St. Rita senior Tommy Russell was just one of the guys in the Mustangs’ wrestling room last season. When four-time state champion Austin O’Connor is on your team, it’s easy to blend in.
Now, with O’Connor at North Carolina and Russell coming off a sixth-place finish in Class 3A at 113 pounds, things have changed.
“It’s a lot different,” Russell said. “When you’re the big dog in the house, everyone wants to push you. They all look up to you, want to challenge you and want you to help. These guys are all going to motivate me and I need to work hard to set that example for them.”
Mike Boyd, in his first season as Mustangs head coach, has been proud to see Russell step into a new role. Boyd previously coached Russell at Riverside-Brookfield, where Russell spent his first two years of high school before transferring last year.
“Tommy’s always been the younger guy in the shadows of someone else,” Boyd said. “He comes here last year, and he’s behind Austin O’Connor, the solar eclipse.
“This year, seeing him be a captain and a senior leader, it’s a powerful thing. We’ve got five freshmen starting, and they look at him like he’s a superstar. He stays level-headed, though.”
The Mustangs have moved down to Class 2A this season and Russell (8-3) is ranked No. 3 at 120 by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association.
Russell said he’s been wrestling since he was 4 years old as he followed in the footsteps of older brothers Chris, Paul and Danny.
“They’re all a lot older,” he said. “They’re in their 20s now. I was always watching them wrestle when I was growing up and I loved wrestling right away. I still do.”
Last postseason gave Russell a lot of confidence. In addition to placing at state, he pinned eventual state champion Joey Melendez of Montini at sectionals.
“It all showed me that I can hang with those guys at the top and compete,” Russell said. “It fired me up to work harder, get back to state this season and do some damage.”
Super soph: Lemont’s Drew Nash was highly successful as a freshman last season, winning 35 matches, but he missed getting to state by a single point.
He was defeated 7-6 by Riverside-Brookfield senior Josh Contreras in the 120-pound consolation semifinals at the Class 2A Thornridge Sectional.
“I was definitely in the toughest sectional, by far,” he said. “There were a lot of ranked wrestlers. It was tough to fall short, but I learned a lot. I knew I still had three more years. I want this to be the big year for me.”
Things are going according to plan so far. Nash is 6-0 and ranked No. 5 at 126. He earned a big win Saturday, pinning Sandburg’s Sam Wojcik, then ranked No. 9 in 3A.
“(Wojcik) and I used to go back and forth in middle school,” Nash said. “I was excited for the match. I knew it’d be a good one. I knew what I could do and I went out and got the pin.”
Passing the test: Confident he had a talented team, Andrew coach Mike Pila worked to put together a challenging schedule this season.
“We added the Barrington tournament, which is always tough,” he said. “We scheduled some really good teams in duals, too. We knew our guys could compete.”
The Thunderbolts finished a solid eighth place at Barrington’s Moore/Prettyman Invitational and are 6-2 in duals, highlighted by wins over Yorkville and Naperville North. Their only losses are to No. 7 Minooka and Lincoln-Way East.
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Top 10
(With last week’s ranking in parentheses)
1. Mount Carmel (3)
2. Lockport (1)
3. Lincoln-Way West (2)
4. Sandburg (5)
5. Lemont (4)
6. Richards (8)
7. Stagg (10)
8. Lincoln-Way East (9)
9. Andrew (NR)
10. Providence (6)
Wrestler of the Week: Joliet Catholic freshman DJ Hamiti won the 106-pound title at Prospect’s Mudge/McMorrow Invitational with two pins and a tech fall.
