Westlake Gets Two Champions At Campana Holiday Classic
Wrestlers Steve Robb and Sheldon Stuckart win individual championships.
For years it was known as the Southview Holiday Classic, but when the Lorain school district merged its high schools, the wrestling tourney got re-named the Jennee Campana Holiday Classic.
It also got a new champion, as Westlake could not fend off the Lorain Titans, who won their inaugural tourney with 288.5 points.
But considering the Demons graduated 10 seniors from last year, coach Mike Antonyzyn couldn't have been prouder of his boys.
"Four of our kids were not here, two with injuries and we had four kids in the finals, so that was really impressive for us," Antonyzyn said. "We are a young team, we have just two seniors and we were on the doorstep of taking home second place, so we did real well."
Westlake had four wrestlers in the championship round and ended up with a pair of champions as both junior Steve Robb (140 pounds) and senior Sheldon Stuckart (160) claimed championships.
Robb reached the finals with a narrow 4-3 decision over Hudson's Doug Talarcek. He also pinned Maple Heights' Tom Buchanan. In the championship match, he scored a 14-6 major decision win over Connor Wolfe of Worthington Kilbourne.
Sheldon Stuckart, who said he was suffering from a little bit of the stomach flu, won his second title in as many tries. After taking a 5-0 lead, he downed Jefferson's Alex Cash 7-3 in the championship match.
"I didn't feel so great out there; I didn't think I was getting my shots in," Stuckart said. "It felt good winning, but I wasn't 100 percent and feel more accomplished when I am able to get all my moves in."
Westlake also saw two wrestlers take home second place as Andrew Spreng fell to Joey Bait of Jefferson, 16-5, in the finals and Alex Cahill lost to Holy Name's Mike Harrigan in a tough 6-4 decision.
Demons' Mo Farraj (119) took home a fourth-place finish as did Logan Paul (152), while Kevin Kruger (125) downed Ryan Walsh of Midview, 9-5, to take home the fifth-place trophy.
Also having a good meet was junior Zach Goodman, who won the "B" bracket. Goodman scored a pin over Lorain's Michael Kopp in 5:18 after winning his other two matches of the day. In his first match, he pinned Cleveland Heights Alec Radivoyevitch in 5:05, and then Midview's Allec Khollov in 3:46.
"I thought all of our kids were competitive and I was pleased," Antonyzyn said. "I have a great staff that is phenomenal. This has been an enjoyable year so far, because the kids are improving and it makes it worthwhile "
The Demons hit the mats again at the Columbia tournament on Jan. 8.