Westlake Advances Two Wrestlers To District Meet

The wrestling season for Westlake’s Sheldon Stuckart and Andrew Spreng  will last another week as both grapplers will advance to this weekend’s Division I District Championship held at Lorain Southview.

Stuckart, a senior with a 37-3 record, will take on Springfield junior Kyle Ruiz (18-10) in his opening district match at 152 pounds. Spreng, a junior with a 30-14 record, is scheduled to open against highly-regarded senior Michael Evans of Mansfield Senior (29-2) at 112 pounds.

Stuckart and Spreng’s road to qualify for the 41-team district was paved with strong performances at the sectional this past weekend (Feb. 19). Both wrestlers finished in the top five, with Stuckart placing second and Spreng in fourth.

In the sectional, Stuckart opened with a tech. fall win over freshman Derek Eibon of Steele, 17-2. In the quarterfinals, the Westlake senior topped North Olmsted sophomore Alex Balia via maj. decision, 10-1. Stuckart advanced to the 152-pound championship match with a 6-2 win over Elyria’s Devan Price in the semifinals. In the title match, St. Edward’s junior Mark Martin stopped Stuckart via maj. decision, 13-3.

For Spreng, his quest to win the 112-pound sectional title started strong with a pin of North Olmsted junior Dominic Armstrong at 1:26. In the semifinals, sophomore Chase DuPratt of Olmsted Falls topped Spreng, 11-1, to send the Westlake junior into the consolation bracket. In the consolation semifinals, Spreng defeated North Ridgeville junior Bobby Vedda, 15-7, by maj. decision to advance to the third-place match.

Here, Spreng would face (again) Armstrong, but the outcome would be different. Armstrong avenged his opening loss, beating Spreng via 7-2 decision. Both Armstrong and Spreng are advancing to district.

Other solid sectional performances from Demons’ head coach Mike Antonyzyn’s team include junior Steve Robb (140 pounds), junior Zach Goodman (103), senior Alex Cahill (145), senior Pat Hertl (171), and freshman Alex Busser (285).

Robb, who pinned junior Scott Ahern of Olmsted Falls in 3:36 in the quarterfinals, faced Ahern again for the rights to fifth place. Robb topped Ahern by decision, 10-8. The Demon foursome of Goodman, Cahill, Hertl, and Busser all ended their tourney with sixth-place finishes.

Goodman lost to North Ridgeville sophomore Drew Dickson, 10-2. Cahill dropped his fifth-place match to Olmsted Falls’ junior Brian Slater, 8-4. Hertl was shutout, losing to junior Anthony Ellis of Elyria, 4-0. And Westlake’s heavyweight freshman,  Busser, lost a close match via decision to Elyria sophomore T.J. Halstead, 6-2.

TEAM RESULTS FROM SECTIONAL AT LORAIN (FEB. 19)

How they finished: 1. St. Edward 327.50 points; 2. Elyria 189;  3. Lorain 165.50;  4. Olmsted Falls 136;  5. Lakewood 114.50;  6. North Olmsted 90;  7. Westlake 78.5;  8. Midview 72.5;  9. North Ridgeville 69.5;  10. Steele 49;  11. Avon Lake 47;  12. John Marshall 33.5.

41-TEAM FIELD FOR UPCOMING DISTRICT AT LORAIN (FEB. 25-26)

(Area Patch schools in bold; number of wrestlers in parenthesis)

Anthony Wayne, Clay, Perrysburg, Springfield, St. Francis deSales, St. John's Jesuit, Sylvania Northview, Sylvania Southview, Whitmer, Berea, Brecksville (10), Brunswick, Cloverleaf, Copley (5), Cuyahoga Falls (6), Firestone, Medina, Midpark, Nordonia, Strongsville (4), Wadsworth, Ashland, Bowling Green, Findlay, Fremont Ross, Lima Senior, Mansfield Senior, Marion Harding, Sandusky, Lorain, Elyria, Olmsted Falls, St. Edward (14), North Ridgeville, North Olmsted, Westlake (2), Lakewood (6), Steele, Midview, John Marshall, Avon Lake (2).