BY MIKE CLARK
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Jason Bruno walked away from wrestling the first time he tried it, but that’s not likely to happen again.
Marian Catholic’s junior heavyweight joined an age-group wrestling club as a 9-year-old, but “really didn’t like it.”
So that was the end of his mat time until he arrived at Marian to play football. Casting around for another sport to stay in shape for his top priority, Bruno decided to give wrestling another try.
“I knew it was a hard sport, “he said. “But I like it a lot more than when I was little. It’s not as much of a joke.”
Nope, Bruno’s getting the last laugh now.
After going 15-16 as a sophomore 215-pounder on the varsity n including a two-and-out at the regional n Bruno has emerged as one of the south suburbs’ premier heavyweights.
Though he’s still light enough to wrestle 215, Bruno moved up to allow senior Jovon Dixon to reclaim the spot he had before undergoing knee surgery. That has given Marian a formidable 1-2 punch at the bottom of the lineup: Dixon is 33-6 and Bruno is 30-8 heading into this weekend’s Joliet Twp. Individual Sectional at Joliet Central.
Bruno’s goal is to finish in the top three in his 12-man bracket this weekend, which would earn him a ticket to next weekend’s Class AA state tournament in Champaign.
His draw could be a lot worse n the only state-ranked heavyweight in the sectional, No. 6 Eric Rettke (38-2) of Sandburg, is on the other side of the bracket. Barring upsets, Bruno would see Homewood-Flossmoor’s Brian Brooks (31-5) in Saturday morning’s semifinals.
Bruno credits two things for his dramatic improvement this season: more mat time and the mentoring provided by first-year Marian coach Joe Gilbert, a four-time Illinois prep state champ at Andrew,
“He just changed my whole technique, “Bruno said of Gilbert. “He broke my old habits.”
Wrestling in a class where he sometimes gives up 50 or 60 pounds, Bruno has had to adopt some new tactics.
“I look at the guys I’m wrestling n if they’re bigger, I don’t want to go upper body, “Bruno said. “Then it’s mostly a scramble.”
One that he winds up winning, more often than not.
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