Volpe Overcomes Defeat, Advances To State

By LEROY BRIDGES

H&R Staff Writer

MAHOMET – The sweat dripped from Lucas Volpe’s face as he stared Jay Lanning in the face. The Mount Zion junior had been here before.

Just a week prior, Volpe had to look up to Lanning who stood atop the podium at the Champaign Central Regional after beating Volpe 12-9 at 140 pounds.

Now, the senior from Pontiac stood between Volpe and the state tournament. With a determination seen from the first time he set foot on a mat when he was 7 years old, Volpe jumped out in front of Lanning and controlled the match on his way to a 9-6 win.

The entire time his grandfather Richard Goetz moved back and forth, and side to side as the match progressed. And when Volpe’s hand was raised signaling a trip to Champaign, Goetz let out a couple emphatic fist pumps.

It was a special moment for the two who have put in 10 years of work together to reach the top of high school wrestling.

“This means everything for me and for him,” said Volpe (26-8), who went straight to Goetz for a hug after the win. “He’s helped me get to where I am and to beat a kid who beat me last week, this feels great.”

Getting Volpe into wrestling when he moved to Decatur a decade ago was an obvious choice for Goetz, a two-time state runner-up in Iowa and collegiate grappler at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The surprise was how quickly the 7-year-old Volpe picked up the sport. After about 10 days at the kids club wrestling program, Roy Johnson, father of Volpe’s current coach Justin, said Volpe needed to be moved up because of his ability.

“I saw a little bit of anger in the boy,” said Goetz, who helped raise Volpe after his parents divorced. “I heard about the kids club, got involved and he took the anger out on the mat.”

Practice three nights a week and weekend trips all across the Midwest followed.

Goetz would wake up at 3 a.m., wrap Volpe in a blanket, throw him in the backseat and the two would be at weigh-ins by 7 a.m. in Chicago.

Now, the two will be headed to Champaign for state, which begins Friday morning.

“I’m so pleased and so proud because he’s worked so hard and that’s what it takes in the sport of wrestling,” Goetz said. “We have established a great relationship and wrestling’s always been involved.”

Volpe ranks No. 12 in his class, and faces No. 4 Connor Bass from Yorkville in his first match at state. If he tops Bass, fifth-ranked Brandon Rice (Washington) is waiting. The final chapter could be written if Volpe makes an incredible run through his bracket toward a state title, but Goetz and Volpe both know that’s a lot to ask.

“It will be a very special moment for me if they can raise his hand as a champion,” Goetz said. “But we have another year, too. We had a rough beginning to this season, but we’re finishing very strong.

“Regardless of what he does, I will be a proud grandpa shooting my mouth that he’s my grandson.”

Joining Volpe at state are five of his teammates. Joe Butler and Grant Naylor are making their return to state after a disappointing experience a year ago, while three others are making their debuts at state.

In all, the H&R area is represented by 24 (16 in Class 1A and eight in Class 2A) wrestlers at state.

lbridges@herald-review.com|421-6970

Published in the Herald & Review in February 2011.

The Man Behind The Bombers

By LEROY BRIDGES

H&R Staff Writer

ARGENTA – It doesn’t take long to recognize wrestling’s place at Argenta-Oreana.

It’s not like most high schools.

Wrestling garb is a constant in every classroom and the sport doesn’t take a backseat to football or basketball. The pristine wrestling room nestled deep inside the building is proof, too.

“The wrestling team has always been the No. 1 program,” Argenta wrestler Trent Trudeau said. “Basketball players at times get jealous because of how much success we have.

“It’s definitely a special program.”

Aaron Ford, who’s sitting on the mat next to his training partner, laughs thinking about where wrestling would fit in at his high school, Maroa-Forsyth. There, football is king and everyone knows it.

“I don’t want to touch that one,” said Ford, who wrestles for Argenta through a co-op.

It’s been this way for a long time, but not forever.

One man’s responsible for that.

When Gary Cook was hired 34 years ago, he was a young guy eyeing the coaching jobs with football and wresting as a stepping stone. He wanted to be on to the next great thing in less than five years.

Turns out, he had already started building that at Argenta. No one can point to a single moment that made the program into one of the state’s best, but Cook’s personality is quickly mentioned by those around the school.

