By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Riley Diehl is just a freshman, but this Southeast wrestler is superbly talented.

She showed it last Sunday in a district tournament at Mentor.

Diehl came out on fire at 130 and advanced to the semifinals, where she was up against Massillon Perry’s Carolyn Geckler, the No. 1 ranked girl in the state.

“I think there’s probably a case that can be made that Geckler is the best girl in the state pound for pound, period,” head coach Shane Kuberry said. “We knew going in that she’s the person who is on the peak. She’s won a state title, she’s won a Fargo national championship, she really sets the standard for the girls not only in our area but across the state. So you just go out there and do the best you can against somebody like her and see how it falls.”

Diehl lost as expected, but Kuberry had a serious talk with her afterwards regarding her “blood” round match against an Elyria foe.

“It was about refocusing and being ready to go and how much work she’d put in during the off-season,” he said. “She needed to be focused on that next one because all of that work she put in was for moments like that.”

Diehl dominated her Elyria opponent, pinning her in less than a minute to clinch a berth at states. She then dominated a Keystone opponent for third place.

“Riley really dominated everybody in the bracket except for Geckler, and that’s what we figured was going to happen,” said the coach of his star sensation who won four of five matches on the day. “When you get down to states, there are so many different things that can happen. My guess is Riley does what we think she can do and comes back with some hardware. Getting down there and everything that can happen in that short period of time when those lights are bright and you haven’t seen that before, it’s so hard to tell how it’s going to play out.”

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MOGADORE

Mogadore’s MJ Shellenbarger had an up and down day last Sunday at 155 in a district tournament at Mentor.

The senior Wildcat started off well, including a victory over an opponent from West Branch in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to a Columbia opponent who she had beaten before.

“MJ just got caught and pinned,” head coach Duane Funk said.

Shellenbarger then defeated a girl from Lakeview in the “blood” round before falling to the same West Branch opponent in the third/fourth-place match who she had beaten in the quarterfinals.

Shellenbarger will make her second trip to the state tournament this weekend, having finished fourth as a sophomore.

“MJ can be a state champ if she wrestles to her full potential,” said Funk. “She has just as good a shot as anybody else down there.”

AURORA

Aurora sophomore Guilia Zayas struggled throughout the season with Poland Seminary’s Ella Thomas at 100, losing by technical fall each time the squared off.

Zayas got another chance at Thomas last Sunday in the semifinals of a district tournament at Mentor. Unfortunately, the result was the same — another tech fall loss.

“Guilia was able to hit some shots,” head coach Karli Scaffide said. “The score wasn’t indicative of what happened on the mat. Guilia went three periods with her, and it was a great, well-fought match, the best I’ve seen her wrestle in her high school career, so we’re pretty proud of her. Guilia had Thomas on her back, but then they went out of bounds. That happened twice.”

Zayas won her “blood” round match 10-0 over an Austintown Fitch opponent to clinch a berth at the state tournament and then triumphed 12-0 in the third/fourth-place match over Steubenville’s Jahmiah-el Bey.

According to Scaffide, Zayas will have a tough road but feels she can make some waves this weekend.

“If she wrestles the way she did on Sunday,” she said, “she could be on the podium.”