Girls wrestling: Yorkville senior Yamilet Aguirre is the Record Newspapers Wrestler of the Year

Yamilet Aguirre aspires to become a teacher – and the Yorkville senior can pass along to future pupils one valuable life lesson from personal experience.

Success doesn’t always come overnight.

Against her mother’s concerns, Aguirre first tried wrestling at nine years old, in fourth grade, following with her brothers in their cousin’s footsteps. Her first year of wrestling, Aguirre did not win a single match.

“I still went to practice and had a big old smile on my face, and performed to the best of my ability,” Aguirre said. “I thought it was something I wanted to pursue and get better at. She accepted that.”

Aguirre’s resolve was rewarded.

With a fourth-place finish at the IHSA state tournament last month, Aguirre became a three-time state medalist, and finished her high school career with a 94-11 record over three seasons.

She is the Record Newspapers Girls Wrestler of the Year.

Aguirre, fourth at state as a sophomore and second last year, had hopes of capping it all off with a state championship. She lost to eventual state champion Sophia Bowers of Vandalia in the quarterfinals at 125 pounds, then battled back with three wins in wrestlebacks before losing to Ava Babbs of Lakes in the third-place match.

She finished with a 28-3 record, her three losses to the top three placers at state.

“It definitely wasn’t the outcome I wanted, but I knew my quarterfinal match was a hard match,” Aguirre said. “I did what I could to get me to the spot that I wanted to be. I didn’t quite get to where I wanted, but still proud of how I performed.”

Yorkville coach Kevin Roth echoed that pride.

“I told her this is going to show college scouts a character builder – how do you bounce back from one loss,” Roth said. “She wrestled her butt off to get to that third-place match. I know she was upset with herself for her high school career end to end like that, but she has very little to be upset about.”

Aguirre was the trailblazer at Yorkville in the burgeoning IHSA sport of girls wrestling. Her sophomore year, Aguirre and Natasha Markoutsis, who won a state championship in 2022, were the only Yorkville girls out for the sport.

Aguirre did three sports in junior high – wrestling, track and field and basketball – but it was wrestling that stuck since her cousins first convinced her brothers to try it.

“I remember I was at a practice watching, my mom wasn’t too sure about me wrestling and I was just watching. I thought if they could do it, I could do it,” Aguirre said. “That first practice I took what I learned that day and I ended up beating a kid who had been wrestling three years before me. Ever since then I had the confidence.”

That confidence did not wane through the challenging first season without a win in matches. The first year Aguirre wrestled only guys, but second year she started wrestling girls, too. She won an Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation tournament against all girls in Springfield. Aguirre won freestyle state last spring and qualified for freestyle nationals.

“I think it was just going to the practices and having such good coaches by my side. They would tell me that they know this is hard, but stick with it, you’ll be great someday,” Aguirre said. “At first I didn’t believe them, I thought I’m going to keep getting beat up, but eventually I started believing in myself. My second year, first tournament, I won my first match and after that I was like I can do this.”

Aguirre has thoughts of continuing to compete in the sport she loves beyond high school. But she also wants to focus on her studies and become her own person, not just the girl who wrestles.

Teaching kids, seeing that she can help someone get better, gives her happiness. She helped out at an all-girls wrestling clinic at the Tomcats Wrestling Club. Aguirre is currently sitting and observing an introduction to education class at Yorkville Middle School.

“Still undetermined at what level I want to teach,” Aguirre said. “Definitely a science teacher.”

Aguirre is leaving behind quite a legacy in Yorkville wrestling, and not just for her own success. The Yorkville girls wrestling program has gone from just Aguirre and Markoutsis that first year to 20 girls this past season.

“Success breeds curiosity,” Roth said. “I don’t think our program would be at the numbers it is today if it wasn’t for the success of those two girls the last few years. The expectation now is the state tournament. That is going to be the expectation. Stay competitive and there is that expectation.”