The Naperville North wrestling team wears its new image on its chest.
The school mascot is the Huskie. It always has been portrayed standing nobly on a block ”N.” Until recently, the Huskies have been standing nobly near the middle of the pack in the Du Page Valley Conference.
Now there is a new, snarling Huskie, designed by assistant coach Tom Arlis, on team T-shirts and sweat shirts. The only thing missing from the menacing dog is foam from its mouth. The only thing that has been missing from the wrestling program has been a DPVC championship. The mad-dog Huskies took care of that Saturday at West Chicago.
Naperville North won its first conference title by outscoring second-place Wheaton North 216-107. The Huskies, who got championships from Mike Meluch (98 pounds), Matt Gruszka (105), Chris Pradel (145) and Kent Christianson (185), missed the conference scoring record by a half-point. Wheaton North got titles from Steve Kaltofen (132), Brad Faris (138) and Dave Fank (heavyweight). Naperville North joins West Chicago, Wheaton North and Glenbard North as the only teams to win the Du Page Valley. It won`t be the last one the Huskies win.
”We finally have tradition,” said Huskie coach Stan Gruszka, who is also the father of the Naperville North 105-pounder. ”We`ve got quality kids in the program. I haven`t done anything different than I have in the last nine years. We just have the right kind of kids.
”I hope we`ve got the tradition started. The kids expect to do well now. It`s a psychological thing. You need tradition. This is a good group of kids. No problems.”
The conference meet was just part of a regular season that was no problem for the Huskies. The varisty finished with a 20-0 dual-meet record and the entire program, freshman, sophomore and junior varsity, was 57-0.
Seniors Eric Soneson (112), Gary Morrison (155), Christianson (185) and Dave Delgrosso (heavyweight) have seen Naaperville North go from an also-ran to top dog in four years. They have seen the program become more intense as it has become successful.
”We practice a lot harder now,” said Morrison, who finished second in the conference meet and is a team co-captain along with Soneson. ”Once we got winning, we kept working harder and harder to keep winning. Last year was the turning point, when we only lost two duals. The year before that, we started to get better. Once you see success, it makes you want to work harder and harder.”
Pradel is one of the juniors who will have to work to keep Naperville North a snarling dog rather than a lap dog. His example should go a long way toward positively influencing young Huskies.
”We have to give the underclassmen something to keep up, something to work for,” Pradel said. ”We kind of planned on starting a tradition when I was in the 8th grade. We had good teams and knew we could help start something. I didn`t expect it to be this big. It`s really fun to start something like this. I`d really like to be a captain next year and put in something of my own in this.”
The regular-season success is past and Gruszka`s team is looking forward to the state series as a team and individuals. The pressure of an undefeated season is over. The next task is winning the regional to get a possible shot at No. 1-rated Proviso East in the dual-meet sectional.
”I`m glad we got that out of the way,” Gruszka said. ”We were ready to start the tournaments. There is pressure after a while. Nobody put it on us, I guess it was me. We`d like to get a chance to see Proviso East. I don`t know if we`re in their class, but we`d like to give it a try.”
The Huskies next stop is the Downers Grove North regional. Naperville North will be favored with conference foes Naperville Central, Glenbard South and Wheaton Central joining Hinsdale South, Hinsdale Central, Downers Grove North and Downers Grove South. If the Huskies win the regional, they will advance to the dual-meet sectional at Glenbard North and a chance at Proviso East.
