which was the second most behind St. Charles East.
“Kind of was an underdog coming in. I was ranked eighth and ended up taking second place,” said Ericksen. He upset the second ranked wrestler Matt Kubas and fourth ranked Luke Zook to make it to the finals.
“I took second and had a pretty tough route to make it to the finals,” said Esteban. He had three close matches to get to the finals with his biggest win only being by four points.
Denny won the first individual wrestling state championship for Marist in nine years.
He made it to the finals with two pins and a major decision (winning by at least eight points). Denny also won by a major decision in the state finals.
Marist had four juniors in the semis: Esteban second, Allen fourth, Denny first, and Ericksen took second. Despite their success, not everyone was satisfied.
“I didn’t meet my expectations for the year because once we got to state I was in my own head and froze up, but I’m going to fix that. I just have to believe that I’m the best wrestler out there no matter who I face,” said Marinopoulos.
Marist did not qualify as a team for state this year.
“As a team, our expectation has to be winning team state and we’re going to work constantly until we achieve that expectation,” said Dan Mahoney.
Going forward, state is not a goal for them, it is an expectation.
“My expectations for next year are to win state individually and as a team,” said George Marinopoulos. They work hard and hold each other to high standards.
“The biggest challenge I faced this year was my mentality, I didn’t believe I was as good as some of these other kids but once I overcame that I started to believe I was the best in the state,” he said.
“A lesson I learned was staying in the right mindset,” said Denny.
Marist has 12 out of 14 starters returning next year and are looking to do big things.
