The wrestling calendar is moving quickly toward the postseason.

With that in mind, Homewood-Flossmoor boys wrestling hosted its Mega Duals Jan. 17, inviting Downers Grove South, Glenbard West, Niles West, Stagg and Hampshire to the school’s gym. 

The Vikings topped Stagg 46-20 but lost to Glenbard West 44-29 and Downers Grove South 49-18. Coach Jim Sokoloski said the field was put together to give his team a chance to see some wrestlers from outside the area, ones they may not see until deep into the postseason.

“At this point, what does a dual record mean? Our kids need to wrestle good matches against good wrestlers,” he said. “We want to wrestle teams that aren’t in our conference. Glenbard’s really tough. Downers Grove is real tough. Niles, Hampshire, we want full lineups. Forfeits are no good. We need to compete at this point, see it on film and see how to get better.” 

It was an easy day for H-F’s Chazz Robinson, who’s ranked No. 1 in the state at 120 pounds by Illinois Matmen. 

The junior won a forfeit against Stagg, then won a first-period tech fall against Downers Grove South’s Myles Houser and then pinned Glenbard West’s Manny Rodriguez. Sokoloski said it was a chance for Robinson to work on the things they practice. 

“It’s just getting reps in, working on the stuff that I’ve been trained to do in practice,” Robinson said. “(I want to) do the easy stuff, work on fundamentals and get to my shots, hand fight more, do the stuff I’m supposed to do.” 

Between his own matches, Robinson rallied teammates from the sideline. He said, as the most accomplished wrestler on the Vikings bench, he wants to be that sort of voice.

“I got to be a leader, right? Once you be a leader, people got to follow,” Robinson said. “I got to be hyping the team up, be there for them if they’re down one or two points, helping them go get the next point and just score and win.” 

H-F is a young team. The Vikings celebrated senior day between duals Saturday and only four 12th graders participated. Sokoloski said his team has ability but isn’t yet the seasoned group from top to bottom.

“At any point in time, we’ve had eight or nine freshmen or sophomores in our lineup,” he said. “Not to diminish what (our seniors) have done, but even they’re inexperienced in the grand scheme of things. Our goal is, when we get to regionals, our guys are going to be ready.”