Early portions of last winter were difficult for Homewood-Flossmoor boys wrestling.
The Vikings have as tough a schedule as nearly any high school in the country, certainly any public school. They go to Ohio for the Walsh Jesuit Ironman, to Crown Point, Indiana, for the Carnahan Invitational and to Pennsylvania for the Powerade Tournament. All three are loaded with nationally ranked wrestlers and teams from around the country.
The aim is to prepare the team for February. Last year, those tournaments were more than H-F was prepared to take on.
“We weren’t winning anything. We were going to Crown Point, winning two matches all day. We went to the Powerade, and we won one match,” coach Jim Sokoloski said. “As brutal as that was, I think the Powerade was a turning point. Me and coach (Rob) Palumbo and our other coach at the time Rod Reed on the ride back just talked about ‘How can we fix this?’”
The Vikings motto is “peak in February.” They did just that, finishing the season with six sectional qualifiers, including two champions. Things were back on track. Now, the train is moving, and H-F expects it to pick up even more steam.
The coaching staff is revamped. Coach Vasil Robinson returned and used his extensive network to bring in other quality assistants. Former Purdue wrestlers Kendall Coleman and Travis Ford-Melton and former Illinois grappler We Rachal bring Big Ten experience. Jameel Carter was a national qualifier at Triton College.
The quality of the staff was even more important this offseason because Sokoloski missed most of the summer and fall after his son was born nine weeks premature.
“I’m humbled to stand in there and watch the coaches that we have,” Sokoloski said. “From April until a couple weeks ago, I was out. I was in the (neonatal intensive care unit). I was with my wife (Rachel). I was not even working. Those dudes carried the torch.”
Everybody is healthy at the Sokoloski home now.
The Vikings roster is revitalized, as well. Vasil Robinson’s son Chazz returns with him. His nephew Ronald Robinson, an Arizona state champion, moved in and said he’s trying to help guide the younger kids in the Vikings room.
“A lot of passionate kids here. I like it a lot,” the American University commit said. “It starts with leading warm ups. You have to look at yourself. Are you the first one conditioning? Are you the first in the room or the first one out the room? Are you asking questions? It’s asking ‘What would a wrestler embody?’ and trying to be what that is.”
The aim is to create a brotherhood through competition, Robinson said. He admits that he’s had seasons where he focused only on himself. Now, he’s ready to help make others great.
“I want to push you, but at the end of the day, you can push your brother’s face in and bloody his nose but you know you’re brothers,” he said. “You love each other. You’re on the same team, and you work as hard as you can to make each other better.”
Ian Lawrence, another senior, also is trying to be a leader and part of that is as simple as helping teammates stay out of trouble. Wrestlers understand wrestlers in a way that no one outside the sport can understand, he said.
“It’s being active with your teammates, trying to push them to be the best they can be,” Lawrence said. “If they have a role model that’s young, they might listen to them more than a coach.”
Senior 106-pounder Davion Henry was one of those wrestlers who didn’t tally a win at the Carnahan last year but turned around and became a sectional qualifier, then had a terrific offseason.
He wants to be an example.
“I feel like this could be H-F’s greatest year,” Henry said. “I want to take out the top guy. I want to be the top guy. I want to be working better than whoever is the so-called best. I love wrestling ranked kids.”
Henry and his teammates will have plenty of chances to do just that. That’s what the schedule is about. That’s what the coaches are pushing. That’s what the mentality is and will be.
The season will open Nov. 27 with a quad dual at Batavia. The Vikings are again hoping to be wrestling their best after Valentine’s Day.
“If you wrestle in the Ironman, in Crown Point, in the Powerade, you go to state and you’re like ‘Yeah, that kid’s awesome’ but you’ve been here before,” Sokoloski said. “It’s all about practicing what we want to do and ‘Peak in February’ is what we say.”
