BLOOMINGTON — Mount Carmel senior Colin Kelly is a two-time individual state champion, a Wisconsin recruit and one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the state.
He’s also a proud older brother after sophomore Liam Kelly stepped up with three huge wins for the Caravan at the dual team state meet.
“I’m not shocked,” Colin said. “I know how good he is. There are ups and downs in this sport, and whatever happened in the past happened.
“Now, even though he did good (Saturday), he’s got to be ready for the offseason and just keep getting better.”
Liam Kelly’s victories were key in pushing Mount Carmel to its fifth state title and second in three years. The Caravan rolled to a 59-6 win over Yorkville in the Class 3A championship dual Saturday at Grossinger Motors Arena.
Mount Carmel (15-2) avenged a regular-season loss to Joliet Catholic (14-5) in Friday’s quarterfinals, winning 33-26. Then on Saturday morning, the Caravan knocked off top-ranked St. Charles East (22-1) by a 35-30 margin.
After those two big victories, the championship dual against Yorkville (22-5) seemed like a mere formality for the Caravan, who took care of business.
Seth Mendoza (126), Evan Stanley (132), Damian Resendez (138), Northwestern recruit Eddie Enright (157) and Kevin Kalchbrenner (165) led the way with pins.
Liam Kelly, meanwhile, was a major reason why Mount Carmel was even in that position. He went 3-0 on the weekend with wins over three state qualifiers and two state placers.
His 3-1 win over St. Charles East’s Gavin Connolly, who took third in the individual state meet, was perhaps the biggest difference-maker in the close semifinal.
“Him winning that match against St. Charles East was huge, not only for team points but to motivate the team,” Colin Kelly said. “Beating a kid who took third in state was huge.
“That carries on to 157, 165, 175 and got us rolling.”
Liam said he wanted to go out with a looser approach after going 1-2 at the individual state meet.
“I just worked on letting it fly some more, listening to my brother and coaches,” Liam said. “All the things I’ve learned, I was just trying to implement it into my style and just let it fly more.”
Liam was the proud brother a week earlier as he watched Colin win his second state championship.
“I’m so happy for him,” Liam said. “He’s worked so hard. I’ve learned so much from him. I’ve gotten a lot better because of him. He beats me up some, but it definitely makes me tougher.”
Colin had a memorable final weekend with the Caravan as he provided the clinching pins in both victories over Joliet Catholic and St. Charles East.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” Colin said. “I’m excited for the future. I’m enjoying the moment right now, but I’m going to carry on and continue.”
As Colin moves on to Wisconsin, he has big expectations for Liam’s future.
“He’s going to be better than me,” Colin said. “Watch. Everyone will see.”
Brother Rice, meanwhile, won the first state trophy in program history with a fourth-place finish in Class 2A.
The Crusaders (20-7) earned a 36-27 win over Mahomet-Seymour (17-5) in Friday’s quarterfinals before losing 51-21 in the semifinals to downstate Washington (22-6), the eventual state champion, and 57-17 to Chatham-Glenwood (25-6) in the dual for third place.
Junior Jack O’Connor (144) went 3-0 to lead Brother Rice. Jimmy Lotito (106), James Bennett (132), Frank Miceli (150) and Pat Gilhooly (157) each had two wins.
“This means a lot,” Bennett said. “When I was a sophomore, we lost to Mahomet-Seymour (in the Class 2A quarterfinals). My brother (Tommy) was a senior, so that was his last match and we ended in a rough way.
“It feels good to come back as a senior and take care of it.”
