By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Penny Edwards has lived in the practice room this season.

That is why the Kent Roosevelt sophomore has a 24-4 record.

“Wrestling matches are won or lost in the practice room,” head coach Ryan Fankhauser said. “Penny has been putting in extra work and fine tuning her style. We continue working on controlling the pace of her matches and stepping up her intensity. I’m pleased with her progress.”

Edwards’ latest achievements were capturing the championship at 115 Jan. 24 at the Columbia Station Columbia High School Lady Raiders Tournament.

She won all four of her matches, three of them by pin.

Two weeks earlier, on Jan. 10-11, Edwards won five of her six matches to place third at 110 in the Akron North Lady Vikings Tournament.

Fankhauser strongly believes Edwards has the ability to find herself standing on a podium at the state tournament.

“Anything is possible for her,” he said.

MOGADORE

Head coach Duane Funk was happy with his Mogadore wrestling team’s sixth-place finish Jan. 17 at the inaugural 15-team New Philadelphia Quakers Girls Invitational.

“We did really well,” head coach Duane Funk said. “There were some good teams there.”

Pacing the Wildcats were seniors M.J. Shellenbarger (155) and Kai Gaetjens (140), who both captured individual titles.

“Both M.J. and Kai dominated their weight classes,” said Funk, “pinning their way through the tournament.”

Like her senior teammates, sophomore Layla Funk dominated at 115 — until the finals that is, which is where she ran into a talented Canton South senior.

“It was a tough match,” said the coach. “She fought hard but got beat by points.”

ROOTSTOWN

Rootstown finished a respectable 18th out of 48 teams in the Fear the Spear Tournament Jan. 24 at Canal Fulton Northwest.

“There were a lot of good girls there, a lot of state champs,” head coach Nick Sladky said.

Sophomore Morgan Giebel finished runner-up at 155, while classmate Sophia Byers took sixth at 140.

“Morgan did really well. She was ready to wrestle and came out fighting. She got caught and pinned in the finals,” said Sladky. “Sophia ran across a girl who was really tough in the semifinals where she injured her neck. She went from the semis to sixth place because she had to medically forfeit the rest of the day. Had she not been injured, she would’ve probably finished third.”

SOUTHEAST

Southeast produced a pair of placers in the extremely competitive 48-team Fear the Spear Tournament Jan. 24 at Canal Fulton Northwest – freshman Riley Diehl at 130 and junior Natalie Kemble (Dominic’s cousin) at 100. Both finished fifth.

“At least three of the girls in Riley’s bracket were ranked in the top four in the state, so she’s right there,” head coach Shane Kuberry said. “She’s had a really, really good season. She’s won several tournaments and has been runner-up at a couple of them. Fifth place in this tournament is a really good finish. I’m proud of her.

“Natalie had won matches here and there and finished fifth in a couple different tournaments this season, but only the top four placed in those ones, so this was her first actual podium finish of the season. She just keeps on getting better and better. We’re super proud of her development.”

WATERLOO

Waterloo senior Heylie Camacho was somewhat disappointed in her fifth-place finish in the 48-team Fear the Spear Tournament Jan. 24 at Canal Fulton Northwest.

“The week before, Heylie won the New Philadelphia Quakers Girls Invitational,” head coach Bill Jackson said. “We expected the competition at the Fear the Spear to be a little bit tougher, and it was. She wrestled hard, she did a good job. It was a fair placing for the level of teams that were there.”

Junior Skylar Baldwin competed at 115 and had an extremely tough draw, having to face the No. 2 seed right out of the gate and then in wrestle backs another highly seeded wrestler, both of whom were state-placers last season.

“Skylar did a really good job in both matches. She was competitive in both, but inexperience got the best of her,” said Jackson. “She did better than we expected, though.”