As the final whistle blows at the end of each practice, the members of the LHS Wrestling team drag their tired, beaten, and often ringworm-infected bodies up the seven steps from the wrestling room towards the lockers. However, one athlete always fails to fall into the stride, or dutiful march, with his teammates.

“He stays after practice every day, he lifts a lot after practice, and he never eases up in practice, always going 100 percent as hard as he can,” said senior teammate Sal Potts.

He is senior Joey Gunther, who has quietly shot, sprawled, and crossfaced his way to a number two state ranking and a scholarship to wrestle at the University of Iowa next season, one of the nation’s most prestigious programs. In a crop of talented wrestlers recently — last year’s team sent three players to compete at the Division I level — Gunther has been able to distinguish himself as an elite wrestler. How did Gunther work his way up? By keeping his head down.

“He is real quiet,” LHS Wrestling coach Dale Eggert shared in an email interview. “He comes to practice every day to make himself better. If there is anything he can do to make someone else better, he is more than willing to help them.”

Gunther’s greatness isn’t only manifested in his record (he has posted a 28-1 record so far this season) or his accolades (he has roughly his body weight in medals and hangs his all-state patch in his room), but rather in his unwavering work ethic.  While most kids would be exhausted after a three-hour practice after school, that is only the beginning for Gunther. After the team’s practice, he will routinely go to his younger brother’s practice and wrestle with his coach in order to improve his craft.  Not only that, he will spend an hour or two every other day in the weight room, trying to physically prepare his body for the wear and tear of a long wrestling season.

“He comes to practice every day to make himself better,” said Eggert.  Gunther’s knack for always looking to improve sets himself up for success.

Gunther’s hard work doesn’t stop in season; he practices with two other teams out of the high school season as well.  Throughout the summer he competes with the Illinois National Team, which draws the best talent from across the state.  He will also work out with the Oak Park-River Forest High School club team when his other two teams are not competing.  On top of all this, he continues to lift in the offseason in order to put himself in the best position to succeed.

“I don’t mind training hard. I like training hard, I work hard,” stated Gunther.  This desire sets Gunther apart from the other wrestlers in the state, and in the country.

This overwhelming schedule, both in season and out, is worth it for Gunther.  “Sometimes it gets kind of annoying missing a lot stuff on the weekends but it’s all definitely worth it,” said Gunther.

In addition to earning all-state honors last season, Gunther has established himself as a perennial contender on the national stage. His last three trips to nationals have brought two second-place finishes and one third-place finish. Trips around the country to places like Florida, Oklahoma, and North Dakota have seasoned Gunther to handle the most elite competition.

“He is willing to go anywhere and go against anyone to get top notch competition,” Eggert beamed. “Many wrestlers avoid top notch competition knowing their chances of winning aren’t very good. Joey relishes it.”

While Gunther’s notorious competitive nature is primarily intrinsic, he did gain much of it when he was baptized into the hard-nosed wrestling culture by three future Division I teammates — all at least a year older than him.

Coach Eggert remembers a moment more than five years ago that proved to be an early indication of Gunther’s character. When he was in seventh grade, he squared off against Kayne MacCallum, (currently wrestling at Eastern Illinois) an eighth grader at the time who  outweighed Gunther by about 25 pounds.

“Joey never backed down and wasn’t going to stop until both guys had gotten a good workout,” Eggert remembered. “Most guys would try to avoid a matchup like that, but not Joey.”

Gunther cites his former teammates as helping hands on his path to success, applying the things they demonstrated day in and day out: “Kayne and I used to wrestle a lot, go back and forth a lot, so he was a really good training partner. Stevo (Polakowski, currently wrestling at Minnesota) was really tough, he was hard to wrestle even though he was smaller. He taught me to stay in there and fight hard for everything.”

Gunther’s mental toughness sets himself apart from other wrestlers as well.  While some athletes will be devastated after losses, almost afraid to lose, Gunther uses these experiences to develop into a better wrestler.

“He isn’t afraid of losing knowing you learn more from a loss than from a win,” Eggert stated.

According to Eggert, Gunther sets unusually high goals for himself as a high school wrestler.  He knows what it takes to be successful in a grueling sport, and he will do whatever it takes to achieve it.

Gunther attributes much of his success to Coach Eggert, who has been coaching Joey throughout his high school career.

“He knows a lot about the sport and has taught me more than I ever could have imagined to learn,” said Gunther.

Gunther’s extensive recruiting process started early in the summer going into his senior year.  He was first contacted by small Division I schools including Northern Illinois and Northern Colorado, before drawing Big Ten interest.  Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois all started heavily recruiting Gunther, before one school set itself apart from the rest.

“I pretty much narrowed it down to [Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois].  Then Iowa gave me the best offer by far so I chose them,” explained Gunther.

Headed into a extremely competitive Big Ten wrestling conference next year,  Gunther will join former LHS wrestler Stevo Polakowski.  Although the two are in different weight classes and will not compete against each other, they will often compete at the same meets with their respective teams.

With the state meet three weeks away, Gunther is looking to continue his dominance all the way down to Champaign , the site of the state finals. Gunther has showed his teammates that “hard work pays off. If you keep consistently working on it, eventually you’ll get to the point that you want,” according to Potts. The point Gunther ultimately wants is unclear — a state title, a Big Ten Championship, maybe even an Olympic gold medal. At this point, little seems out of reach. What is clear is that Gunther will get there — one practice at a time.