February 2010 

The wrestler who has the most wins this year for the Elmhurst College wrestling team didn’t qualify for Nationals last season, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t trying.

Senior Charlie Curran currently has a 20-2 record on the season, according to the EC Athletics website, the most wins on the team.

“I have a lot of goals set for this season, right at the top of the list is to be a national champion,” said Curran. “I also really want to win the conference title because I did not win one in high school, and I still haven’t won one in college.”

Curran, who graduated from John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Ill., wrestled in the 140-pound weight class and was a regional and sectional champion and a state qualifier.

“My performance has improved a ton since high school in every area of the sport,” said Curran. “My intensity is way higher and Coach Marianetti is world class when it comes to technique. He’s really helped me learn how to score points from a lot of specific positions that I didn’t know in high school.”

Although Curran believes that his performance and technique has improved over his years as an EC wrestler, he still doesn’t think he has hit the peak of his wrestling ability.

“I have constantly been improving throughout the last three years, and I’m a lot better now than I was back in October,” said Curran. “I still have a ton of room to keep improving in a lot of areas of wrestling, but I just have run out of
eligibility.”

Curran picked EC because it was close to home and he had always known he wanted to wrestle in college, something that became a reality.

“I transferred to Elmhurst from another school,” said Curran. “I knew I wanted to stay closer to home and my high school wrestling coach convinced me that Elmhurst would be a good fit for me.”
Although Curran has never made it to Nationals, that doesn’t mean that his years of wrestling at EC have gone without merit.
“My sophomore year I won a starting spot at 141 pounds and also got to wrestle in the Midlands Championships at Northwestern,” said Curran. “I have also won three outstanding wrestler awards: [one] my junior year at the Border Brawl at UW-Whitewater and twice this year at the Concordia Open and the Al Hanke Invitational here at EC.”
In his free time Curran enjoys doing what he says pretty much any 22-year-old college guy does.
“I love checking out movies, hanging out with friends [and] playing video games. In the summer I like going to the beach and relaxing.”
Curran, whose major is special education, does not want to give up his connection with wrestling anytime soon.
“After I graduate I hope to get a job in the special education field,” said Curran. “I would like to stay involved in wrestling by coaching at some level.”