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OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. BVM — In just its second year of forming a new wrestling team, the Rich Township Raptors are looking to make its imprint on the 2022 IHSA state finals tournament.

The Rich township school district 227 decided to close their flagship school, Rich East, and consolidate the students into the two remaining buildings at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused logistical nightmares such as busing and where teams would practice.

The first few days of the new wrestling program, the team had to move their wrestling mats to the gymnasium’s stage where plays are held, then they were told that the cheerleading team reserved space, so they were looking for a home for practice. After that, each day, the team had to reroll their mats and tape them up before practice, something most schools with over 2,000 students don’t have to worry about because they are afforded wrestling rooms.

The 2020-21 inaugural season for the Raptors was difficult, and nobody knew how the schedule would be filled with the IHSA canceling the state tournament. In addition, one school in the conference dropped out of the season altogether, with an already small conference due to the consolidation of the Raptors this was alarming for future competition.

The season started with a schedule of only five meets and no tournaments. Usually, a wrestler could get on average 30 to 40 matches in an entire season, this year they’d get maybe five or six depending on if the other team had a full roster.

The team had another huge problem, lack of experience. A combination of students being unfamiliar with coaches and just being worn out from the added stresses of the school day due to the pandemic. Also, a majority of the wrestlers who wrestled at Rich East, Rich South, and Rich Central did not come out for the new team. It was hard for coaches to reach out to these students as they weren’t doing in-person learning leading up to the season.

Being given a shortened season to teach new wrestlers the basics is a tall task, so head coach Alex Pell had to stick to the fundamentals. He instilled a culture of learning and working hard with hopes they’d have a head start on the following season.

The season ended after just five short weeks. The athletes were starting to get into the groove of how a wrestling practice ran, wearing their headgear, and eating the right things the day before a meet so they wouldn’t miss weight. The good thing is, these same kids would be back the following year eager to learn more and apply what they had learned the previous season.

Before the 2021-22 season started, there were rumblings University of North Carolina recruit, Nasir Bailey, was enrolling in Rich Township. Before joining the Raptors, Bailey had won the Illinois state tournament as a freshman for TF North and then won the Texas state title his sophomore year for Martin High School and a Fargo freestyle title in between.

Bringing someone who is used to winning and has experience on the big stage can be infectious for other wrestlers to train just as hard as he does and make the most out of every practice.

To start the new year the schedule was full of meets and tournaments as sports were on the way to return to a bit more normalcy, similar to before the pandemic. Many wrestlers who had no experience the year prior were starting to see success on the mat. During the year’s first tournament, returning wrestlers Jovan Jones and LeVaughn Rudolph finished with winning records. A significant improvement from the previous year.

As the season continued, the competition proved challenging, but the team continued to work hard and do the best they could to improve each day. Bailey has won every tournament the team has wrestled at, including the Walsh Ironman Tournament in Ohio with over 80 nationally ranked wrestlers.

With this weekend being regionals, the first step in the state series, it’s time the eager Raptors show everyone how hard they have been working and that they are not a team anyone can overlook anymore.