DuPage wrestlers won't settle for second best

Vince Ramos has scaled to within reach of the summit of Mt. Everest three times, and enough is enough already. He wants to finish the climb.

"I've stood on that podium three times now," said the Glenbard North senior wrestler. "I want to get to that top spot."

Ramos has finished fifth once and third twice at the Class AA individual state finals in Champaign, and he's on a mission to become one of only a handful of wrestlers in Illinois history to win place medals in each of their four years in high school.

But any old place medal won't do, not this year. What Ramos wants is something his younger brother Tony has displayed in their home -- the bracket board of an individual state champion.

"I have to look at that bracket board every day," Ramos said. "I want one of my own."

The mountain top

The vast majority of high school wrestlers in the history of the sport have never even qualified to wrestle downstate, and the vast majority of those who have qualified didn't place.

You might think, then, that winning second- through sixth-place hardware would be pretty gratifying for the nine returning DuPage County wrestlers who placed in Champaign last year.

But for every one of them interviewed for this story, like Ramos, the feeling boils down to two competing feelings: pride and frustration.

"You know you should be real proud about it," said Glenbard East senior Pat Walker, "but the only thing you want is that championship."

Walker placed sixth and fifth at 215 pounds in the last two seasons.

Wheaton North's Eric Terrazas agrees with Walker. The Falcons' senior reached the semifinals at 145 pounds before losing by 3-1 decision, then bounced back to place third last year.

"It's an accomplishment, but you're right there, and when it doesn't happen for you it's hugely disappointing. So there's definitely mixed feelings," Terrazas said.

"If they can get to the semis, they can smell that championship," said Neuqua Valley coach Mick Ruettiger.

It was one of Ruettiger's wrestlers who beat Terrazas in the semifinals. But Neuqua Valley's Jimmy Duffy then went on to suffer that special brand of pain reserved for those wrestlers who reach the title mat in Assembly Hall only to finish second.

Now a senior, Duffy walked into the Wildcats' practice room as a 112-pound freshman three years ago and declared his goal to wrestle Division I in college. Duffy signed with Wisconsin two weeks ago.

It's no surprise, then, how such a goal-oriented kid felt, and still feels, about coming in second.

"I was disappointed right afterward, and I'm still disappointed," Duffy said. "You never really get rid of it. It's a sour taste."

As a freshman, Panthers junior Tony Ramos lost in the title match at 103 pounds to Neuqua Valley's Chris Spangler, and for a year afterward he forced himself to look at a picture that hung in his bedroom. It was a picture of him coming off the mat after his loss in the finals, a visible scar from a season's hard work that fell just short of the ultimate goal.

"I never want to feel like that again," Ramos said at last year's individual sectional, just before he went on to win state title at 112 pounds.

Tony Ramos and Montini senior Garrett Goebel are the area's two returning state champions. Goebel placed fifth at 215 as a sophomore before winning the heavyweight title last year in dominant fashion.

The senior will give up wrestling to play football for Ohio State next year, but not before embarking on what could end up being a farewell rampage through Illinois' heavyweight division. Ramos is similarly favored to repeat as a state champion this year.

But for the area's other nine returning place-winners, rankings and speculation on who's favored to do what mean very little. All they know is that they saw the brass ring pass by overhead last year, and they didn't grab it.

"You were close but not quite good enough," Terrazas said. "You definitely use that as motivation."

DuPage County's other returning place-winners are Spangler, who finished fifth at 119; Downers Grove South's Ben Apland, who was fourth at 215; and a trio of Glenbard North wrestlers -- Jimmy Chase (fourth at 119), Geno Capezio (sixth at 125) and Danny Monaco (fifth at 135).

Last chance for seniors

In Panthers coach Mark Hahn's experience, every rung of the ladder brings increased expectations, and it's usually the wrestlers themselves who ratchet up their goals.

"It just raises their level of wrestling," Hahn said. "If you get downstate one year, the next year you expect to place. If you place, then the next step is to win it."

This year the area also has an additional 10 returning Class AA state qualifiers and another five Class A qualifiers. For them, while the Holy Grail of the sport will always be a state title, any place on the medal stand in February would be a step forward.

But for state place-winners, there's only one square piece of real estate they're interested in stepping onto, and it's elevated above the other five places on the podium in Assembly Hall.

"Every time I step on the mat this year, I want it to be a building block," Walker said. "I'm a senior now, and I want to use every second of every match to get better, because nothing short of (a state title) this year will be good enough."

"Last year just made me want to push even harder to get back to the title mat and win," Duffy added.

"Right now, for me, that's the most important goal," Ramos said of winning an individual crown. "This is my last chance. There aren't any next years left for me."