The hundred club
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
IC Catholic Prep junior wrestler Joey Bianchini hit a prep statistical milestone this year.
Bianchini’s dominance on the mat led him to eclipsing the 100 career win barrier in just his third high-school season. He had 38 wins this season after winning the Class 1A state title at 113 pounds this past weekend.
“I haven’t really thought about it (100 wins),” he said earlier last week. “It’s an accomplishment. Everybody that goes out there wants to succeed. It means a lot.”
This season, Bianchini said he zeroed in on factors away from the mat that he felt would help him during matches.
“I’ve been a lot more focused outside of practice,” he said. “I’ve been running and I’ve been doing more weightlifting. I’m more disciplined with my diet. Those things have made a difference. The strict disciplined diet has given me the energy to compete at my best.”
He also focused on footwork throughout the season. “The coaches have really been working with me to move my feet and get to my offense,” Bianchini said. “Once I get to my offense I can dominate a match and take control from there.”
With another year under his belt, Bianchini had a different outlook going into matches this season. “I’m a lot more confident in myself than I was last year,” he said. “I improved a lot this year. I went out there knowing I could get things done. That takes time. As an underclassman you aren’t as mature. You don’t know how good you are. This year I put in the time and the effort and all the hard work. I really do have that confidence.”
Bianchini, who normally wrestles at 113 pounds, dabbled in the 120-pound weight class. His one regular-season loss was to the wrestler ranked No. 1 in the state at that weight.
“I’ve wrestled quite a bit at 120 and got a different feel,” he said. “I was wrestling stronger guys.”
Bianchini said one match in particular at the Lincoln invitational stood out in his mind during the regular season.
“I wrestled in the finals at 120 there and beat the guy and got outstanding wrestler in that tournament,” he said.
Bianchini also is proud of the improvement the IC Catholic Prep wrestling team made.
“We were great this year,” he said. “The team is a lot bigger this year. We expanded to 19 kids. Last year we had like eight kids. We have a lot of coaches who have a lot of experience. It’s a young team. We only have two seniors. We are learning and getting better every day.”
And the guy who is part of the 100-win club is right there leading the charge.
