By Mike Clark
Aaliyah Grandberry had just lost for the first time all season in her final bout of the year.
But the Curie junior didn’t lose her sense of humor after falling 6-1 to Belleville East senior Kiara Ganey in the 235-pound final at the IHSA girls wrestling state tournament Feb. 25 in Bloomington.
“I did better than I did last year, I didn’t get pinned,” Grandberry said with a smile after finishing 24-1 with her second straight runner-up medal. Gainey won by fall over Grandberry in the 2022 final at 235.
Just as important perhaps for the future of Public League girls wrestling was the fact that, for the second straight season, a third of the 235-pound placers represented city teams.
Rickover sophomore Jasmine Mejia finished fifth at 235. Also earning a medal was Bowen senior Monica Griffin, who was third at 120. And Lane sophomore Nyah Lovis finished in the top eight at 120, missing a spot on the podium by one win.
Grandberry loves to see the growth of girls wrestling, both in CPS and beyond.
According to one official, the number of girls competing this year has doubled in the second season of an IHSA-sanctioned state series.
“Yeah, I still care about the representation,” said Grandberry, who went 3-1 at state with two falls and a decision. “I’m so happy that this sport is growing. Even in my sectional, it was big. I was like, whoa.”
Grandberry hopes to continue wrestling in college. But first there’s one more season of high-school competition, which starts right away.
“Next year is my senior year so I’ve got to start working towards that now,” she said. “Count my losses and move on.”
Griffin also is moving on; she’ll wrestle at Division III Augustana. She went out with her coach, Ron Wilson, who stepped down after a career that included a pair of Public League titles, eight regional championships and 13 individual state placers on the boys side.
“I don’t regret it. Nothing,” said Griffin, who was third at 115 last season. “I went out there, I gave it my all. I wrestled better than I did last year. I grew as I came (along). That’s all I wanted to do — I grew as a wrestler.”
Wilson has been along on Griffin’s journey since she started wrestling as a fourth grader.
“We worked hard with her and (I) was hoping that she’d be able to win the championship this year,” he said. “But she went out there and gave it her best. … No regrets, no regrets.”
The same is true of Wilson’s career at Bowen, which had its first state placers since 1942 on his watch.
“I went in with the purpose of, I wanted to build a program and build a championship team and that’s what I had a chance to do,” he said.
Wilson plans to relocate to Las Vegas, but isn’t closing the door on coaching again.
“My dad always taught me, ‘Never say never,'” he said. “My dad always told me, ‘You can always go to the interview. You don’t have to take the job.’
“Hey, who knows? Maybe I’ll end up with a Michael Jordan thing: ‘I’ll be back.'”
Mejia (14-5) certainly hopes to be back at state next season. She also qualified last season but was unable to compete after suffering a knee injury at the sectional.
This year, she said, “my goal was just to get better and develop as a wrestler. And then my hope was to place, and I got that.”
