High school wrestling: Cloverleaf crowns five champs at MAC meet

PENINSULA — Taking lessons learned from their first two Metro Athletic Conference wrestling tournaments, Cloverleaf juniors Timmy Shores, Hayden Jarvis and Tristan Craddock finally climbed to the top of the mountain. That trio joined senior Lakota Hagenbaugh and freshman Logan Letner to give the Colts five champions Saturday the MAC Tournament hosted by Woodridge. Shores earned redemption when he beat Norton senior Daniel Hopkins 11-5 in the 285-pound championship to close the tournament. Last year, Hopkins pinned Shores in the semifinals. Shores built a 6-0 lead in the third period before Hopkins got a reversal and three near-fall points with 9 seconds left. Shores countered with an escape, takedown and two near-fall points as time expired. "I'm feeling pretty good right now, but I've got to keep improving," Shores said. "I learned last year that I always need to stay in position and be smart. That's what I've trained on this season, and it's working out so far. "The competition only gets better from here, so I can't stop and have to keep going." The Colts and Streetsboro each crowned five champions to lead the field, but the Rockets pulled away to win 189.5-163 after Cloverleaf went only 6-5 in the championship semifinals. Behind Most Outstanding Wrestler Donovan Paes (132), the Rockets ended a five-year reign by Norton (87.5), which was sixth. Craddock, a projected Division II state qualifier by Intermatwrestle.com's Josh Lowe, defeated defending champion Cohen Klimak of Streetsboro at 150 by a dominant 5-0 decision to win his first championship after finishing runner-up to Woodridge's Luke Radwany (6-2) at 138 last season. "It's about time I've won one and I wrestled better in that match," Craddock said. "No matter how hard you work, there's somebody that's working hard, so I'm trying to be that person that people are chasing and have had a pretty successful year so far. I've got to keep getting better and prove it on the mat." Klimak won at 150 last season after beating Jarvis 5-3 with a late-match takedown. This season Jarvis left no doubt with a second-round pin of Ravenna's Sean Loucks. Jarvis battled a right knee injury throughout the week and immediately saw the trainer after his match to get wrapped with ice. "I haven't been able to practice all week because my knee started to enflame, so I couldn't take shots or anything," Jarvis said. "I just wanted to come out here and compete today. I'm glad I came out with a conference championship." Jarvis was not the only Colt to overcome an ailment, as Hagenbaugh had been fighting the flu and that showed through the first two periods of his 215 final with Streetsboro's Joey Fedor. Hagenbaugh, Cloverleaf's lone returning state qualifier, trailed Fedor 5-2 going into the final 2 minutes and, after choosing to down, got a mid-round reversal that he turned into a pin. Hagenbaugh finished second to Norton's Reid Beddow at 190 last season. He previously won a championship as a sophomore. "I couldn't really breathe during the match (from being sick)," Hagenbaugh said. "I had to keep pushing through and hit something funky, because I couldn't do what I'm used to." Letner (113) won a championship on his first try with a 14-4 major decision over Ravenna senior Cory Cole, who finished as the 106 runner-up last season. "Coming into the tournament as one of the only freshmen at my weight class and winning, it is crazy," Letner said. "Coming from middle school to high school, it's a lot tougher. A lot more of these guys are strong, because they are older. I've just got to work harder, that's all it is." The returning 175 champion, James Nespeca, lost in the 165 final to the returning champion at that weight, Steven Duffy of Woodridge, by second-round pin. Fellow returning champion Garran Leffel overcame a semifinal loss to Woodridge's A.J. Rickenbacher by pinning Norton's Jesse Farmer in the third-place match. Radley Spencer (126), Austin Letner (138) and Owen Price (190) took fourth. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results Standings: 1. Streetsboro 189.5, 2. Cloverleaf 163, 3. Field 99, 4. Springfield 97, 5. Woodridge 94, 6. Norton 87.5, 7. Coventry 63, 8. Ravenna 51.5. 106 — Aidan Carone (St) p. Kaden Orndorf (Co), 3:13. 113 — Logan Letner (Cl) m.d. Cory Cole (R), 14-4. 120 — Omar Leon (Sp) p. Matt Klimak (St), 1:35. 126 — Anthony Perez (St) t.f. Dom Demastus (Sp), 15-0; Third — Dino Campisi (W) p. Radley Spencer (Cl), 1:46. 132 — Donovan Paes (St) p. A.J. Rickenbacher (W), 1:31; Third — Garran Leffel (Cl) p. Jesse Farmer (N). 138 — Evan McGhee (Co) d. Jesse King (N), 11-4; Third — Hunter Smith (St) d. Austin Letner (Cl), 3-0. 144 — Hayden Jarvis (Cl) p. Sean Loucks (R), 5:14. 150 — Tristan Craddock (Cl) d. Cohen Klimak (St), 5-0. 157 — Anthony Lahoski (W) d. Cory Beddow (N), 5-3 (OT). 165 — Steven Duffy (W) p. James Nespeca (Cl), 2:32. 175 — Landon Bodovetz (St) p. John Riley (F), 3:06. 190 — Sam Brunner (St) p. Robert Atha (F), 2:46; Third — Landon Gingo (Co) p. Owen Price (Cl), 4:19. 215 — Lakota Hagenbaugh (Cl) p. Joey Fedor (St), 5:00. 285 — Timmy Shores (Cl) d. Daniel Hopkins (N), 11-5.