Homewood-Flossmoor High School boys wrestling capped one of the most successful seasons in program history by sending five to the state finals Feb. 20 to 22 in Champaign.
RJ Robinson, Chazz Robinson and Jovan Vukajlovic each placed. Davion Henry and Ethan Hamilton were also qualifiers.
“All the kids that went down there and this whole team are my brothers,” senior RJ Robinson said. “Seeing them down there, getting to laugh with them, getting to cry with them and feel all the emotions, it for sure made an impact (on how we wrestled).”
RJ Robinson was the Vikings’ best finisher, taking second in the Class 3A 175-pound bracket. He made easy work of the early portion of the bracket, earning a 17-2 technical fall over Mount Carmel’s Kevin Kalchbrenner and a 13-3 major decision over Grant’s Christian Wittkamp.
Connor Diemel from Hononegah took him to a tiebreaker in the semifinal, though. Robinson, an American University signee, rode Diemel out but said he knew his opponent couldn’t do the same.
“I escaped and I got super excited. I was super happy to get to a final, again,” he said. “I trained for that. I never got too tired to the point that I didn’t think I could win.”
Aaron Stewart from Warren won a 5-2 decision to keep Robinson off the top step of the podium. An early takedown for the University of Illinois commit was the biggest moment of the match.
“I will never be happy with second place. I will never be happy with that, as a competitor. I feel like I worked this year, through everything, for first,” Robinson said. “It’s definitely a motivational factor. I know that I’m never going to stop.”
Sophomore Chazz Robinson finished third at 120 pounds. He lost by technical fall to eventual champ Dom Munaretto from St. Charles East in the semifinal.
Munaretto is a two-time United World Wrestling gold medalist.
“We had a gameplan and I obviously I didn’t execute it as well as I could’ve,” Robinson said. “I was trying to do what I could but I was just worrying too much. I got nervous and I panicked.”
Robinson gathered himself enough to win two more matches. The third-place match was an 8-5 sudden-victory win over Jackson Olson from Hononegah.
“My coaches just said ‘Go out there and keep fighting. Don’t worry about nothing. Don’t worry about the score. Don’t worry about the clock. Just keep fighting,’” Robinson said. “I knew (Olson) would be sitting back, waiting (in overtime). So I attacked and got the first takedown.”
Jovan Vukajlovic didn’t finish the season the way he wanted but did take home the sixth place medal at 157 pounds. The senior aggravated a labrum injury he dealt with all season during the state bracket. His right arm was in a sling at school the next week.
“I know I could’ve done better. There were a lot of issues that I could’ve fixed but I didn’t do that,” he said.
Lane Tech’s Nasser Hammouche won a 10-9 opening match against Vukajlovic. The match was tied 6-6 after two frames. Hammouche was twice penalized for stalling after he took the lead in the third period.
“He absolutely was avoiding action,” Vukajlovic said. “I think I got four takedowns that ended up out of bounds.”
Like Chazz Robinson, Vukajlovic gathered himself to make a run for a medal. He won three more matches.
“I didn’t make it this far just to make it this far. I got to get it back,” he said. “Not many people can battle back four or five matches to place so I do take pride in that.”
As a program, H-F believes sending five wrestlers to state is an indication of the trajectory it’s on. The hope is seasons like this will be the norm soon.
Coach Jim Sokoloski challenged Chazz Robinson to be more of a leader during the postseason. The sophomore said he took that message to heart.
“I’ve been wrestling since I was a little kid so I know I’m going to be that guy to step up,” Chazz Robinson said. “I’ll lead my team and make sure I do what I got to do to be great.”
