Murray Closes In On Nemesis, Advances To State

By noon on Saturday, Kennedy Murray knew she had punched a ticket to the girls Illinois High School Association state wrestling tournament.

But the Evanston senior didn’t take more than a moment to celebrate, because she still had some unfinished business to take care of.

She still does.

Murray’s nemesis at 145 pounds, Zion-Benton’s Naomi Foote, rallied with seven points in the last 20 seconds and captured the New Trier Sectional tournament championship at the expense of the Evanston standout.

Close to knocking off the Zee-Bee star after losing to her three times previously, now Murray can only hope for a rematch at the IHSA state finals set for February 28th-March 1st at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

Foote’s 8-3 triumph denied Murray a chance to become the first ETHS female grappler ever to win a sectional crown. Murray, now 26-5 on the season --- that’s right, four of her five losses have come in head-to-head encounters with Foote --- settled for matching current assistant coach Ariana Flores’ runner-up effort when Flores qualified for State as a junior.

Murray was the only one of Evanston’s three sectional entries to keep her season alive. Heavyweight Jereni Marshall fell one victory short of the top four finish needed to advance, and 190-pounder Fatima Gomez suffered losses via falls in her only two matches at New Trier.

A difference of 20 seconds left Murray tantalizingly close to her season long goal to knock off Foote, who has only lost once this season and only surrendered a single point to the ETHS senior in three combined matches leading up to Saturday’s showdown.

Instead, there was heartbreak for Murray. But it didn’t last long and she didn’t have any difficulty seeing the glass as “half full” just minutes after the loss.

“I lost, but I’m beyond proud of myself,” Murray explained. “I had never taken her down before and I’ve been working non-stop (since their regional match-up) and pushing to see myself do this. And I’m going to keep progressing after this. I’m very excited for State!

“I made a vow to myself that wrestling would get more time from me this year (she skipped last year’s postseason state series in her first year competing in the sport to take a trip to Japan) and that I’d go to State. It was hard for me to get here, but I’m handling ‘hard’ way better now than I ever have before.”

Murray’s second period takedown came as she capitalized on starting the period in the top position and gave her a 3-1 lead over Foote entering the decisive third period. That forced the Zee-Bee grappler to wrestle more aggressively and not rely on a defense that had mostly been impenetrable for Murray to solve.

The script had flipped --- until the final 20 seconds.

“I almost got her go-behind (move), and I pushed her over,” Murray said regarding her score. “But in the third period I just made a small mistake, and I’ll be aware of that next time. I had better control of the match against her today than ever before. I was heavy on my feet and my positioning was better. I felt like I flipped things around on her.

“State’s a big deal and I want to win it. If I face her again, I’ll beat her.”

“I’m very impressed with the work Kennedy has done leading up to today,” said Flores. “She’s definitely taken a step up from where she was a couple of weeks ago. We can see that her confidence has improved, that her technique has improved, and she’s really been working so hard. As coaches we were looking for her to set up shots (against Foote) and she did achieve that today.

“She’s right there. I saw her trying her best today and I thought that was her best match. I know it’s frustrating to lose like that, but we just have to fix some small things, the smaller things that can cost you a lot. I’m really hoping she can be a placer at State.”

Murray’s march to State found her stringing together three straight wins over the two-day sectional test. She opened by pinning Andrew’s Rylee Hernandez in 1 minute, 37 seconds and then scored a major decision (14-2) over St. Ignatius sophomore Giancarla Garduno to advance to Saturday’s semis.

She battled Iyobosa Odiase of Oak Forest to a scoreless tie over the first two periods before finally breaking through with an escape and a takedown for an eventual 4-1 victory that clinched a trip to State.

“I had to fight to win every match here. No disrespect to my other opponents,” Murray noted. “They were tough, and two of them won regionals. I don’t necessarily like easy wins and I got in a lot of good work this weekend to help me get better.

“My second match was against a girl (Garduno) who went to sectional last year and I thought I fought and dominated that match. I was thinking more about what I could do to her than what she could do to me, and that really boosted me. But I was definitely tired after that one.”

At 235 pounds, Marshall saved her best for last in her senior season. She edged Elly Candelas of Reavis 5-4 in her sectional debut, then dropped into the consolation bracket after eventual champion Jasmine Mejia of Rickover Naval Academy pinned her in a quick 11 seconds in the second round.

The Wildkit senior bounced back on Saturday with victories against Amaya McClain of Rich Township (fall in 2:31) and Kaylee Farias of Warren (fall in 1:17) before being sidelined when Marist sophomore Abby Parker nailed her in 46 seconds in the consolation semifinals.

Marshall finished with a 13-12 record this season after suffering a knee injury just before postseason competition started her junior year.

“I’m upset about losing, but I’m happy that I made it this far,” she said. “I put in a lot of effort today and I tried to have a positive mindset, because a lot of the time I don’t think I can win. I tried to move my feet, have a heavy hand and pay attention to the coaches because I knew they could help me here.”

Marshall’s stunning turnaround against McClain showed her growth and maturity in the first postseason test of her career. She fell behind 7-0 after the first period --- but didn’t give up.

“I heard the coaches saying ‘short time, short time’ (left in the match) and I knew I had to tough it out,” she recalled. “When I got back out there I got a takedown and I was NOT going to let her go. And in the match after that I was up against a girl I almost lost to in the regional, so I knew what I needed to do and I came out aggressive.

“Right before the conference tournament last year I dislocated my kneecap and even at the start of this year I was wrestling with a fear of injury. Like I said, I was really happy to be able to make it this far.”