2024 Northwest Herald Wrestling Coaches of the Year: Marian Central’s Jordan Blanton, Ryan Prater

Winning an IHSA dual team state championship was always one of Jordan Blanton’s and Ryan Prater’s goals when they took over at Marian Central a couple years ago. Winning it in their second year might’ve seemed like a little bit of a stretch.

But once Blanton and Prater saw the way the Hurricanes talented room came together at the beginning of this season, they quickly realized a state title wasn’t out of reach.

“We’ve been around really high-level coaching and we knew what the goal was and we made it really clear to the kids this season that this was a state championship season and once they started believing that, that it was going to happen,” Prater said. “We definitely knew, you have to believe it for it to start somewhere.”

Marian had to overcome obstacles first. The IHSA banned freshman wrestler Jimmy Mastny from ever competing with the Hurricanes and suspended Blanton for a year amid recruiting allegations in December. Both returned to competition after a McHenry County judge temporarily lifted the suspensions.

Belief started to build at the end of 2023 when the Hurricanes defeated defending Class 1A state champion Coal City. From there they won the Chicagoland Christian Conference, a regional title and two Marian wrestlers won individual state championships.

Marian got a rematch against Coal City in the Class 1A dual team state championship and held on to win its first IHSA dual team state championship. The program won an Illinois Wrestling Coach and Officials Association state championship in 2021 since the IHSA didn’t hold a state series because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For their leadership in helping take the Hurricanes to new heights, Blanton and Prater were named the Northwest Herald’s 2024 Wrestling Coaches of the Year. Huntley’s BJ Bertelsman and Richmond-Burton’s Tony Nelson were also considered for the honor.

Blanton and Prater each spoke with sports reporter Michal Dwojak about what they’ll remember from this historic season, who made them laugh the most and why they got into coaching. Answers have been edited for length.

What are you most proud of this season?

Blanton: Watching the growth and the emergence of the leadership on our team throughout the season, specifically with Anthony Alanis and Max Astacio, who were two seniors. Watching that trickle down to Brayden Teunissen and Vance Williams, people that we lean on in the junior class, watching them take on the role of leaders throughout the year, watching that develop, and be great stewards of that and be able to create a torch passing approach to that, that really got established this year. In terms of long-term success, being able to continue to push forward was something that was a huge goal of ours this season and I think we did a really good job.

Prater: I really liked how our younger guys, obviously we have superstars on the team, some of those guys became superstars in those last duals. How they just wrestled and took care of their jobs. Some of those guys really stepped up beyond what even thought they could do. Dan French, I started calling him “Mr. Postseason.” He kind of stole the show. He had a fantastic February for himself.

What did it mean to win the school’s first state championship?

Blanton: It means everything. It’s something that we set out with really four years ago when I moved back here. One of my main goals was to build the area up. I feel like it’s a ticking time bomb here. I think we have unbelievable talent, unbelievable coaching, unbelievable programs across this whole area. Something that we’ve done really well was the individual success, something that’s been missing is the team success. I knew teams have been close, they’ve been competitive, but to get over that hump and bring a championship back to the area … I know that we set the bar, but I know there’s a lot of teams and programs in the area that are nipping at our heels trying to chase us down or pass us up.

Prater: To me, a state championship is a state championship, whether it’s IHSA or IWCOA. I guess it shows that it can be done, they know what the expectation is for next year. Jordan and I are already looking and preparing for our second state title. We’re definitely not done. We came to Marian to start a dynasty and we want to do a lot of winning for a long time.”

Was there a point this season when you knew this team could do something special?

Blanton: Our first real challenge came at Abe’s Rumble when we had an opportunity to wrestle in a 62 dual-team tournament and defeat the defending state champions in Coal City in that dual. We were preseason No. 1, we proved it to close out the first semester and then we continued to build and grow throughout the season and widened the gap by the end of the year.

Prater: Last year, I thought we had a pretty decent season. This year, I think in early December I was watching practice and I looked at Jordan and was like ‘This is going to be a team that does it.’ There’s so many hammers on this team, even the guys that aren’t recognized as much in the public, those guys are quietly doing their work and so tough that if those guys step up, it’s going to be very hard for any team to beat us.

What was your favorite memory of this past season?

Blanton: The one that stuck out to me the most was Brayden Teunissen’s finals match. … Him having that moment, being able to accomplish a lifelong dream of becoming a state champion and doing it in the fashion that he did, beating such a tough competitor that he did was really special. I rank that up there with one of my all-time favorite moments as a coach, as a competitor as an athlete ever. It was pretty special.

