By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. Columist

I’ve heard a lot of great comments about the package W.I.N. editor Mike Finn started a few issues back, spotlighting an individual state in each issue. It’s an outstanding idea and one that is not only long overdue, but is being executed flawlessly in the pages of this magazine.

Illinois, my home state and the one I still know the most about today, even though I’m no longer a resident, was the focus of the last issue. And my Illinois colleagues have had many good things to say about it, as they should. Unfortunately, Mike was on to something in one of his articles.

Far sooner than any of us expected, the Illinois High School Association Board of Directors voted in early February to expand the state to three classes in several sports, including wrestling, effective next season. This stunning move caught the state’s wrestling community by surprise and, virtually overnight, forced coaches to give the previously unthinkable serious consideration at the worst possible time. It’s the very week they should have been focused exclusively on preparing their wrestlers for the most important weekend of the year, the state tournament at the Assembly Hall in Champaign.

And that means it’s time to bid a fond farewell to one of the nation’s most storied and competitive enrollment classes: Class AA in Illinois.

Next year’s setup essentially will split the current AA in half, creating what is expected to become super-class AAA and a new Class AA that likely will resemble the old one in name only.

So it’s the end of the line for a class that produced some of the greatest names in American wrestling. Names like Ed Giese, Sean Bormet, Joey Gilbert, Joe Williams, Albert White and Mike Benefiel, just to skim a few drops of the cream that spans the eras.

I’m clearly of the opinion that no class in America was harder to win over the course of its history than Class AA in Illinois. In 35 years, no wrestler pinned his way through the weight class. That’s right. No one.

Two wrestlers came close. In 2005, Brandon Precin, from Orland Park Carl Sandburg High and now at Northwestern, pinned his first three opponents at 130 pounds, then turned Belvidere High’s Dalton Bullard to his back midway through the second period. After being down and out for a good five seconds, Bullard somehow fought off his back. Precin didn’t get another opportunity and had to settle for a 7-3 victory as he won his second state title.

This year, another two-time state champion, Lombard Montini High heavyweight Garrett Goebel, nearly broke the curse in the last match ever wrestled in the classification. Goebel needed just 3 minutes, 17 seconds to pin his first three opponents and faced surprising Kevin Galeher of Chicago St. Rita High for the title. Galeher made sure he wouldn’t be Goebel’s fourth victim, forcing the Broncos’ star to settle for a 5-0 decision. Goebel was awarded four of his five points on stalling calls and a final call likely didn’t occur due to a charitable officiating duo.

But Class AA gave us one last hurrah in the 171-pound semifinals, where two of the nation’s top three ranked wrestlers, Richmond-Burton High’s Jordan Blanton and Naperville Neuqua Valley High’s Chris Spangler, met a round early, thanks to bracketing we all hoped against hope wouldn’t take place.

Spangler, who in December accomplished what is likely a first in American high school wrestling history — beating the nation’s No. 1 wrestler in back-to-back weeks — owned the first period, scoring three early takedowns and led 6-3 after one period.

Back came Blanton, who scored two second-period takedowns, then the match-winner in the third with 30 seconds remaining for a stunning 10-8 comeback win. He went on to win the crown, outlasting Montini’s Carl Foreside, 8-6.

After going 71-0 and winning two Class A titles as a freshman and a sophomore, Blanton couldn’t have had any clue that he’d become a key player in two of the greatest matches in Class AA history. But Richmond-Burton moved up to Class AA before his junior year. That move helped rewrite the record books.

Illinois wrestling observers will be talking for years about the only loss of Blanton’s high school career — the classic against Benefiel last year, the only match in state history between two wrestlers with shots at becoming four-time state champions. After being thrown to his back on a fireman’s carry virtually as the opening whistle sounded and after spending nearly a minute and a half fighting off his back, Blanton extended the match the distance in an 8-2 loss.

And they’ll be talking about not only the win over Spangler, but the passion with which he approaches the sport. His stalk around the mat, doing the flex, lifted the crowd of 10,000-plus out of their seats in a standing ovation; their appreciation of a classic between two warriors.

Hope you enjoyed it because you won’t see it again.

Thanks for the memories, Class AA.

Another profile in courage

A couple of issues back, Wagner (S.D.) High senior Ryan Kocer was the subject of our Q&A feature.
Kocer’s high school record — three straight Class B state titles heading into this season — spoke for itself, and certainly would have merited inclusion in our series on his own.

But this wasn’t any ordinary season for Kocer. Nor will the rest of his life be ordinary.

Kocer, as you’re undoubtedly now aware, was injured in an accident on his family’s farm late last August, an injury that resulted in the amputation of part of his left leg.

So a wrestler, who has competed his entire life as a wrestler with two healthy legs, was starting over as a wrestler with just one.

Amazingly, Kocer was back on the mat just four months later, competing at 152 pounds — two weight classes below last year’s 171-pound title performance — as Wagner competed in The Clash National Duals at Rochester, Minn. Kocer went 4-1 at The Clash, a solid beginning.

Kocer advanced to the Class B state tournament, scored a pin in his opening match before falling to another defending champion, Carl Serck of Alcester-Hudson High, 15-9, in the quarterfinals. He came back to win three straight in the consolation bracket before losing 11-8 to Joe Sackman of Lemmon-McIntosh High in the third-place match. His season record: 17-7. Serck, meanwhile, went on to win the title.

But Kocer’s courage and grit made an indelible impression on everyone in the Sioux Falls Arena. He was voted the recipient of the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler award … probably the first time in the history of any state tournament that a fourth-place wrestler was bestowed with such an honor.

Perhaps that award had Kocer’s name on it all along.

After all, entering the season as a three-time state champion, Kocer likely would have been considered the top wrestler in the state to begin with…and winning a fourth title in the dominating fashion most would have expected probably would have brought more than enough votes.

But, as Kocer showed, there are other ways to prove that you’re a winner.

Wagner did plenty of winning over the weekend, too. The Red Raiders took the team title, 150.5-96.5, over Elk Point-Jefferson High. Kocer’s brother, Alex, an eighth-grader, won the 103-pound title and senior Dan Koupal (135) also won.

(Rob Sherrill is one of the top high school wrestling analysts in the country and a long-time columnist of W.I.N. He also publishes the “American High School Wrestling Yearbook”. To order a copy, e-mail him at illinoisbestweekly@yahoo.com.)