The Chagrin Valley Conference has 22 wrestlers in the semifinal round at three different district wrestling tournaments.
CVC wrestlers were most successful at the Division III Independence District where 14 advanced to the semifinals. Another eight in the Division II Kenston District are just one win away from clinching a berth in next week’s state championships.
At Kenston, where Madison is in fourth place as a team and West Geauga finished Day 1 in eighth place, Edgewood’s Kyle Vencill (157), Hawken’s Will Greenberg (285), Lutheran West’s D.J. Otero (106), Madison’s Jack Harrison (126), Izaiah Siler (157), and Noah Blough (165), and West Geauga’s Ethan Bartlett (150) and Brian Denamen (157) will wrestle in Saturday’s semifinal round.
Perry finished Day 1 at the Division III Independence District in second place, just six points behind first-place Waynedale, and Trinity closed out the first day of action in fifth place.
Semifinalists at Independence include Beachwood’s Caleb Greenwood (150), Berkshire’s Alex Munn (144), Conneaut’s Scotty Edwards (285), Crestwood’s J.P. Wrobel (126), Cuyahoga Heights’ Jeremiah Reed (215), Perry’s Landon Rusnak (113), Riley Rowan (126), Chance Schlauch (144), Domenick LaMacchia (165), and Antonius Bertone (175), and Trinity’s Derion Williams (106), Xavier Pearson (120), Reginald Banies (150), and Brandon Bruce-Bey (175)
Bruce-Bey and Bertone will wrestle each other in the semifinals, guaranteeing the CVC at least one finalist on Saturday night.
Here’s a look at the CVC wrestlers who will battle through the consolation bracket to earn a state tournament berth.
DIVISION I – NORTH CANTON HOOVER
Lakeside has five wrestlers remaining including Hassani Sy, who opened the tournament with a win in the first round at 175 before dropping into the consolation bracket in the quarterfinals.
Owen Canter (144), Jerrod Adair (150), King Wright (157), and Abi Ortiz (215) each dropped their tournament openers and will need a win to stay alive on Saturday.
DIVISION II – KENSTON
First-round winners included Edgewood’s Zeke Lucas (175), Jefferson’s Jonathon Bissell (138) and Matt Webster (190), Madison’s Ashton Zembower (138), and West Geauga’s Zander Joltin (126) and Maveric Milnar (285).
Should Bissell and Zembower win their first consolation bout, they’d wrestle head-to-head in the next round.
A dozen other CVC wrestlers dropped their first bout but advanced to Day 2 with a win in the first round of consolation wrestling.
That group included Geneva’s Nigel Platt (175), Harvey’s Alvaro Serrano (150), Lutheran West’s Evan Kromer (157), Madison’s Aidan Pastor (106), Addison Trisket (144), Dimitry Novarro (190), and Cam Mullins (285), Orange’s Austin Thomas (285), and West Geauga’s Caden Kaleal (120), Austin Wheatley (144), Quentin Artino (165), and Blake Welker (215).
DIVISION III – INDEPENDENCE
With five semifinalists and seven in the consolation bracket, Perry is in a good spot to compete for the team title.
The Pirates will need their seven consolation bracket wrestlers—Lucas Spring (132), Chris Bezzeg (138), Drew Smith (150), Michal Niedzwiecki (157), Trent Taylor (190), Chuck Thomas (215), and Nolan Leben (285)–to produce more points to challenge Waynedale for the title.
First-round winners included Berkshire’s Caden Klingman (126) and Danny Tiller (175), Chagrin Falls’ Hunter Blair (132), Crestwood’s Rocco Wrobel (106), Drake Rennecker (150), and Gavin McIntyre (215), Cuyahoga Heights’ Zander Mooney (113), Cooper Kucia (126), Fairview’s Quinn Bruder (150), Independence’s Manoli Fourtounis (138), Jefferson’s Finn O’Maley (175), and Trinity’s Cameron Carter (190).
Berkshire’s Colin Hering (113), Charlie Dixon (138), and Preston Garling (190), Conneaut’s Brendan Haley (144), Grand Valley’s Ryan Waldo (165), and Independence’s Charlie Meyer (132) lost their first-round bouts but stayed in the tournament with a win in the first round of consolation wrestling.
Dixon was a district alternate who was added to the tournament after a scratch. He’ll wrestle Fourtounis in the consolation bracket.
Hering will face off with Mooney in a consolation bout.
