Wrestling is fun when you win.
Madelynn McClements was having fun during a dual meet with Bolingbrook Dec. 11. The Homewood-Flossmoor junior looked up at her teammates during her match with Maelyn Chromcak Dec. 11. and laughed. They laughed back at her.
It was just a brief moment in a brief match – McClements pinned Chromcak in one minute, 29 seconds – but it was the kind of thing that happened all night.
“We just like to support each other and show each other love,” McClements said. “It just makes me happy to know my team’s there all the time. It gives me energy to keep going.”
The Vikings earned nine pins and a technical fall against the Raiders that night en route to a 57-24 team win. The score was only that close because H-F gave up 18 points due to forfeits at a few weight classes because of injuries.
“I had a feeling that we could do that but things happen. It was a good night,” coach Scott Aronson said.
H-F’s quickest match of the night belonged to Amara Nwoye, who picked up a fall in only 16 seconds.
“I was like, ‘I’m going to take a shot right on the whistle.’ That’s what I did and from there, it was whatever was open and it was a half at that point,” Nwoye said.
Nwoye said her offseason work is paying off. She said she’s grateful for teammates who gave her rides to practices and workouts about 40 minutes away, sometimes late at night. They resulted in her being a more confident wrestler.
“I don’t know what to expect from her, yet. I have a feeling that she’s going to do unbelievable things,” Aronson said. “I have a feeling she could be an all-state wrestler but I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. I’m just enjoying seeing her wrestle. Right now, she’s a dominant wrestler.”
McClements’ pin was one for which the Vikings’ bench seemed to get extra excited. Aronson said the junior isn’t a natural wrestler but has worked hard to make herself better. Normally a 130-pounder, she was wrestling up at 135 pounds that night.
McClements is also one of the girls keeping things light in the wrestling room, Aronson said. Nwoye said McClements seems to know everybody in the local wrestling world. She always has a friend or former teammate from the other school and knows everybody from the Beat the Streets wrestling program.
“It just comes naturally to me,” McClements said. “If there’s someone there and I can keep them laughing, it’ll help them do better and keep going.”
The dual started a three-day stretch in which the Vikings will compete in the Beat The Streets Invite on Friday, Dec. 12, and then host a quad with Barrington, Oak Forest and Oak Park River Forest on Saturday, Dec. 13.
The following week they head to Findlay, Ohio, for a national invitational there.
“I hate giving up 18 points right off the bat, but the girls that I do have I’m ecstatic about,” Aronson said. “They’re awesome.”
