Despite having a more complete team this season, the Streetsboro Rockets’ wrestling team’s depth in the upper weights remains one of its greatest Achilles’ heel. The Rockets crowned four champions to take third place at the Metro Athletic Conference tournament by scoring 131.5 points last Saturday at Woodridge High School in Peninsula.
“My upper weights are some first-year wrestlers that we are trying to develop,” said Coach Mark Skonieczny. “We were hoping for possibly a win or two and we did not get it. They are going to be good and better next year, they are freshmen and sophomores but when you get injuries and you have guys out, you have to fill weight classes and hope for the best.”
The Rockets will compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II St. Vincent-St. Mary sectional tournament on Saturday in Akron at 10 a.m.
“We definitely want to be a top three team and I am hoping to get one or two of my unexperienced freshman guys a big weekend and an opportunity to experience a district tournament,” said the second-year coach.
Last Saturday, the Rockets were spurred by their wrestlers in the lower weight classes weights, including junior Anthony Sindelar who went 3-0 to capture his second consecutive conference title in the 126-pound weight class in his return from a right shoulder injury which caused him to miss about two months.
“Obviously he has to work on his conditioning because there is none and his timing, but if you watched Anthony wrestler on Saturday you would think this kid did not miss a day of wrestling,” Skonieczny noted. “He is going to run into much tougher competition. He looked a lot sharper than I was expecting.”
The Rockets’ junior overpowered Ravenna junior Ryder Denning in the quarterfinal by pinning him with 1:05 remaining in the first period, then advanced to the championship when he pinned sophomore Liam Burke from Cloverleaf with only 10 seconds left in the first period in the semi-finals. Sindelar claimed the 126-pound title when he pinned Akron Springfield senior Trevor Alford at the 1:14 mark of the first period.
Senior 132-pound Justin Wargo dominated his bracket by going 3-0 to win his first MAC title.
“Justin has been amazing all year,” said Skonieczny. “That kid gives you 100% every day. His first two years of high school, I don’t think he wrestled a handful of varsity matches and he started turning it on last year in the second half. I think he placed third in the conference and now this year he ran the table and did not lose a match all year in the conference, and he dominated the tournament, he looked fantastic on Saturday.”
Wargo advanced to the semifinals by pinning Cloverleaf freshman Lincoln Baltic with 1:30 left in the first period, then pinned sophomore Andrew Mladek from Ravenna at the 1:05 mark of the first period to advance to the championship. The Streetsboro senior ended his day by overpowering Norton freshman Matthew Hymes, winning by a 19-3 technical fall.
The Rockets’ strongest performance in the upper weights came from senior 165-pounder Cohen Klimak recording a 2-0 record to take first place.
The senior advanced to the semifinals on a bye then pinned freshman Josh Powers from Cloverleaf with 51 seconds remaining in the first period and then pinned Akron Coventry sophomore Paul Cutting at the 21 second mark of the first period.
To cap off a dominant outing at his final MAC tournament, the John Carroll University commit also received the MAC Wrestler of the Year Award.
“To me it is a double special because he was the MAC Player of the Year in football,” said Skonieczny. “He is an incredible leader. The kid never misses a practice. He has the toughest weight class in Division II and might be the toughest weight class as an individual weight class in all three divisions. He can win this sectional and district to go down to the state tournament or fall short. It is that competitive at 165 but he is ready.”
The Rockets’ final champion was sophomore Jarreau Walker, who clinched the title at 113-pounds without having to compete in a single match. Walker was the only wrestler who qualified at 113 pounds in the entire tournament and won each match by forfeit.
Streetsboro had two more wrestlers qualify for championship matches, as sophomore Johnny Bollinger went 2-1 to finish as the runner-up in the 106-pound bracket and senior 120-pound Matt Klimak recorded a 2-1 record to take second place. Other strong performances included sophomore Jerry Benci going 2-1 to finish in third place in the 150-pound weight class and freshman 138-pound Mason Giambrone posting a 1-1 record to take fourth.
