BLOOMINGTON — Lockport sophomore Claudia Heeney rolls with the punches, never getting too high or too low. After losing the state championship match last season, she quickly shook it off.
But when she won the 130-pound state championship match Saturday, Heeney was hit with a wave of emotions that made her recognize just how big of a moment it truly is.
“I didn’t realize how much this really meant to me until just now,” Heeney said. “I was saying to myself warming up, ‘I’m going to be a state champ. I know I can do it.’ And, I mean, I did it.”
Heeney and fellow sophomore Morgan Turner both won state titles in leading Lockport to a runner-up finish as a team at the girls wrestling state meet at Grossinger Motors Arena.
In the third iteration of the Illinois High School Association’s girls wrestling state finals, team trophies were awarded for the first time based on scoring from the individual tournament.
The Porters took home the runner-up trophy with 58 points, finishing just behind Lakes with 61.
“It’s super exciting,” Heeney said. “We have a hardworking room. Everyone’s around to push each other to get better. That trophy means a lot.”
In the finals, Heeney (21-1) took on Collinsville’s Taylor Dawson, the top seed who entered the match with a 47-0 record.
Heeney prevailed 4-2, scoring all her points on a pair of reversals, the winning one coming with only 1:10 left in the third and final period.
When the clock hit zero, Heeney let out a scream and cried while her coaches jumped around in jubilation.
“It was a moment of relief, a moment of happiness, excitement,” Heeney said. “I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. There are so many emotions.”
As a freshman, Heeney was 42-0 before losing to Freeport’s Cadence Diduch in the 125-pound championship match.
Lockport coach Nate Roth was thrilled to see Heeney come out on top this time.
“She’s not very emotional,” Roth said. “She’s very in the zone. She wins and she’s like, ‘OK, cool, I won. I usually win. It’s fine.’ To see her so happy was just amazing.
“All of us coaches were so happy. I don’t have words. It was phenomenal. I’m so proud of her.”
While at Bremen last season, Turner (11-0) finished third at 106 in the Class 2A boys tournament, making history as the first girl to earn a medal.
Turner was wrestling on the Lockport boys team this season before she injured her shoulder in December, sidelining her for nearly six weeks.
Cleared just in time to return for the girls postseason, she dominated in taking the title at 110.
At state, she won all four of her matches by fall or technical fall, capping it with a pin of Joliet Township’s Eliana Paramo in the championship match.
Turner, who expressed her desire to wrestle in the boys state series again next season, was a bit underwhelmed.
“It feels good,” she said. “Nothing special.”
Lincoln-Way Central senior Gracie Guarino placed third at 115, Andrew co-op junior Emma Akpan finished fourth at 190 and Lincoln-Way West sophomore Zoe Dempsey took fifth at 105.
It was the third state medal for Guarino, who finished as a runner-up each of the last two seasons.
This time, in a loaded bracket, she ran into three-time state champion Gabby Gomez of Glenbard North in the semifinals, losing 6-1 before battling back to take third with a pin in the first period against Mount Zion’s Sydney Cannon.
“I’m happy I ended my career on a win,” Guarino said. “I love all the friends I’ve made, all the girls here. I’m also going to miss my guys team. This is my last time being on a boys team.
“It’s time to move on to college, be on a women’s team and get a new perspective on women’s wrestling.”
