Central’s great Tiger

Crystal Lake Central junior Austin Marsden is the 2010 Northwest Herald Wrestler of the Year, after going 49-2 on the season and winning a state championship in the 189-pound weight class. (Travis Haughton — thaughton@nwherald.com)

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Austin Marsden has wrestled in many big tournaments but the Crystal Lake Central junior said nothing compares to the IHSA Individual State Tournament.

Marsden said the crowds, significance of the meet and the pageantry of parading with other finalists before the championship round in the Grand March was what made state special.

“State is overwhelming because there’s so many people there watching you,” Marsden said. “The Grand March was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Winning it all also made it memorable.

In what was his first trip to state, Marsden won the Class 2A championship at 189 pounds. Marsden also took home championship medals at the Fox Valley Conference Tournament, Woodstock Regional and Sterling Sectional and finished 49-2 on the year.

Marsden is the Northwest Herald Wrestler of the Year as selected by the sports staff with input from local coaches.

The selection was difficult with three other area wrestlers taking home state championships including Marsden’s teammates Trevor Jauch at 125 and Joey Kielbasa at 145. For Jauch and Kielbasa it was their second consecutive state championships.

Also winning a state title was Prairie Ridge’s David Vinton at 215 pounds in Class 2A.
It was a redemptive win for Marsden who was hospitalized late last season with pneumonia. He won the Richmond-Burton Regional at 160 but was not able to compete at sectionals.

“I was really disappointed,” Marsden said. “It just pushed me more to push harder [this season]. I didn’t want anything to get in my way.”

He also moved up to wrestle at 189 this season, a move Tigers’ coach Justen Lehr said suited Marsden’s style and body type. At 160, Lehr said Marsden might have been the tallest wrestler at that weight class.

“He’s not really a finesse wrestler,” Lehr said. “Wrestling Austin is like wrestling a piece of wrought iron.”

Marsden’s two losses came against Grant’s Lee Munster and Harlem’s Sterling Hecox. Munster won state at 189 in Class 3A and Hecox finished second.

Marsden extracted some revenge against Hecox, defeating him, 2-1, in overtime in their second match. With the score tied 1-1 in the third overtime, Marsden started in the down position and escaped for the win.

“He’s such a horse to take down,” Lehr said. “Nobody has come even close to holding Austin down.”

Marsden also had two big wins against Geneseo’s Wes Cathcart – in the state championship and the Sterling Sectional title match. Cathcart was the top-ranked wrestler in Class 2A at 189 by illinoismatmen.com.

At sectionals, Marsden beat Cathcart, 9-0. The state match was closer.

Marsden got escape points with 14 seconds left in the third period to win, 3-2.

“The first time I went all out after him,” Marsden said. “The second time he knew what I was going to do to him.”

Marsden credited his teammates with making him a better wrestler. He said Jauch often policed him and told him when he was doing something wrong. Harrah at 215, Marsden said, was his wrestling partner and really pushed him hard at practice.

Having Kielbasa and Jauch as state champions and Harrah, who finished third last year at state, on his team took the attention away from Marsden. Other wrestlers often came up to him, Marsden said, just to find out what weight class Kielbasa was wrestling.

“They don’t know who I am, which is nice,” Marsden said. “I love being the underdog.”
Now that he owns a championship medal, that anonymity probably is a thing of the past.