43
Duran helping to put Poland wrestling on the map
Photo
Neighbors | Submitted.Tad Duran (right) defeated his opponent from Jackson-Milton during a 112-pound match last Friday at the Josh Hephner Memorial. Duran finished 3-2 for the weekend.
Photo
Edwin Figueroa top defeated his Shaker Heights opponent at 145 pounds last weekend at The Hephner at Fitch High School. Figueroa was 3-2 in his matches.
Photo
Poland's A.J. Shields (back) looks to controlthe match against his opponent from Hickory (Pa.) at the Josh Hephner Memorial last weekend. Shields won three bouts during the weekend.
When Poland’s Tad Duran decided to give wrestling a try, he had no clue what he was getting himself into. After all, playing youth baseball is not exactly the way to prepare for what happens on a wrestling mat.
“Wrestling’s not for everyone,” said Duran. “But my cousin had wrestled and I watched him a few times, and it kind of clicked in my head that it might be a good sport for me. But I had no idea how big wrestling is. It’s a life commitment.”
Duran is learning more and more each time out that wrestling is one of the most grueling sports. With little experience, he’s in the process of trying to combine technique, speed, agility, strength and mental toughness into a winning experience. So far, he’s proved that he’s ahead of the curve.
“I have high goals, but so far, I think I’m achieving what I expected,” he explained after competing in last weekend’s Josh Hephner Memorial Tournament at Fitch. “Every week, I’m working as hard as I can and making fewer mistakes. We have great coaches and I’m learning a lot from them. I’m getting to the point where when I see a move during a match, I had already been exposed to that in practice.
“I started out at 119 pounds, but the coaches thought I’d do better at 112, so I listened and it has been a good decision. I’m starting to think that this might be my best sport.”
Duran represented himself and Poland well against strong competition at The Hephner, winning three of his five matches in the pool portion of the event. He went 3-0 on Friday, before losing both bouts on Saturday morning. His losses came to Zach Getto (Medina), the eventual tourney runner-up, and fifth-place finisher Josh Bostic (Massillon Jackson).
Two other Poland wrestlers won at least three matches at The Hephner. AJ Shields went 3-2 overall at 119 pounds, winning twice on Friday and once on Saturday. He was defeated by eventual third and fifth-place finishers. Edwin Figueroa went 3-2 on the weekend at 145 pounds. One of his losses was to the fifth-place wrestler.
“This weekend had a lot of bright spots, I believe that a lot of our guys fell into some tough pools This was great experience for our young team and we got a lot of matches,” said Poland coach Tony Stellato. “We are still learning and the kids are picking up the sport quickly. Our numbers are up, we’re healthy and I think our middle school program is one of the best in the area.
“The canvas is sort of wide open for us to teach these kids the sport before they can develop any bad habits. As we get more mat experience, we’ll continue to get better. I think we’re starting to compete and have the potential to have a successful program at Poland.”