Providence senior Cole Smith gave legendary coach Keith Healy one final individual state medalist with his sixth-place finish at 160 pounds last weekend.
But Smith wants to do more for the Providence coach, who’s retiring at the end of the season.
“It was a huge honor to be his last medalist,” Smith said. “But if things could have gone a bit differently in the semifinals and I could’ve wrestled in the finals, that would’ve been more special. It was disappointing not to do the Grand March with him.”
Smith left Champaign determined to get Healy to one more state finals event. The Celtics accomplished that Tuesday by beating Edwardsville 33-24 in the Class 3A Mattoon Team Sectional.
Providence will take on Barrington in a state quarterfinal at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
“After my performance at (individual) state, I’m really fired up to wrestle better this week,” Smith said. “I know I have to really step it up for my team for and for coach Healy. We want to go as far as we can for his last year.”
Healy is retiring after 26 seasons coaching the Celtics. Saturday will be the 14th time he’s taken a team to the state finals, extending his IHSA record. He’s won six state titles and has coached 21 individual state champions.
For his part, Healy is attempting to look at this as just another year, and another state meet.
“I don’t think it’s going to feel any differently for me than other tournaments,” he said. “I just want to see the kids succeed, like always. I’ve told them all year that this isn’t about me. I just want to see all the work they’ve put in pay off for them.
“It’s really exciting for us to get this far this year, because we’ve been under the radar all season.”
Healy was impressed with the way his wrestlers were able to bounce back after several had a disappointing individual state tournament. The Celtics advanced four to state, but Smith was the only medalist.
“This is always the hardest part of the season, with all the ups and downs,” Healy said. “It’s such a quick turnaround from all the emotions, win or lose at state, to wrestling again Tuesday. All our kids did extraordinarily well with that.”
For Healy, one of the most exciting things about this final season has been seeing his unheralded wrestlers step up.
Nick Matthias, Ross Heimlich, Alonso Serrano and Antonio Tuminello weren’t state qualifiers, but are big reasons why Providence was able to advance to state with their performances at the Bradley-Bourbonnais Regional and Tuesday night.
“If you’re going to make it state, all the kids have to perform,” Healy said. “That’s what’s happened this season. It’s been a lot of fun for me to see some of our kids who aren’t superstars really grow as wrestlers. Nobody outside of our school knew who these guys were, and they’ve exceeded expectations.”
While Smith said Healy’s retirement is giving him and his teammates an extra push at the end of a long season, Healy said his wrestlers don’t talk to him about that.
“I’ve told them not to,” he said. “Since the start of the season, I’ve told them not to make this about me. I’m just here to help them analyze things, find ways to get better and succeed. That’s the way it’s always been and that hasn’t changed.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
