Led by tournament MVP Luke Hopkins and three other individual weight class champions, Cuyahoga Heights won the Columbia Invitational on Saturday.
The Redskins had 10 of 13 wrestlers place on the way to scoring 175.5 points. Elyria finished second with 140.
“We made it our goal this week to win this 12-team tournament,” Cuyahoga Heights coach Dave Meade said. “We stressed that in order to do that we needed contributions throughout the lineup. We not only needed the usual kids wrestling for first and second to contribute with bonus points but the younger kids to wrestle back and score us points and place.”
Hopkins finished 3-0 with two pins to win the 132-pound weight class.
“Luke Hopkins continued his dominant season and took first in addition to taking home the Most Valuable Wrestler award,” Meade said. “I was extremely proud of the team’s performance. Now we get back to the room and keep working hard to improve and to tackle more of our team goals.”
Nolan Frye (113), Brandon Meade (120) and Jordan Krucek also won individual titles for the Redskins.
Frye won an exciting 5-4 overtime match in the championship bout while Meade pinned all three of his opponents and Krucek flattened his four opponents.
Max Alpert (170) and Nathan Glinka (182) both finished second in their respective weight classes and Antonio Chieffallo (106) and Ryan Krajewski (126) placed third. Luke Torgerson (152) and Dominic Trusso (160) finished fourth.
Beachwood placed five wrestlers in the tournament.
Zach Kudroff (120) and Elijah Durham-Harris both finished second while James Flowers (160) was third. Paul Jacobs (132) and Mike Schmidt (145) both placed fourth for the Bison.
Columbia Invitational Tournament 2019
Place Team Score
1. Cuyahoga Heights 175.50
2. Elyria 140.00
3. Garfield Heights 133.50
4. Benedictine 81.50
5. Beachwood 72.00
6. Normandy 70.00
7. Western Reserve 67.50
8. Columbia 59.50
9. Olmsted Falls 28.00
10. Fairview 10.00
11. Oberlin 7.00
12. Trinity 3.00
