Eighth grader Isaiah Morquecho always wanted to wrestle.
Why? His big brother Jeremiah Hernandez did, and he wanted to be just like him.
Hernandez went on to wrestle successfully for Oak Park and River Forest High School and is graduating next month.
Taking his place at OPRF next fall will be Morquecho, who has plenty of skill of his own thanks to the Beat the Streets Oak Park youth wrestling program.
Morquecho recorded an eighth-place finish in the Senior Boys Division 118-pound weight class at the IKWF State Championships March 12-14 at the Peoria Civic Center. This, he feels, sets him up perfectly for his transition to high school wrestling.
“I have already been training and have been around the high schoolers because of my older brother, so I feel like I’m already connected to the school,” he said. “I’m excited to start my own high school career, and I will be consistently training in the offseason to prepare.”
Fellow eighth grader Diego Navarro took sixth at state in the Senior Boys Division 126-pound weight class, and like Morquecho can’t wait to take the mat at OPRF next year.
“I like wrestling because it is both a physical and mental challenge,” Navarro said. “I’m excited to join the OPRF wrestling team next school year. They are really good and I can’t wait to join them.”
Really good may be an understatement for OPRF and coach Jason Renteria, who works with the eighth graders at Beat the Streets Oak Park. The Huskies finished fourth at team state in 2026 and got an individual state title from junior Jamiel Castleberry at 126 pounds.
With Morquecho, Navarro and Cory Blanchard, who went 3-2 at state, the future will continue to be bright.
“We had a great year this year, and we have some great kids that are seniors moving on to the next stage of their lives,” Renteria said. “It’s going to be nice to have another group of kids coming into OPRF and having a legacy.”
Jamil Smart coaches all levels at Beat the Streets Oak Park, including the tykes in kindergarten and first grade, to the developmental group from second to fifth grade, and the competition group from third to eighth grade. All told, there are about 120 kids in the program, including 30 girls.
Smart emphasizes Beat the Streets Oak Park isn’t solely about winning like other programs.
“We do a lot of focus on effort, character, integrity, accountability,” Smart said. “We provide a safe environment where parents know they are well taken care of.”
Eighth grader Jade Zambrano took second place at state in the Senior Girls Division 185-pound weight class. She’ll be heading to St. Ignatius next year.
“I got into wrestling about three years ago,” Zambrano said. “I’ve been doing combat sports since I was five years old, and when I learned about wrestling it felt almost impossible not to try it out.”
Zambrano has big goals for herself in the sport.
“I will continue wrestling through high school and college,” she said. “I look forward to accepting the challenge of higher-level competition and tournaments. My wrestling skills will only improve, constantly strengthening and enhancing them.
“I would like to be an ambassador for my sport and want to give back to the sport as a coach and mentor for the younger generation of girls as women’s wrestling continues to grow.”
Asher Eichert is Zambrano’s coach at Beat the Streets Oak Park. She also coaches fifth grader Alexa Nunn, who took third place at state in her division.
“It’s great to see how she has developed the last three years,” Eichert said of Zambrano. “I’ve seen her develop into a solid wrestler technically speaking. She’s grown in her confidence outside of the wrestling room. [St. Ignatius] is just starting their program essentially and she’s going to be a leader.”
Third grader Oliver Smart took third place in state in the Bantam Division’s 60-pound weight class, and he has vivid memories of when he started in the sport.
“My dad used to wrestle with me when I was little,” he said. “It was really fun so I wanted to keep doing it when I got older.”
He’s got big goals, too. He wants to seize first-place finishes at nationals and in state. But more importantly, “I want to keep working hard in practice and try my hardest in every match.”
In other words, the kids are all right, and not only on the mat, but the classroom.
“Because you’re a club, you don’t have to abide by academic standards, but because this is a feeder program for the high school, we focus on academics,” Smart said. “And we hold a standard for that.”