Last year, the Streetsboro Rockets’ wrestling team only advanced one wrestler to the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II state tournament. The Rockets doubled their state qualifiers this year as sophomore 106-pounder Jarreau Walker captured a state bid by winning the district title and senior 165-pounder Cohen Klimak earned his third career state berth by placing third last weekend at Kenston High School in Bainbridge Township.
“We are not going backwards,” said Coach Mark Skonieczny. “We are adding to our numbers. It could have easily been four, but it could have also been one. We improved on last year and next year, our goal is going to be four and the next year after that we are just going to keep trying to add to it.”
The Rockets’ duo will compete in the OHSAA Division II state tournament at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center in Columbus beginning on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.
For Walker, it marked the second consecutive district championship but his first state berth. As the Villager previously reported, Walker won the 106-pound district title in his freshman season but was disqualified from the state tournament after being assessed a second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for his celebration after winning the championship bout.
This time, Walker’s season will be extended one more week.
He went 4-0 at the district tournament to repeat as the district champion, remaining undefeated on the season.
“Jarreau is on a mission,” noted the second-year coach. “He still has to prove himself. He still does not have that one title to solidify him as one of the greats. Yes, he won Brecksville and yes he is the number five kid in the country but no he does not have a state title yet and that is the one thing that he knows is stopping him from being good to great.”
On Friday, Walker dominated in his first two matches as he pinned Alliance freshman Jackson Braisted with 50 seconds remaining in the first period of the first round match then pinned sophomore Canfield Cain Mlinarksi at the 1:22 mark of the second period of the quarterfinal to earn a semifinal berth.
On Saturday, the Rockets’ sophomore clinched a state bid when he overpowered Coventry junior Kaden Orndorff by a 19-2 technical fall and repeated as the district champion by dominating freshman Collin Bartos of Medina Buckeye in the championship, beating him by an 18-3 technical fall.
Walker will face Zanesville sophomore Vince Coleman in the first round of the state tournament,
Streetsboro’s other state qualifier, Klimak, earned his third state bid by going 3-1.
“I told Cohen going into that tournament that out of the top ten kids in the State of Ohio at 165, there are seven of you who are in that bracket,” said Skonieczny. “That bracket was loaded and the toughest weight class in the entire tournament and there were going to be three kids ranked in the top 10 that were not going to go to state, and I told Cohen out of all of these 16 kids, you are the best athlete, you just have to put it altogether this weekend and he did.”
On Friday, Klimak won his first-round match when he overpowered Perry sophomore Michal Niedzwiecki by an 18-3 technical fall and then beat senior Devin Shaw-Mason from Padua Franciscan 9-3 in the quarterfinal to capture a spot in the semifinals.
On Saturday, Klimak’s bid for the district belt ended as West Geauga junior Brian Denamen edged him 4-1 in the semifinals.
Klimak battled back, defeating senior Tristan Wilson from Benedictine 2-0 in the consolation semifinal bout, earning a spot in the state tournament then wrapped up his day by defeating rival Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary junior Rylan Hurley 4-1 in sudden victory overtime in the consolation championship,
Entering the match, Klimak had been 0-4 against Hurley during his career, with his most recent defeat coming in the sectional championship on Feb. 22.
“If we were going to win a match or beat him one out of five times, the district was the time to do it and Cohen took him down in overtime and wrestled a perfect match,” Skonieczny said. “We gambled less and waited for that one perfect opportunity, and it took to overtime to find that opportunity.”
The John Carroll University commit will begin his pursuit of a state championship by wrestling Columbus St. Francis DeSales sophomore Joel Welch in the first round of the 165-pound bracket.
