Viking School celebrates a decade of wrestling excellence
By Bryan Bonato Special to The News-Sun February 21, 2012 5:40PM
Wrestling coach Jerry Wyman addresses the fans as he talks about 10 years of wrestling success at Viking School in Gurnee before unveiling banners with the names of accomplished wrestlers on them from the school in the school's gym. | Michael Schmidt~Sun-Times Media
30-WIN CLUB AT VIKING
SINGLE SEASON AT VIKING MIDDLE SCHOOL
Lucas Fulton (35 wins)
Rakheem Chapman (34)
Danny Hicks (32)
Austin Pettinato (31)
Jake Dietmeyer (30)
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Updated: April 22, 2012 1:15AM
In sports, seasons tend to be viewed through a vacuum, with the focus on the here and now rather than in how it fits into the bigger picture.
Last week, Viking School in Gurnee took a big-picture look at its wrestling program, and what it saw qualified as a masterpiece.
The school celebrated 10 years of wrestling excellence with a program in the school wrestling room before a match against Millburn School.
The event was the brainchild of assistant wrestling coach and Viking athletic director Nick Streicher, who actually wound up pulling officiating duty as well when the scheduled official did not arrive on time for the opening bout.
A nearby hallway contained tables with photographs, season summaries, and other assorted scrap book material from the past ten seasons.
Among the highlights of the celebration:
† In a hallway, there were tables set up with photographs, season summaries, and other assorted scrap- book material from the past 10 seasons.
† Unveiled during the ceremony were five banners honoring former wrestlers and celebrating their wrestling accomplishments at Viking.
One banner listed wrestlers who had 30-win seasons. Three listed wrestlers who had 20-win seasons, and one listed those who qualified three times for the Illinois Elementary School Association-sanctioned state tournament.
† The 23 former Viking wrestlers in attendance were acknowledged before the audience, as well as families in attendance for those wrestlers who could not attend.
Jerry Wyman is in his 16th year as head coach at Viking, and Streicher is in his 10th as his assistant.
Streicher had this to say about the keys to a program that grapples with success:
“The hard work and dedication of our kids and their families.
The other key is the consistency in our coaching staff,” he said. That consistency has helped recruit athletes into the wrestling program.
“We want the kids to win, but we also want them to have some fun,” he added. “We want them to learn the basics to give them a foundation for success at the middle-school level and in high school. Even though we’ve been coaching for so many years, we enjoy teaching the basics.”
Viking also has a strong bond with wrestling coaches at Warren High School, where almost all of its wrestlers go.
“Over the years I’ve worked with (Warren head coaches) Mark Tiffany and now coach Jim Ouimette, as well as the freshman coaches,” Streicher said. “It’s been good corresponding with them. We want to help develop these kids into good young men. What we do here (at Viking) is part of that development.”
Wyman spoke proudly of the 50 or names that appear on the school banners.
“You have to be more than just a good wrestler to win 20 matches in a season. You also have to be dedicated, you have to be healthy, and you have to be a good student,” Wyman said. “You can be a good wrestler, but getting injured or being ineligible make it difficult to get to that 20-win mark.
Being a state qualifier one time is already difficult. We have five guys who did it three times. We also have five guys who have won more than 30 matches in a season.”
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