Homewood-Flossmoor junior Vincent Robinson has big goals this season. He wants to become the school’s first state wrestling champion.
Robinson also is more than capable of having success on a national level, which he proved Saturday when he won the 126-pound championship at the prestigious Walsh Ironman Tournament in Ohio.
“It meant a lot to me because I hadn’t had a big high school tournament like that that I’ve won yet,” Robinson said. “It gives me a lot of confidence going deeper into the season.
“It’s got me feeling good. Even though I won, I know I can fix some mistakes I made and be even better.”
After defeating two wrestlers from Ohio and one from Pennsylvania, Robinson had to get past a couple fellow wrestlers from Illinois to capture the title.
He beat Mount Carmel’s Sergio Lemley 3-1 in overtime in the semifinals and then took down top-seeded Kannon Webster 5-3 in the finals.
Robinson lost twice to Washington’s Webster in October at the Super 32 in North Carolina.
“I just came in with a different attitude,” Robinson said of facing Webster, an Illinois recruit. “I just had it in my mind to just go and start scoring first. Once I scored first, I could control the match. That’s what I did.”
Robinson said he was told he was the first product of the highly successful Harvey Twisters youth program to win the Ironman.
“A lot of Twisters went to that tournament and none of them came up on top,” he said. “It’s one of the toughest tournaments of the season. Being the first Twister to win it means a lot.”
Speaking of firsts, Robinson’s ultimate goal is to make H-F history.
As a freshman in 2020 at Marian Catholic, he finished as the Class 3A state runner-up at 120. Robinson, who transferred to H-F before his sophomore year, has had his sights set on the top of the podium.
“The motivation’s been building up ever since I left U of I after that loss freshman year,” he said. “COVID messed up my sophomore year, so I’ve been waiting for this.
“I told ‘Soko’ (coach Jim Sokoloski) I want to be the first H-F state champ.”
Sokoloski sees Robinson embracing that opportunity.
“He is undoubtedly the face of the program,” Sokoloski said. “People come to our matches to see Vincent Robinson. We have a lot of good wrestlers and we have a good team and I think we’re proving that, but Vincent is the one with that spotlight.
“This is a widely renowned athletic high school, and it’s almost shocking we haven’t had a wrestling state champion. Vincent doesn’t shy away from that pressure. He thrives on it.”
Ironman domination: Robinson was the first Harvey Twister to win the Ironman, but he couldn’t claim being the only one for very long.
Rich Township junior Nasir Bailey joined him moments later when he won the 132-pound title.
Bailey won all his matches by pin, technical fall or major decision. He won the Mendoza Award as the tournament’s top point-scorer.
“We went in with a mission,” Rich Township coach Alex Pell said. “It was clearly something on Nasir’s bucket list, and he just went out there and inflicted his dominance.”
Flying high: Lincoln-Way East has been a big surprise, going 13-0 in dual meets with key wins over H-F, Lincoln-Way Central and Oak Forest.
Freshmen like Tyson Zvonar — the son of Griffins football coach Rob — and Alex Lizak have complemented seniors like Jack Marion, Gavin Jones and Alex Knaperek.
“This is probably the best group of varsity-ready freshmen I’ve had,” Lincoln-Way East coach Kevin Rockett said. “We have a nice mix of talented young guys and veteran leaders who have been in the program.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
