By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

It was just another day at the office for Jarreau Walker.

JARREAU “RORO” WALKER

The Streetsboro junior was the heavy favorite to capture his second consecutive Division II state championship at the OHSAA state wrestling tournament on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus this past weekend.

Walker, who won the state title in the 106-pound weight class last season, had absolutely no problem in cruising to this season’s finals at 113, plowing through these opponents:

     • Tech fall 18-1 over St. Bernard Roger Bacon’s Ethan Lewis in the first round

     • 7-0 over Columbus Bishop Hartley’s Vincent Martiah in the quarterfinals

     • Major decision 11-3 over Thornville Sheridan’s Cash Owen

“Jarreau just wrestled with confidence, stayed in position, made the shots when the openings were there, ran the legs,” head coach Mark Skonieczny said. “He just handled those kids, he did whatever he needed to do on his feet, turned the kids for back points when he was on top, got out from the bottom. And we’re talking about kids who had like 35, 38, 40 wins this season.”

Walker is so good, so talented, so dominant that the 4-3 score he won by over St. Vincent-St. Mary freshman Nolan DeShon in the finals was deceiving.

“Jarreau gave up two penalty points,” said Skonieczny. “He kicked the kid out when he was on top, he was riding him, then he booted him out to try to get another takedown. Maybe right there towards the end, things got a little dicey, but I was never worried about him losing that match.”

Neither was Walker.

“You always have doubts,” he said, “but, for the most part, I was in control.”

When asked how he feels to be a repeat state champion who stood at the top of the podium again, the soft-spoken Walker replied, “It feels great.”

“Jarreau is a well-deserving two-time state champion,” said his coach. “He works at it year-round. He’ll wrestle during the off-season. He’ll get on club teams and travels around the country to wrestle in tournaments.”

Walker will likely compete at either 120 or 126 next season as a senior. Skonieczny is confident that his star athlete will be a three-time state champion a year from now.

“There are no guarantees,” he said, “but Jarreau will be favored to win a state title again next season whichever weight class he wrestles.”

“I’m pretty confident,” said Walker, who is the first back-to-back state champion in program history since Joe Boardwine in 1992 and 1993.

Meanwhile, Rockets freshman Avery Conroy finished sixth at 175. He lost an 8-7 heartbreaker to Wapakoneta’s Wyatt Buell in the fifth/sixth-place match.

AVERY CONROY

“Avery was winning the entire match from the very start,” Skonieczny said. “He was winning 7-5, but gave up a takedown with three seconds left in the match. He got sloppy there at the end. I was sick to my stomach.”

Conroy won 1-0 over Goshen’s Gage Croley in the first round and then in the quarterfinals won 4-3 by tiebreaker over Steubenville’s Landon Crosier. In the semifinals he was simply overmatched by tech fall 22-2 by Bellefontaine Benjamin Logan’s Ethan Carpenter before losing in the consolation semifinals by a second-period pin to Tallmadge’s Ian Bee.

“That guy he lost to in the semifinals was a stud,” Skonieczny said.

Junior Johnny Bollinger competed in an extremely difficult 106 weight class. He lost his first-round match by a second-period pin to Lisbon Beaver’s Jordan Bates, the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the state. In a first-round consolation match Bollinger lost 11-4 to Shelby’s Sebastian Cain.