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Mologousis captures IKWF state folkstyle title
Johnny Mologousis of the Lyons Wrestling Club receives the bracket board after winning the 138-pound senior championship at the IKWF state meet. | Photo submitted by Elizabeth Mologousis
Updated: April 22, 2013 11:31AM
There will be one more state champion wrestling for Lyons next winter.
Johnny Mologousis of the Lions Wrestling Club won the state 138-pound senior championship March 9 in Rockford.
He is the second wrestler in club history to capture an IKWF folkstyle title. He began his IKWF career at 5 years old and has wrestled 800-plus matches, winning six national titles over nine years. Mologousis has also won a freestyle state championship and at the 2011 state tournament, he took runner-up.
Mologousis, 14, entered the state finals without having allowed an offensive point. He won his first match 17-0, then breezed 17-0 in the quarterfinals. After jumping out to an 11-0 advantage in the semifinals, he pinned his opponent in 1:29 of the first period. In the finals, he defeated longtime rival Trent Rakers from Highland 8-2 to cap his season with a record of 46-1, giving up only one takedown all year.
The Burr Ridge student has had a busy season. He was a member of the Illinois National Schoolboy dual team that was crowned national champion in both freestyle and Greco-Roman in June.
He began the 2012-13 season by winning The Border Wars national championship and the U.S.A. preseason nationals without allowing a point at either tournament. He also won The Celtic Elite and The Midwest Classic Elite. He went on to represent Illinois at the national duals in Michigan, where he competed for the undefeated champions.
Currently an eighth-grader at Pleasantdale Middle School, he will enter Lyons in the fall and join club teammates Tyler Zeman (8th, 108 senior) and Zach Villareal (2nd, 108 senior) on the Lions wrestling team.
