When Lyons junior Tyler Zeman separated his shoulder a week before regionals, he didn’t panic.
He also wasn’t worried about hurting his chances of qualifying for state, even though he decided to forfeit his opening match at the Class 3A Batavia Sectional on Friday, Feb. 12, to rest his shoulder another day.
Zeman’s calm, business-like demeanor is something his teammates have come to expect.
“He’s always going really hard and I look up to him even though he’s shorter than I am,” 6-foot-4 senior Frank Walsh said. “We work hard together in the gym.
“Tyler is a really quiet kid, but in the room his talent speaks for itself.”
Zeman (35-8 at 132 pounds) and Walsh (33-9 at 220) advanced for the first time and are among five Lyons wrestlers to earn state meet berths on Thursday, Feb. 18 in Champaign.
They will be joined by senior Ezra Avery (35-10 at 182) and junior Elias Garcia (27-19 at 120), both first-time state qualifiers, and three-time state qualifier junior Johnny Mologousis (39-2 at 160).
After forfeiting his first match, Zeman won three straight matches Saturday to secure his bid, before forfeiting the third-place match. The top-four finishers in each weight class advanced to the state tournament, which runs through Saturday, Feb. 20, at the State Farm Center.
“I was upset about the injury, but I knew I could get it healed and be ready to go,” Zeman said. “I just tried to stay positive. I’ve just been trying to rest it and ice it as much as possible. I felt confident (Saturday) and I was ready to go.”
Lyons coach Griff Powell was sure Zeman could overcome his first-round forfeit and still collect his first trip downstate.
“He’s a tough kid,” Powell said. “We had to rest him and get him ready for what counts. I think it was the right move. He was rested up and ready to go.”
Zeman tied for the team lead with 38 wins as a sophomore, but fell just shy of a state berth. He lost to Brother Rice’s Juan Blanco 10-9 after beating him 11-6 during the regular season
Zeman took steps to make sure he didn’t fall shy of his goal again this year.
“My conditioning is better,” Zeman said. “Every night I run three miles and then on Sunday I run six miles. That loss has been stuck in the back of my head the entire state series. It’s exciting to be going to state.”
Ken Ryan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
