By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

ROOTSTOWN

The Rootstown boys wrestling team captured the Division III championship of the Bill Dies Memorial Tournament on Jan. 17-18 at Akron Firestone.

The Rovers finished sixth overall.

Even though they were not able to fill four weight classes due to injuries and sicknesses, head coach Anthony Anderson believed his team should have done even better.

“We had some kids who were put out early,” he said.

Leading the way were seniors Tristan McKibben, who won the title in the 165-pound weight class, and Nick Malek, who was runner-up at 144.

“Tristan didn’t have anybody who really pushed him at all. He dominated all day. I

believe he tech falled his finals opponent,” said Anderson. “Nick dominated most of the day, but then had a really tough finals match.”

     • Next for Rootstown: Tri-meet against host Aurora and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.; Josh Hephner Memorial Tournament at Austintown Fitch Jan. 24-25 at noon both days.

AURORA

Aurora’s wrestling team had a fine weekend, finishing third out of 51 teams in the Top Gun Tournament on Jan. 17-18 at Alliance. Brecksville-Broadview Heights won the championship, and William Henry Harrison was second.

“I thought our team wrestled well. We’re improving week by week,” head coach Jeremy Johnson said. “Finishing in the top three is definitely impressive. We’re moving in the right direction.”

Senior Johnny Green led the way by capturing the championship in the 120-pound weight class, his third straight Top Gun title.

“We’re really impressed with Johnny,” said Johnson. “He had a great tournament. He wrestled a tough kid from Brecksville-Broadview Heights in the quarterfinals, an overtime victory. Other than that, his matches were dominant.”

Junior Drake Brasiel finished runner-up at 157, his classmate Nick Turba placed fourth at 113 and sophomore Grant Eaton was also fourth at 138.

“Drake wrestled great all weekend,” the coach said. “He won in dominant fashion all the way through the bracket until the finals when he wrestled a Brecksville-Broadview Heights kid again, who he lost to the week before in the Suburban League Tournament finals. I’m proud of Drake’s efforts.

“Nick wrestled pretty well all weekend. He had two losses to the same wrestler from North Canton Hoover. He was able to string together a lot of wins on the back side to get himself in for the third/fourth-place match. Grant had a great tournament, a lot of tough matches, several ranked opponents. In fact, he beat a kid from Canfield who was a state semifinalist to get into the third/fourth-place match. We were really impressed with Grant’s tournament.”

Also placing was senior Cole Munn, who finished eighth at 132.

     • Next for Aurora: Home tri-meet (Senior Night) against Rootstown and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Jan. 23.

CRESTWOOD

The Crestwood wrestling team finished a more-than-respectable fourth out of 20 teams at the Berkshire Battle of the Belt Tournament on Jan. 18 in Burton. Trinity from Camp Hill, Pa., won the championship.

“It was a pretty good performance overall to compete like we did,” head coach Dave Wrobel said. “We had 10 place winners in the top eight and three finish in the top four.”

Leading the charge were sophomore Rocco Wrobel, who won the title in the 113-pound weight class, his classmate Ty Berquist, who finished runner-up at 157 in going 5-1, and junior Michael Berquist (Ty’s cousin), who was fourth at 175.

“Rocco wrestled really well,” the elder Wrobel said. “He started off a little bit slow, but he started to pick things up, winning some matches against some quality opponents. He won 7-4 against a kid from Trinity, and in the finals he won 4-0, but it was 1-0 until the last five seconds of the match, so it was really competitive, an exciting match.

“Ty was actually winning the finals match by five or more points with about 30 seconds to go but got pinned. He was wrestling really well. He was down early in the match, then he scored a flurry of points in the second and third periods, but then he ended up getting caught with about 20 seconds left. He wrestled a really good tournament.

“Michael wrestled well. He started out very strong but then lost two matches, including a semifinal that he was winning by a good four points and the third/fourth-place match that he was tied going into the final period.”

     • Next up for Crestwood: Chagrin Valley Conference Tournament at Burton Berkshire on Jan. 24-25.

STREETSBORO

Streetsboro sophomore wrestler Jarreau Walker continues to cruise his way through the season. He captured the championship in the 106-pound weight class in the Top Gun Tournament on Jan. 17-18 at Alliance.

“Jarreau was just dominant,” head coach Mark Skonieczny said. “In the semifinals he wrestled a kid who was ranked third in the state in Division II, and he tech falled him. Then he beat a highly ranked Division-I kid from Brecksville-Broadview Heights in the finals.”

Senior Cohen Klimak placed fifth at 165.

“Cohen wrestled a great tournament, beat some really good kids,” said Skonieczny. “He probably had 15 ranked wrestlers in the state in his weight class between Divisions I, II and III. He lost a consolation semifinal match by a point on a questionable call, but he came back and won the next two.”

Overall, the Rockets finished 20th out of 51 teams. Brecksville-Broadview Heights won the title. William Henry Harrison was second.

Said the coach, “It was a loaded tournament this year.”

     • Next up for Streetsboro: Double dual meet against host Ravenna, Cloverleaf and Norton Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.

KENT ROOSEVELT

Kent Roosevelt junior wrestler Gavin Edwards finished third in the 157-pound weight division in winning five of six matches in the 51-team Top Gun Tournament on Jan. 17-18 at Alliance.

“Gavin wrestled really well,” said head coach Chris Dunfee. “His only loss was in the quarterfinals to a kid from Brecksville-Broadview Heights who is ranked No. 2 in the state in Division I. Gavin wrestled well in that match, but his opponent is No. 2 in the state for a reason. Gavin beat two state ranked kids on Saturday. We definitely learned a lot there about stuff that we have to go back and work on and clean up.”

“Overall, it was about what I expected,” Dunfee said. “We ramped up our schedule this season, and this was one of those tournaments that we were taking a big step forward. We had a couple kids who were close to getting to day two but just missed. I was happy with the overall performance of the team.”

     • Next up for Kent Roosevelt: Tri-meet against host Bay Village and Lakewood Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

FIELD

Field freshman wrestler A.J. Freudeman (106) and seniors Joe D’Amico (144) and Carter White (157) all advanced to the quarterfinals of the 51-team Top Gun Tournament Jan. 17-18 at Alliance.

“I think the three of them wrestled pretty well,” head coach Dave Tenney said. “I think you learn more from your losses than you do from your wins. From those losses they had, we can start to build and correct some of the things that didn’t go the way we had hoped.”

Overall, Tenney felt his team did not bring it’s “A” game.

“We were put out early,” he said. “Our kids wrestled okay. There was a lot of great competition.”

     • Next up for Field: Tri-meet at home against Coventry and Springfield Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.

RAVENNA

Ravenna junior wrestler Dominic Heeter finished seventh in the heavyweight class Jan. 18 at the 20-team Berkshire Battle of the Belt Tournament in Burton.

“Dominic had a pretty solid bracket when it comes to competition. I thought he grew in this tournament. He did well,” head coach Eric Kline said. “Placing seventh in this tournament is just a feather in the cap. He needs to build on that confidence and move on to the next event and keep building from there. Dominic is still green, still learning, but over the course of this entire season out of all my wrestlers, he’s the one who has really grown.”

     • Next for Ravenna: Double dual meet at home against Streetsboro, Cloverleaf and Norton Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.; Josh Hephner Memorial Tournament at Austintown Fitch Jan. 24-25 at noon both days.