Marian Central wins back-to-back IHSA state trophies for first time in program history

BLOOMINGTON – Marian Central coaches and wrestlers kept asking the same type of question to each other for much of Saturday afternoon.

Did the Hurricanes want to end the season and send out their senior class with two straight losses?

Marian needed to answer that quickly after losing to Coal City in the Class 1A state semifinals Saturday morning. The loss ended the Hurricanes' bid to win back-to-back state championships for the first time in McHenry County history.

Their answer was loud and clear Saturday night.

Marian ended the year with a dominant performance against Tolono Unity in the Class 3A third-place match. The Hurricanes won 44-24, bringing home a state trophy in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.

“It’s not what we wanted, but we got the next best thing after we lost and that’s coming in third,” Marian senior Brayden Teunissen said. “We killed them for third. So we ended in a good way.”

The challenges came for much of the afternoon after everyone got some time to relax in their hotel rooms after the semifinal loss. Marian had a team lunch together and started talking before going to Illinois Wesleyan where the Hurricanes completed a full practice.

The Hurricanes quickly showed they got the message in the first match of the dual at 150 pounds. Senior Vance Williams trailed as much as 7-2 in the second period before he started to chip away. He made it a 7-6 deficit heading into the third period before ultimately winning 9-8.

“Things were going awry but he stayed calm,” Marian co-coach Jordan Blanton said. “He believed in himself, he believed in his training and he wrestled the full six minutes so that by the end of it, he got it done.”

The two teams exchanged the lead until sophomore Jimmy Mastny switched the momentum at 190. He won by fall with 34 seconds left in the second period and has now won every postseason match in his first two seasons by fall or forfeit. Mastny won his second state individual state championship last week in Champaign.

Senior Kaleb Eckman (285) started a chain of five straight wins for the Hurricanes when he took his match by fall. Teunissen (126) won by fall while sophomore Diego Martinez (106) and junior Austin Hagevold (120) took their matches by technical fall.

“It’s not what we wanted, but we got the next best thing after we lost and that’s coming in third. We killed them for third. So we ended in a good way.”

—  Brayden Teunissen, Marian Central senior

Sophomore Nick Marchese (132) came back to win his match by a 3-1 decision and freshman Camden Spiniolas (113) won by forfeit. Sophomore Nick Astacio (165) earned a win by major decision and the Hurricanes answered their toughest loss of the season with one of their best wins.

“It was nice to pretty much beat up on a team that had a close dual [in the semifinals],” Mastny said. “So we rebounded pretty nicely.”

Blanton felt like the loss would be good motivation for the team as it tries to take another step as a program. The Hurricanes will work over the offseason as they prepare to move up to Class 2A next season after back-to-back seasons in the state finals.

He said watching teams like IC Catholic, Washington, Montini and others compete in this season’s Class 2A finals was a good example Saturday night. Marian saw how much more the Hurricanes need to elevate their preparation if they want to succeed.

Coming close to winning it all also serves as good motivation.

“It stings to take third place, and that’s a good thing,” Blanton said. “I’m really proud of our guys.”

Teunissen transferred into the program last season and was part of a group that helped revive the program after a couple down years.

He doesn’t doubt his team will be ready for the challenge after being part of a historic two seasons for Marian.

“These guys are going to be super good,” Teunissen said. “They’re going to be winning state titles because they’ll be ready.”