WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
NCAA champion Marianetti brings journey to Div. III level
By Gary Abbott As Steve Marianetti sees it, everything
in wrestling and in life, is all about the journey. Few people would disagree that Marianetti has been on a heck of ride with his wrestling journey. For a kid who didn’t embrace the sport until he was in high school, and who has been told that he was not athletically gifted, this Illinois wrestler has done many amazing things. “The biggest reason I joined wrestling
was I was too short for basketball,” said Marianetti. “I didn’t start until my fresh- man year in high school. One physical education teacher said I had better try wrestling. Somehow it fit my personality and my energy level. I loved the chal- lenge of it.” It was his wrestling coach at Glenbrook
North, Joe Amore, and his club coach Morrie Geselter, who took this raw new- comer and helped mold a champion. “My coach, Joe Amore, wrestled for
Iowa and was teammates with Tim Cyzewski. It was with him and with anoth- er coach, Morrie Geselter, who ran the Wildcat Wrestling Club, that I made up a lot of time in my career. I had like 50 matches every summer. Morrie helped me wrestle year round, at a time when it was not always possible,” said Marianetti. By the time he reached his senior year
in high school, Marianetti was one of the best guys in his weight class. He finished second at state in Illinois, one of the most respected prep events in the nation. Yet, he was not one of those hot prospects pursued by the best programs. He ended up at the University of Illinois, but not because of wrestling. It was an interesting twist in the Marianetti journey. “Sometimes you get lucky. My choice
of Illinois was because of academics. The wrestling program was struggling, but the accounting school was No. 1 in the coun- try. I loved wrestling, but I didn’t know where it would take me. (Coaches) Mark Johnson and Jim Heffernan didn’t come until I was a sophomore. I was able to start as a freshman, and went 13-12. In my first year under Johnson and Heffernan, I was 44-7 and fourth in the
32 USA Wrestler
Elmhurst’s Steve Marianetti (left), shown with Luther’s Dave Mitchell, was named Div. III Coach of the Year.
country,” said Marianetti. Going into his senior year, Marianetti
was a two-time All-American and needed to go up in weight. That put him at 150 pounds, the weight class of Big Ten star Lincoln McIlravy of Iowa, a two-time NCAA champion who was a junior and on a course to become a four-timer. To reach his goals, Marianetti would have McIlravy as part of his journey. “I was too big to make 142 anymore.
From a health standpoint, I had to bump up a weight. My only goal was to be national champion that year. It was a matter of preparing the best I could. My coaches made me mentally and physical- ly prepared to be a national champion,” said Marianetti. It was after a loss to McIlravy in the
finals of the Big Ten Championships that Marianetti truly believed he could reach that goal. “What I learned at Big Tens was that I
wasn’t going to break. That was the most important lesson. Lincoln is an amazing competitor with a fighting spirit like few others. In that Big Ten match, that was
my concern. I wanted to see if I could withstand the fire. Once I knew that, I knew if I could keep the match close with him, I could win. That was my biggest realization,” he said. Two weeks later, Marianetti reached
the NCAA finals, where he would face McIlravy again, this time on his oppo- nent’s home mats at the University of Iowa. In one of the classic matches of college history, Marianetti followed his game plan and outlasted McIlravy, 13-10, ending McIlravy’s quest for four titles and concluding his own career at the top of the podium. When it was over, all he could think about was the path that led to this achievement. “I always viewed wrestling and every-
thing I did as a journey. Winning is impor- tant, but so is everything that went along with that. I enjoyed that journey. To set goals and have the discipline to give up things other college students do, to have a game plan and make it work. For it all to come down to seven minutes on one given day and to get it done, I felt relief from that pressure and pride that I was able to perform,” said Marianetti. His next focus was to pursue an Olympic dream in freestyle, and start a career as an assistant coach for Illinois. “The Olympic quest came towards the
end of that last college season and solidi- fied after winning nationals. I was still hungry for the sport. I wanted to continue that journey and see how far I could take that. A lot came from the confidence out of that national tournament,” he said. As in other times in his life, Marianetti
was not alone as he pursued high goals. “Coaches Johnson and Heffernan were
very supportive of me competing and helpful in my training. National Coach Bruce Burnett was an unbelievable coach. He impressed me with his knowl- edge and his demeanor. He was very kind to me in helping me work my way up in freestyle. I did a lot of travelling. That is what we did then as athletes. I’d go up and train with Terry Steiner up at Wisconsin, go wherever I had to for good workouts,” he said.
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