Suburban Chicago high school wrestler hopes to become four-time individual state champ
ST. CHARLES, Ill. (CBS) -- Jason Potter knew early on he had a good one in Ben Davino.
"Back when he was in 8th grade, I was talking to his dad. I said, 'he's going to be a four-time state champ,' the St. Charles East wrestling coach said. "He kind of chuckled and said, 'I appreciate you saying that.' I said, 'I'm not saying that. It's going to happen.'"
Four years later, Davino has the chance to make that happen. The senior, who has only one loss in his high school wrestling career, is trying to become just the fifteenth four-time individual state champion in IHSA history.
"It's been a dream for a while, ever since 8th grade, maybe before that," Davino said. "It's kind of hard when you take a step back and just look at it. You're like, 'Wow, this is pretty amazing. This is a once in a lifetime sort of thing.' There's a lot of pressure that comes with that. At the same time it's fun."
"It's a pretty elite group," said Potter. "It would give him some of the recognition he deserved. I know I'm biased, but I think he's, if not the, definitely one of the best wrestlers ever to come out of Illinois. He's only given up one takedown in his high school career. His dominance on the mat has been incredible. To finish it off with a fourth state title would put the rubber stamp on the fact that he's one of the best ever."
Davino hasn't faced a lot of adversity in his high school career, but Coach Potter has done his best to push him to be even better.
"We're going to challenge him," Potter said. "We could have easily stayed in a local schedule, and he could have run clean. We traveled the country trying to find tough challenges for him. We bump him up whenever we can. Most kids want to be perfect. They don't ever want that challenge. Ben just 100% accepts it."
"With my mentality, it's unbelievable," Davino said. "If I know that my coach is trying to push me, I just gotta be excited for it and look forward to whatever he has in mind for me."
Davino gets plenty of challenges at his own practice, too. The Saints have two other individual state champs back from the defending 3A team state champions.
"It's awesome," said senior Jayden Colon. "It's a lot of fun wrestling with a bunch of the elite level guys in the room. Everyone pushes me, and I push them to be better. It's just an awesome room to be in."
"The only way I can describe it because I like practice is just fun," Davino said. "There's so many people that can push me in this room, and it's just an awesome room to be in."
Davino loves being pushed. Just don't doubt him.
"I'm super stubborn," he said. "Anything people say I can't do I'm going to go do."
He hopes that includes joining historic company in Champaign.
