Monday, February 14, 2005
Dozens of Mahoning Valley wrestlers advanced to the district tournaments in Divisions II and III.
ROOTSTOWN -- Jackson-Milton High enjoyed a nearly flawless weekend in winning the Division III sectional wrestling tournament at Rootstown High School.
The Bluejays entered 13 wrestlers and advanced all of them to this weekend's district meet at Twinsburg. Two of them will go as alternates.
"It was a good team effort," said Bluejays coach Dave Tomaino. "Our six seniors really picked it up."
Those six were Nick Dierkes, champion at 145; Jake Hambrick, second at 112; Mark Gibbs, second at 135; Adam Keck, second at 171; Adam Gettman, third at 130, and John Rozum, third at 160.
"Mike Wiseman at 152 also wrestled really well," said Tomaino. Wiseman, a junior, won the weight class.
Also advancing for Jackson-Milton were Matt Mascioli, fourth at 120; Joe Skaggs, second at 125; Nick Tomaino, third at 140, and Jeff Yaratech, second at 275.
"This district will be a meatgrinder," said Tomaino. "We're going up against the small, private schools from the Cleveland area."
Burton Berkshire advanced 12 wrestlers to the district to lead all schools. Richmond Heights sent 10 and Brookfield is one of several schools with nine wrestlers.
The Warriors finished second to Jackson-Milton at the Rootstown sectional, 241.5-207. Tristan Thompson (112) and Dave Dillon (140) will lead the charge as sectional champions.
Ursuline's Bradley Parks (215), South Range's Levi Hively (119) and Warren Kennedy's A.J. Seifert (275) also won sectional titles.
Brookfield also advanced Brad Harnett (130), Nick Policastro (135), Ross Tice (145), Randy Hogue (152), Raymond Baum (171), Anthony Policastro (189) and Mike Lake (215).
Ursuline's other qualifiers were Tim Kovalscik (103), Sean Poole (152) and Nickolas Kolitsos (275), while South Range will send Nick Sheetz (103) and Andrew Padach (125). Kennedy's other qualifier is Sean O'Brien (130).
Division II
BELOIT -- West Branch advanced 10 wrestlers and won the sectional team title with 227.5 points.
The Warriors had four sectional champions -- Elliott Citino (103), Eric Morrow (119), Brad Learn (135) and Andy Lamancusa (140). Scott Early (215) and Nathan Sharp (275) were runners-up; Zack Miller (112), John Karlen (145) and Josh Learn (152) were all third, and Jeff Karlen (160) was fourth.
Howland was second with 202.5 points and nine qualifiers. The Tigers' Steve Wall (112), Alex Wall (152) and Rob Holbert (275) won championships, while Paul Mauser (103) was second. Zach McManus (140) and Kyle Gantz (215) were third, while Cody Leek (119), Jake Kakavros (135) and Mike Kreatsoulas (171) were all fourth.
Alliance finished third with 179.5 points and eight qualifiers. Josh Winner (160), Chad Shields (189) and Matt Walker (215) were individual champions, while Josh Cintron (130), Matt Ours (135) and Chris Domino (140) earned seconds. Nick Murphy (103) and David Murphy (125) were both third.
Hubbard had five qualifiers -- Adam Graban won at 130, Rob Sullivan (171) was second, Brandon Rydarowicz (275) was third, and D.J. Dripps (125) and Don Nadeja (189) were fourth.
Southeast also had five qualifiers -- runners-up Kenny Coleman (145) and Jon Braham (160), along with David Senty (130) and Joe Knopick (189), who were both third, and Craig Brown (215), who was fourth.
Salem's Ben Andre won the title at 171 pounds; he'll be joined at Firestone by Sonn Hostetter (119) and Brandon Quinn (125), who were both second, and Mike Manypenny, who was third at 135.
Poland's Max Pearce won the 125-pound title and will be the Bulldogs' only representative in the district.
Liberty will send sectional runners-up Zack Martin (112) and Tod Rogers (152), along with fourth-place finisher Rob Webber (145), and Girard advanced Justin Alexander (160) and Nick Coggins (171), who both finished third.