Three Wildkits Advance To Girls Mat Sectional

Everyone who has worked with her on the Evanston wrestling staff would agree that Kennedy Murray has developed into a serious student of the sport in just her second year of competition.

Now the ETHS senior standout will spend the next week studying film and trying to figure out a way to finally beat Zion-Benton’s Naomi Foote if the pair should meet again this weekend at the New Trier Sectional tournament.

Murray suffered her third loss in the head-to-head matchups between the two standouts this season at 145 pounds in the finals at last Saturday’s Round Lake Regional, bowing 4-0 but still punching a ticket to the sectional. She’ll advance to the sectional along with Wildkit teammates Jereni Marshall, 3rd at 235 pounds, and Fatima Gomez, 4th at 190.

Will the fourth time be the charm? Foote improved to 34-1 on the season as she continued her dominance of Murray, now 23-4. The two seniors could also collide at the state finals if both survive the sectional tourney.

“That’s one good thing about the state tournament. If you lose to somebody toe to toe, you’re going to be in opposite brackets at State,” pointed out Evanston head coach Rudy Salinas. “The focus now is how can Kennedy improve over the next two weeks? That loss will just give her some more material to work with.

“We only had one sectional qualifier last year (the first year of the regional/sectional setup by the IHSA) so that was a phenomenal showing by the girls. Give our assistant coaches, Ariana Flores and David Sanchez, all the credit for the work they did. The girls have a very positive culture now and they respect the sport. They all want to work hard to get the most out of it.”

Flores, a former state qualifier herself, continues to marvel at the improvement Murray has shown in just two years in the sport.

“That Zion girl is tough. But so is Kennedy,” Flores praised. “She knew she’d meet that girl again in the finals, and she definitely made her work Saturday. I saw so much improvement in Kennedy technically just in that match.

“She took the loss pretty hard, but I also know that she’s constantly working to apply corrections she knows she has to make. She had a hard time in all three (starting) positions (on top, neutral and on the bottom) and we’ll look at the video to try to help her improve.”

Murray, following a couple of byes in the first two rounds as the No. 2 seed, pinned Isabella Marcomb of Antioch in 72 seconds, then scored a fall in 3:11 against Christina Hasner of Lakes in the semifinals.

The trio of qualifiers fueled an 8th place finish by Evanston in the team standings with 69 points. Warren rolled to the team title, piling up 173 points to 119 for runnerup Round Lake. New Trier placed 3rd with 116.5 points.

At 235, Marshall recorded three falls in her four matches and improved to 10-10 overall. It’s been an up and down season for the senior, who started out as a team manager earlier in her career, but she was at her best on Friday and Saturday at Round Lake.

She opened by pinning Ashley Agular of North Chicago in 32 seconds, then suffered a quick pin herself when eventual champion Allison Poole of Grayslake North nailed her in 22 seconds. Marshall recovered quickly, bouncing back with falls against Svenja Dealmonte of Mundelein (0:36) and Kaylee Farias of Warren (2:37) to keep her season alive.

“Jereni is really good --- when she puts her mind to it,” Flores explained. “Her mindset has changed a lot this year and she really wants to improve. Her body locks are great and a lot of it at heavyweight for the girls is about footwork. You really have to keep your feet moving.”

Gomez, a junior, will take a 12-14 won-loss record into the sectional scheduled for Friday and Saturday at New Trier. She split her four matches at the regional, pinning Leilani Flores of Niles West (0:30) and Monica Culonga of Warren (1:26), but couldn’t secure third place when she was pinned by Highland Park sophomore Lexi Rosenthal in 2:48.

Senior Coco Herro added three victories to the Wildkit total at 125, but needed one more triumph to advance. She dropped a tough 8-7 decision and bowed out in the consolation bracket versus Dylylah Patterson of Antioch.

Freshman Samantha Gipson, one of three first-year wrestlers in Evanston’s postseason lineup, just missed in a loaded 120-pound bracket and had the bad luck of drawing the eventual champ, once-beaten Anella Dobin of Glenbrook North, in the second round.

Dobin’s fall --- in 60 seconds --- knocked Gipson into the wrestlebacks, where she eliminated Lilyann Biasius of Lakes (10-4 decision) before being ousted when Warren’s Alyssa Bentley pinned her in 0:23.

Gipson finished with a 16-14 record and is a rising star in the sport, according to both Salinas and Flores.

“She’s just a joy to work with. She’s everything a coach wants in that (practice) room to work with,” Salinas said. “She’s fearless and has that tenacity that you can’t find in every athlete. She’s already talking about what she wants to do to get better for next year.”

Gipson had to contend with a full bracket of challengers in the regional and embraced the challenge, according to Flores.

“The day before the meet I sat down with all of the girls to give them a rundown on what to expect,” said the Kit assistant. “I told her she’d be up against a full bracket, and she just nodded and smiled and said, OK. She’s a really tough kid, with a lot of grit to her, and she really wants to get to the next level. She really pushes herself. She’s a beast out there.”