The Berkshire Badgers’ wrestling team announced themselves in a big way as they finished in second place by crowning two champions to score 179.5 points at the Russ Ward Memorial Tournament last Saturday at Cardinal High School.
“It was definitely on our minds as a coaching staff that we could push for a high placement but the boys, they came out and performed the best that they could,” said Coach Dave Malkus,
For the first time in several years, the Badgers are a well-balanced squad, fielding a wrestler in 13 of the 14 weight classes with the lone exception being in the 285-pound weight class.
According to the third-year coach, who was a member of the historic 2005-06 Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III dual state runner-up squad, it is a sight to behold for a program that has treaded water for the last several years in terms of depth.
“Our recreation program has 75 and as a coaching staff for the entire program, we are getting the kids excited and getting them the matches and getting them to have fun with the sport when it is not always the most fun. The kids are seeing the success from all levels, and it makes them want to stick with it,” he added.
Each weight class competed in pool play, with some weight classes not fielding enough wrestlers to have a true championship bracket so the placements were decided by a wrestler’s pool record while other weight classes were deep enough to have multiple brackets following initial pools.
Senior 215-pounder Danny Tiller was crowned the champion in his weight class, going 5-0 on the day.
The Badgers’ senior advanced to the championship bracket after going 3-0 in Pool “A” and continued dominating.
Tiller advanced to the championship when he defeated John Hay senior Jonathan Parker 1-0 in the semifinal bout and controlled his championship match against junior Dylan Stevens from Fairless, winning by a 7-2 decision to earn his first title of the young season.
“I was very happy with his performance,” noted Malkus. In the final match, he had two takedowns and what really impressed me was in the third period, with 20 to 25 seconds left, he just knew that he wanted to put the match out of reach and didn’t score with this, but he had a nice deep shot in and tried to hit a quick finish and a little scramble. Seeing him try to get points late on the board trying to seal the match was great.”
The Badgers’ other champion was freshman Alex Sustin, who conquered the 106-pound weight class with a spotless 5-0 record in pool play.
“He has bought into the system of just scoring and get as many points as you can and going with that. He works hard in the room, so it doesn’t surprise me that he is starting to find success early,” Malkus said.
Sustin had byes in two matches, but overpowered his competition in the other three matches, pinning Rootstown freshman Trevor Lott with 1:17 remaining in the first period, defeating freshman Kyle McNeely from Benedictine by pinning him at the 1:06 mark of the first period and dispatching Eastlake North freshman Nicholas Hogan by pinning him with 32 seconds remaining in the first period.
Sophomore 126-pounder Jacob Ulatowski shined on Saturday as well, finishing as the runner-up in his bracket by going 4-1.
The Berkshire sophomore went 3-0 in Pool “B” to advance to the championship bracket and qualified for the championship bout when he pinned sophomore Logan Wilson from Rootstown with 1:12 remaining in the third period.
In the championship, Ulatowski fell to Eastlake North senior Karl Karovich by a 12-10 decision.
“He wrestled at 106 pounds last year and now is at 126 and he is just really starting to try and find his body,” said Malkus. “He is starting to get to his offense more and trust it. He was very close to tying the match up at the end. He had a deep half but just could not get the kid over, but he kept on going which is exactly what we want to see.”
Berkshire had five other wrestlers who competed in consolation championship matches, as junior pounder Danny Auth took third place in the 113-pound weight class by compiling a 4-1 record, junior 138-pounder Caden Klingman finished in third place with a 4-1 record, sophomore 157-pounder Estovan Huesca captured third place by going 4-1, sophomore Van Rice placed fourth in the 175-pound weight class by amassing a 3-2 record and junior 190-pounder Anthony Walker earned fourth place with a 2-3 record.
The Badgers will compete in the 40th annual Solon Comet Classic at Solon High School on Dec. 22 at 11 a.m.