“Gary has a heart of gold, I really believe that,” long-time friend and coach at Argenta Tom Saunches said.

It’s that heart of gold that has led to kids following Cook.

Freshman state qualifier Zach Whitsel couldn’t stop watching his teacher and coach as he strolled through his classroom providing students with assistance on an assignment. Every chance Whitsel got to talk with Cook, he jumped at it.

“I remember him coming over in the summer to see what’s going on,” Cook said about Whitsel, who was giddy to be included in Cook’s conversation.

Cook’s attention quickly turned to a window in the classroom to see three of his wrestlers roaming the hallway. It was seniors Trudeau, Danny Ball and Kyle Johnson searching out a “drink of water.” Ball is a state qualifier in just his third year of wrestling after quitting basketball. He’s also the best athlete in the school and makes the basketball team mad when he dunks.

“I think we could beat the basketball team,” Johnson said.

“They wouldn’t play us in basketball,” Cook responded before reminding the three they don’t give degrees for hall wandering.

The 5-minute encounter is exactly why Cook finds himself in his 35th year at one school. It’s also why the kids love him.

Cook has nearly 30 kids actively participating in a sport most shy away from. While just five of them are wrestling at state this weekend, plenty more go through the hardest workouts of their life every day to have a place in something special.

Take Brandon Monney. He’s a 103-pounder stuck behind Whitsel and has wrestled just a handful of varsity matches all year. But Monney, who’s unassuming and wouldn’t quite fit on a basketball court, shows up to practice every day after school and proudly wears his Argenta-Oreana hoody.

It’s kids like Monney who help Cook field the only team in the Okaw Valley Conference with someone in every weight class.

“He’s able to recruit kids out of the hallway and the classes,” said Art Bartges, who hired Cook at Argenta and is one of just two paid assistants Cook’s ever had. “He gets those kids who really don’t have a niche in a sport, gets them in there and gets them wrestling four years and by the end they’ve become a decent wrestler and improved a lot.

“They find a spot in their life where they’re needed and fit in with the scene. That’s one thing that’s been good about him is to get those kids in there to fill his lineup, which is important and another reason he was so successful because he has sent out 14 guys every match.”

That success can’t be matched by anyone in the area and few in the state.

Cook eclipsed the 500-win mark three weeks ago when the Bombers hosted the Okaw Duals. Just four other coaches in state history have more wins than Cook, who’s now at 502. A week later, Cook picked up his fifth regional title at home when Argenta hosted the meet, an event in place because Cook has established a fine-tuned machine to play host.

That’s when his life gets consumed with preparing mats, organizing programs and lineups, lining up officials and volunteers, but little coaching because he’s being pulled in every direction. With his recent milestone, though, Cook was relieved of being the answer man for the regional and allowed to coach every match.

His wrestlers didn’t disappoint.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s special for the kids to be able to wrestle in front of family and friends,” Cook said.

In the end, that’s all Cook is concerned about. Not 500 career wins, not the next great thing, but the opportunity to be part of moments like the pair of photos with Kevin and Kris Powars in his office. They are a father-son combo who both won sectional titles as wrestlers for Cook.

Or it is the opportunity to give kids a reason to pass their classes and stay out of jail.

“Everyone tries to do what he does, but it’s not easy,” said Cindy Fitzgerald, who’s taught gym classes for more than 20 years with Cook. “I’ve seen him turn wrestler’s lives around and given them an opportunity to do something special. He’s just a great guy.”

Fitzgerald’s a bit nervous about the future because Cook’s retiring from teaching at the end of the school year.

She’s not the only one antsy about the change.

Argenta athletic director Dan Sheehan knows retirement means the end of Cook’s coaching career is close. That’s why he’s been joking around about signing Cook to a 10-year contract to get him to stay around longer than he’s going to.

With no firm answer on how long, he ends his day by cleaning the mats in his wrestling room - his favorite part of every day because it’s peaceful - Cook simply says “There won’t be a 600.”

And for that, Argenta wrestling won’t forever be the same.

lbridges@herald-review.com|421-6970

Published in the Herald & Review in February 2011.