Schoolman era in Minooka underway
After a decade under the fine tutelege of wrestling coach Bernie Ruettiger, the Minooka wrestling team began the Paige Schoolman era on Wednesday evening. Over the last 10 years, the wrestling program of the Indians has reached the elite state level and Schoolman has been along for the ride the whole way.
In fact, he's been around the legacy that Ruettiger, a Hall of Fame coach, has been in the process of building throughout all his days. Though Schoolman graduated from Herscher High School in 1993, he did wrestle in high school for a short time for Ruettiger at Clifton Central before eventually coaching with him in Bourbonnais at Bradley.
Schoolman has been at MCHS as a business education/computers teacher since 2000 and perhaps no bigger wrestling season he's faced than this one. Back in April, Schoolman was named the new head coach of the Indians, which began the process of the transition.
So how has things gone so far?
"We have around 100 kids out this year. We are real excited about the mixture of battle tested veterans as well as the talent of the young kids we have in the room," Schoolman said. "There are a lot of freshman with experience from the the Junior Highs and the Indian Elite."
Schoolman points out that for the goal for the Indians is not going to change under his watchful eye.
"Our expectations are to consistently improve over the next three months to put ourselves in a position to compete for conference, regional, & state championships, on both the individual and team levels," he said.
It would seem he has the horses to do it, too.
"We return a lot of kids back from last season’s team. The juniors and seniors have experienced a lot of success over the past three years," he said. "The leadership of these experienced kids will be the key factor in whether or not we accomplish our goals this season.
Senior returners include: All-Staters Jake Residori and Bob Zabel, state qualifier in jake DeKlerk, sectional qualifiers in Mitch Morris and Jordan Brod, along with Joe Govednik, Christian Sallese and Jake Potts.
Junior returners include: sectional qualifiers Dan Ruettiger, Mike McNulty, Corbett Oughton and Josh Pullara, along with Kevin Ruettiger, Clay Charland and Matt Layfield.
Other underclassmen who may make a mark this year include: K.J. Minor (106), who had 17 wins last season, Shane Mart (113), Jeff Klank (152/160); Chris Hiscock (160/170) and Josh Bouie.
Schoolman says that he has been working with the team so far just to get them into wrestling shape and with their techniques.
"The kids are shaking off the rust and getting their wrestling legs under them," he said. "Right now it is about getting better each day with our technique and getting physically ready for the battles that are ahead of us in the first few weeks of the season."
Which will start immediately with the onset of the Southwest Prairie Conference and the Indians annual clashes with Plainfield Central.
"The SPC is getting better every year. Plainfield Central is probably a top ten team in the state," Schoolman pointed out. "We will see them early in a dual in December and then battle against them for our 10th consecutive conference title at the SPC Tournament in January."