Prater: There are so many to pick from. Obviously Brayden and Jimmy winning state titles was awesome. I would say it’s got to be Dan French hitting his guy against Roxana [in the state semifinals] and sealing that dual or his big win against Coal City. Or even Andrew Alvarado’s pin against Coal City won the dual. Andrew Alvarado and Dan French had huge wins against Coal City. Those are my favorite moments because I was so happy for those kids to have that moment. That’s something you’ll never forget.

Which one wrestler did you find really inspiring this season?

Blanton: Somebody that we’re really high on, grateful for and really impressed with how his year went was Jimmy Mastny. He came in with high expectations and I think met, exceeded them in every sense of the word. There’s a lot of work to do with the talent that he has and the success that he had this year. He literally pinned every opponent at regionals, sectionals, individual state, team sectionals and team state. Everyone that he wrestles, he got six points for the team or he got a fall for the team.

Prater: Obviously Jimmy is pretty inspiring. Just the way the kid approaches every practice, he loves the sport of wrestling and he works so hard. He wrestles three or four times a day, everything is structured and everything is planned out. ‘I need to be running and lifting at this time, I need to be practicing at this time.’ His work ethic and how serious he is about the sport is insane for a kid his age. I’ve coached Division-I All-Americans, been around some high-level guys and I’ve never been around anyone like Jimmy Mastny at all. I’m learning everyday. I don’t know what the ceiling is for him.

What got you into coaching?

Blanton: There’s always a passion inside of me, a desire inside of me to give back to the sport. I’m the product of a lot of coaches and a lot of great men and women really that devoted a lot of time, energy, effort and resources into me to help create a passion, excitement and love for the sport in me. I feel like it’s my duty to give it back as well. Wrestling has done so much for me and opened a lot of doors for me that the rest of my life I plan to give back to the sport in any capacity that I can and any way that I can.

Prater: I love wrestling. I started when I was 10 years old and I never looked back after that. It’s been such an important role in my life, it’s structured my life. I probably got some opportunities that I wouldn’t have gotten without wrestling. I would say just how passionate I am about the sport, it’s super easy to coach if you’re as passionate as I am about the sport.

What are your favorite three movies?

Blanton: They are “Blood Sports,” “Rocky IV” and I’m going to hit you with a little twist here but “The Notebook.”

Prater: I grew up as a kid on “Rocky” as any kid looking for inspiration would. I loved “Rudy” just because I’m from the Joliet area, so I grew up watching the Joliet Catholic football teams play, having a movie like that is pretty cool. And probably like a “Pineapple Express” if I need a good laugh.

What is one thing people don’t know about you?

Blanton: My other passion in life is plumbing. I’m a plumber, I’m a third-generation plumber, my whole family’s been in plumbing, my dad has been a plumber and owned his businesses my whole life. He recently retired, now he’s a farmer, lives in Woodstock, he and my mom own a flower farm now. But plumbing is kind of like my second passion, so when I’m not wrestling or with my family, I’m out in the greater Chicagoland area all over the place working in the plumbing business. I love it.

Prater: I collect vintage clothing. Like `80s and `90s concert t-shirts, old sports memorabilia.

What is your most prized possession?

Blanton: I’m not much of a possession person. We just opened a new wrestling facility in Spring Grove, the Relentless Training Center, an offseason club that Prater and I run together. We just opened the doors on that, so throughout the season while we were coaching and running the high school team, we were also purchasing and renovating an almost 5,000-square foot wrestling gym. … Being able to bring a high level nationally and hopefully internationally known wrestling training facility to Spring Grove was a major goal of mine and something I’ll be committed to and doing for a really long time.

Prater: My family.

Which wrestler makes you laugh the most?

Blanton: The team clown of our team was Teunissen. He’s just a goofy character. He doesn’t take things too seriously, he’s as tough as they come. He’s mean like a rattlesnake but he’s a goofball and gave us a lot of laughs this year.

Prater: We have a group of knuckleheads, all of them. If anyone has the pleasure of being around them, they’re all characters. It might surprise a lot of people, but Josh Gawronski, as quiet as he is, he’a always has me laughing. He’s a fun person to be around.

What will you remember the most about this year’s group of seniors?

Blanton: For this next group of seniors to come through, two of them being new to the program, two of them having been here last year. For them to take that senior role, that leadership role and have the impact that they had was super special. For them to cap off this season with a state championship, with them being seniors in the Class of 2024 and us bringing the Class 2024 state champions, they’re forever etched in the record books of the school and they earned it.

Prater: I was super happy to get it done for Max Astacio. He’s been through every regime at Marian, David Silva, Fernie Silva. When they won IWCOA to when they didn’t even win their regional title to last year when we were setting up to do this stuff. To send our seniors out with a state championship. I don’t think we could’ve sent them out any better way.