Murray Makes Mat History With CSL Title

Kennedy Murray confessed that “right now I’m in awe of myself.”

Imagine how her potential opponents on the wrestling mat must feel.

Murray made history Saturday at the Central Suburban League wrestling tournament held at New Trier, become the first Evanston female grappler to win a conference championship and leading the Wildkit girls to an overall third place finish in the team standings.

Murray captured the crown at 145 pounds, scoring a pair of first period pins in her only two matches to take the title. She improved to 25-3 on the season and was one of nine Evanston girls to earn top six finishes at the tournament.

The Kits counted a 2nd place from Jereni Marshall at 235 pounds; a 2nd from Samantha Gipson at 120; a 3rd from Oyetola Jacobs at 115; 4ths from Fatima Gomez at 190, Aileen Trejo at 135, and Sophia Kiedrowski at 155; a 5th from Coco Herro at 125; and a 6th from Heather Goff at 170. Gipson, Jacobs, Trejo and Goff are freshmen.

Those standout performances added up to 136 points in the team standings Saturday, behind only repeat champion New Trier (167.5) and Maine East (141) in the 12-team field. That effort provided a stark contrast to Evanston’s boys squad, which stumbled to its worst finish to date since the tournament began 25 years ago, 11th in the 12-team field.

Murray has enjoyed plenty of championship moments this year. Saturday’s triumph marked her third tournament title this season, but the senior knew this was something special after pinning Deerfield’s Jennie Garcia in 48 seconds and then nailing Maine South’s Lotus Alyhasat in 56 seconds in the finale.

“When someone told me I was the first one to win the conference, it hit me a lot different than the other times I won. I didn’t know I was the first one until someone told me. Right now I’m in awe of myself, because this is only my second year (in the sport)” said the Evanston senior. “I’m genuinely proud of the hard work I’ve put in to get here, and now this will motivate me to keep working hard to keep it up.

“I’d never wrestled either of those two girls before. I was sick when we wrestled Deerfield (in a dual meet). I could tell the Deerfield girl was new --- she’s a freshman --- and against both girls I wanted to try to work in some tilts, some different moves that I’ve been learning in practice.”

In the girls competition, there were no full brackets in any weight class, a sign that the growth of the sport for girls may have slowed, at least temporarily. There were only four competitors in Murray’s middle weight and in the heavyweight finals, both Marshall and Sophia Fortis of Maine South received byes all the way to the championship match, which Fortis won 4-0.

Murray would have liked a stiffer challenge on her way to the title, but said she’s not concerned about a lack of competition entering Illinois High School Association postseason action. Her next test comes Friday at the Round Lake Regional tournament, where the top three finishers in each weight class will advance to the New Trier Sectional on February 14th.

“I do feel like I’ll be prepared enough,” Murray said. “Winning the Conant tournament showed me the level I was at because I had to wrestle some really good girls in a full bracket there. It (the CSL tourney) was still good experience for me, and I’m still going to give it my all every time out there. I did a lot of extra training the week after Conant and I’ve been reviewing videos and trying to polish my moves to make sure I do everything I need to do.

“Sometimes I’ll wrestle a boy at my weight in practice and I’ve done a lot of (weight) lifting that’s helped me stay explosive. There will definitely be some pressure on me at the regional, but at the end of the day, I know I have to have confidence in what I know and make sure I don’t underestimate anyone. I have to stay true to myself and give it my all, and I’m really excited about this opportunity.”

On the boys side, ETHS only entered seven weight classes and scored 64.5 points. Maine South earned the team title with 234.

Evanston’s best finishers were Jeremy Marshall, 3rd at heavyweight; Brian Henry, 3rd at 190; Michael Pryor, 4th at 215; and Zach Weston, 5th at 144.

Marshall was outscored 13-11 by Niles West’s Manny Olojo in the tournament semifinals, then bounced back with a fall (in 1:44) against Justin Lopez of Highland Park to earn third place. He improved to 30-5 on the season with that last victory.

At 190, Henry continued his solid season and moved to 23-14 with wins over Cooper Cramer of New Trier (18-1 technical fall), Shane Blumberg of Vernon Hills (4-2 decision) and Anton Culiuc of Deerfield (14-8 decision). His only loss came to the eventual champ, Jake Shamoon of Glenbrook South, by a 6-4 margin in the semis.

The boys regional is set for Feb. 8 at Maine South, with the individual sectional competition to be held on Feb. 14 at Conant.