By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Southeast has only three wrestlers this season.

RILEY DIEHL

One was ill, so head coach Shane Kuberry brought just two athletes to the Lady Warrior Rumble on Dec. 13 at Ashtabula Edgewood in which the Pirates still managed to finish ninth out of 15 teams.

Riley Diehl won the championship at 130. She is now 9-0 on the season — all by pin, impressively.

And she’s only a freshman.

“Riley is just a grinder,” head coach Shane Kuberry said. “She works extremely hard, she put a ton of time in in the off-season, going to different clubs and to different tournaments. It’s really starting to show and pay off. We expect really big things from her. I think that, if she continues to develop, she’s somewhere on that podium in Columbus. She’s very impressive.”

Junior Natalie Kemble placed fifth in splitting four matches at 105.

“This is Natalie’s first season wrestling varsity matches,” said Kuberry. “She really seems to be liking it, and she’s really starting to show some upside and some promise. I think there’s just a confidence thing. When you don’t wrestle a whole lot, it’s hard to believe in yourself, but she’s been doing a great job, and we believe in her development. She’s going to be just fine as the season goes on.”

MOGADORE

Kai Gaetjens’ eighth-place finish Dec. 13-14 at 145 was not your ordinary, everyday top-eight finish.

The Mogadore senior achieved this feat in the prestigious — and invite only — Women of IRONMAN Tournament at Walsh Jesuit.

“It’s a national tournament, one of the toughest, if not the toughest, in the country. Placing that high is extremely good,” head coach Duane Funk said of Gaetjens, who split her six matches.

Gaetjens got pinned early by the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the nation to start things off, but she won her next couple matches to qualify for the placements.

“Kai did fantastic for the beginning of the season,” said Funk. “We have some rust to knock off because she doesn’t wrestle year-round. It was a good baseline for her. She’ll improve throughout the season.”

Also competing in the Women of IRONMAN were senior Mackenzie Shellenbarger and sophomore Layla Funk, both of whom lost their only two matches — Shellenbarger at 155 and Funk at 120.

“I feel both of the matches Mackenzie wrestled she would’ve won had they been later in the season,” said the coach. “The girl from Archbold who beat her the first match was right up there in the state tournament last season in the same weight class. Mackenzie wrestled her tough. It was a good match. There were a couple missed opportunities. Hopefully we get some things cleaned up, and then I think she’ll be just fine.

“Layla wrestled really well, she wrestled tough. You could tell she was giving up a little bit of weight, but, again, it was a good baseline to see what we need to work on. She’ll be at 115 the rest of the season.”

ROOTSTOWN

Rootstown sophomore Morgan Giebel pinned her way through the Coventry Comets Clash in Akron on Dec. 12 in the Rovers’ season opener en route to capturing the championship at 155.

“Morgan wrestled well,” head coach Nick Sladky said. “She just put it together in this tournament and had a really good day. She’s learning the sport, she’s getting mat time. She’s getting her footwork down and getting her takedowns down.”

Sophomore Sophia Byers placed fourth at 135 despite leaving the competition early due to a bloody nose all day long.

“I believe she could’ve placed higher,” said Sladky.

FIELD

An upperclassman and three lowerclassmen helped Field to an 11th -place finish — out of 25 teams — in opening the season Dec. 7 in the Mike Fording Invitational at Lyndhurst Brush.

Senior Izzy Dickens, the Falcons’ only district qualifier last season, finished fourth at 190.

“Izzy was able to go out there and do the things she’d been working on. She was able to string together a couple wins,” head coach Mason Brainard said. “You could really see the improvements from last season to this season. I think she has the potential to qualify for the state tournament. The dominos would have to fall right, and she has to continue to improve.”

Also placing fourth were sophomores Emma Long (120) and Mackenzie Williams (155).

Long started out with a tough match that went into overtime, winning 13-10 over an opponent from Cleveland Garrett Morgan, while Williams began with a quick win on a pin.

“Emma was able to capitalize on some things we’d been working on with her,” said Brainard, “including being offensive and aggressive, and she was able to do that. Mackenzie is just really looking to improve upon her skills. The goal for our wrestlers is to be more aggressive and not let everything come to them. She was able to do that in the matches she won. She was able to put together a good tournament.”

Nic Timm, another sophomore, was fifth at 100, losing her first match but then winning two in a row by pin.

“Nic is brand new to the sport,” the coach said. “She went out there and basically did what we asked her to do, and that was be aggressive and try to essentially score points.”

WATERLOO

With two girls injured, Waterloo head coach Bill Jackson brought just three wrestlers to the Coventry Comets Clash in Akron on Dec. 12 in the Vikings’ season opener.

All three did well, beginning with senior Haylie Camacho finishing third at 235.

“Haylie’s first match of the day was a little rough; she lost it but came back through the consolation bracket,” said Jackson. “She did a really good job in her placement match. She put up a lot of points and did a really good job dictating pace as the day went on. She worked really well off her feet.”

Sophomore Abigail Roberts placed sixth at 170.

“Abigail wrestled really well on her feet, really well in the top position. She got a couple turns and got a pin, was real aggressive,” said the coach. “She kind of got unlucky with her draw, though. Her fifth-sixth-place match was a really good match. She was in it all the way to the end but gave up a late takedown and lost 4-0. She wrestled hard and competed.”

Skyler Baldwin was even more unlucky than Roberts. The junior first-time wrestler split two matches at 120 before injuring her knee in her next match. She had to medical forfeit out.

“Had she not been injured,” Jackson said, “Skyler probably would’ve been going for third place.”