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Young wrestlers get a taste of big time at Covelli
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More than 800 junior high wrestlers competed Saturday and Sunday in the state tournament at the Covelli Centre. Saturday’s action drew a sellout crowd.
By Jordan Cohen
YOUNGSTOWN
“I think I’m ready for this,” said Alex Mackall, 14, an Austintown Middle School eighth-grader, as he jumped in place while anxiously awaiting his match for the state championship in his 108-pound weight class at the Covelli Centre on Sunday evening.
He was indeed.
Alex won his match and was the only local student to win a state title in the weekend’s Ohio Youth Wrestling State Championships, presented by the Ohio Athletic Committee, an event that drew sellout crowds Saturday.
Although a student in Austintown, the new champion represented the North Akron Wrestling Club, his traveling team.
More than 800 junior high students throughout Ohio descended on the Covelli Centre to compete for state titles in 18 weight classes. The top eight finishers in each weight class advanced to Sunday evening’s finals.
The final competitors were introduced in a setting befitting major college championship games as they emerged through a smoke-filled entrance to the song “Final Countdown” and the cheers of families and friends.
Alex and some of the other local students who made it to the state finals agreed on the need to focus despite the huge crowds. “I just try to stay composed,” he said.
All of the local wrestlers say they want to continue competing when they move on to high school.
Mario Graziani, 14, who attends Boardman Center Middle School, would be considered an “old pro” at this. “I’ve been wrestling since I was in kindergarten,” the eighth-grader said.
He may have come by his love for wrestling through genetics. “Wrestling’s been in my blood for generations,” he said, “[because] my father won a state championship and my brother wrestles for [Austintown] Fitch.” He finished in sixth place in the 114-pound class.
“It’s exciting for me,” said Anthony Audi, 14, an eighth-grader from Poland Middle School who made it to the finals. “I’ve never wrestled in front of so many people, and it was pretty nerve-racking.”
C.J. Frost and David Labria, both 14 and eighth-graders at Canfield Village Middle School, said there has to be a commitment to training to succeed at the state level. The two competed for fifth place in separate weight classes.
“We’re always training even when the season is over,” C.J. said. “I’ll be training this summer.”
So will David, who has something bigger than Ohio in mind for his next competition.
I’m going to Los Angeles this summer to try out for the Mexican Junior Olympics as a freestyle wrestler,” said David. “My father is a full-blooded Mexican.”
The weekend competition marked the second consecutive year the state junior high wrestling championships have taken place in Youngstown.