Oh, Brother. This Rice resilient.

Crusaders battle through injuries, adversity to bring home state trophy

BLOOMINGTON — On Jan. 11, Brother Rice’s tumultuous season reached a low point when the Crusaders lost 68-0 to rival Marist.

Fast forward to Saturday, and the Crusaders were bringing home the first state trophy in program history with a fourthplace finish in Class 2A.

Resilience was the word of the weekend for Southland wrestling teams, particularly three who all overcame their own adversity to win state trophies.

On the boys side, Mount Carmel brought home the Class 3A state championship. Lockport finished as the state runner-up, making history as one of the first girls teams to earn a trophy in the first year of team awards.

No team, though, fought through more roadblocks than Brother Rice.

After winning the Class 2A 126-pound state title last winter as a sophomore, star wrestler Bobby Conway suffered an injury that kept him out for the entire season for the Crusaders.

Gambino Perez, a fourth-place state finisher last season, and Mac Murzyn, who was in the midst of a strong season, were both injured during the season and never returned.

“It’s kind of like, ‘What if? What if ? What if ? Would we have been in that (championship dual) if we had all those guys?’” said Brother Rice coach Jan Murzyn, Mac’s father. “I don’t know, but you can’t help but have that in your mind.”

The Crusaders pushed through, made it to state and prepared for Friday’s quarterfinals with Mahomet-Seymour.

Two seasons ago, Brother Rice made it to the dual team state meet for the first time, only to fall to Mahomet-Seymour in the quarterfinals.

The Crusaders got their revenge this time, winning 36-27.

History-making state trophy secured.

And the adversity?

James Bennett, a key senior for Brother Rice, felt the adversity actually paid off.

“I think that stuff just makes it even better,” Bennett said. “You get over the hard stuff and it makes it easier. We’re a good group of guys. We’re all friends. We’re close. I think next year will be even better.”

It was a well-deserved moment for a program that’s been building back up for the last several years under Murzyn.

“In 2017, we got the money together, out of nowhere, to build a wrestling room at Brother Rice,” he said. “As soon as everything got approved, I came home. My wife gave me the biggest hug and said, ‘We did it.’

“This feeling is the same. We