Never fear, Oak Forest's Jason Janke rolls to conference championship in wrestling return. ‘I was still motivated.'
After eight long weeks on the sidelines, Oak Forest's Jason Janke made sure his return was a triumphant one.
Janke had been out since suffering an injury Nov. 26 in the Bengals' first quadrangular. But as he prepared to make his comeback Saturday, he fully believed he could still be a conference champ.
'I was still confident I'd win this,' Janke said. 'The toughest thing is being mentally tough because my stamina isn't the best right now, but I felt pretty good. I was ready to go.'
Janke, a junior, showed no signs of rust. In fact, he made it look easy as he dominated his way to the 175-pound title at the South Suburban Conference Tournament at Shepard in Palos Heights.
Janke was one of five champions for the Bengals (213 points), who won the team championship over Evergreen Park (174.5). Jason Schickel (106), Jacob Sebek (113), Austin Perez (144) and Blake Bussie (165) also won titles for Oak Forest.
Jayden Cervantes (120), Adrian Cervantes (126), Chance Woods (138) and David Johnson (150) were champions from Evergreen Park.
Other champs included Lemont's Cory Zator (132), Reavis' William Swierczynski (157), Richards' Mike Taheny (190), Tinley Park's Sebastian Sanderson (215) and Bremen's Marco Olvera (285).
Janke (6-0), meanwhile, won one match by technical fall and had two pins, including one in the finals against Shepard's Aiden Hill.
It was a fine return after he sat out for eight weeks with a strained trapezius muscle, which extends from the upper back to the back of the neck.
'I went 3-0 in our first meet, then I woke up the next morning and it was all messed up,' Janke said. 'It was really bad being out. The toughest part was just watching wrestling when you can't wrestle.'
Oak Forest coach Shawn Forst was impressed with how determined Janke was to get back for the end of the season.
'It took a little while to get diagnosed,' Forst said of the injury. 'It was kind of a bit of puzzle for us to figure out. He did a good job doing things we asked him to do off the mat to stay in shape and stay strong.
'I'm really proud of him for staying focused. It would have been easy to say, 'This year's over.''
Janke also had a standout season as a running back in football for the Bengals, who won a playoff game for the first time since 2016.
Janke said he has been competing in both sports his 'whole life' but sticking on the mats took some convincing from his dad, Jason, who wrestled at Bremen.
'At first I didn't like wrestling, but as I kept doing it, I started liking it more and more,' Janke said. I like being able to know that people can't kick my butt.
'I love doing both football and wrestling. Football helps with agility and my footwork on the mat and wrestling helps me with tackling and with breaking tackles.'
While Janke showed he's back, Taheny also made a statement and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Ranked No. 4 in Class 2A at 190 by Illinois Matmen, Taheny (29-1) avenged his only loss of the season, edging No. 2 Judah Heeg of Lemont 4-1 in overtime in the finals.
'He beat me 14-0 earlier in the year,' Taheny said. 'This whole match I was like, 'I want to show everybody that I'm a better wrestler than that.'
'It was for me and my family, coaches and teammates. It was for my people.'
While Taheny is undoubtedly a state champion contender, Janke goes into the postseason with a point to prove. He fell one win short of making it to state last season.
'That hurt really bad,' Janke said. 'It motivated me all offseason, and even now, I'm still motivated by it now. I'm hungry to become a state qualifier.'
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