High school wrestling: Black River holds its own at Avon Lake tournament

AVON LAKE — Black River may have had fewer wrestlers at the Cobos Classic than almost any other school, but it still delivered strong performances to get its season started on the right foot. In the boys tournament Saturday, the Pirates took seventh place out of 14 teams. All six teams that finished ahead of them sent more wrestlers to compete. "I was really proud of them," coach Blake Owen said. "We're one of the smallest schools here, and they all came out and wrestled hard. I was really impressed with our physicality, and some of the upperclassmen really stepped up." The standout performances came from Maddox Mitchell, who took second place at 132 pounds, Mason Koberna (2nd, 190) and Tristyn Herrick (3rd, 138). The Pirates also had other placers in Kohl Henry (7th, 113), Dozier Hendershot (6th, 215) and Austin Monteleone (8th, 285). "I was really excited," Owen said. "I was judging how we were doing, and after seeing that, I am excited, I think we're really going to surprise." On the girls side Sunday, Black River had just two wrestlers compete but was still able to finish ahead of five schools that brought more. Both placed, as Taylor Owen emerged victorious in the 155 bracket and Hailey Grant finished seventh at 105. Wadsworth's Madison Hohn was runner-up at 140. "She's one of the toughest girls I've ever met," Blake Owen said of Taylor Owen. "She pushes through, she keeps together mentally and her attitude this year is completely different than the past two years. She's really putting it all together." Owen won all four of her matches via pins in fewer than three minutes, capped by a 2:48 victory over Mapleton's Skylar Hopstetter. "I've been looking forward to this all year," Taylor Owen said. "She was a little difficult to pin because she had such a wide base, but I knew once I got the armbar in, I would be able to turn her." Owen has placed in the state tournament in each of the last two seasons. With the way she got started Sunday, it looks like she is in for another great season. "She may not finish undefeated, but she's going to give it a heckuva run," Blake Owen said. "She's going to get her 100th win and her 100th pin this year, so I'm really excited for this season." Contact Will Cunningham at sports@medina-gazette.com. ResultsBOYS Standings: 1. Avon Lake 311.5, 2. St. Edward 268.5, 3. Elyria Catholic 195.5, 4. Aurora 175.5, 5. Strongsville 174, 6. Mentor 169, 7. Black River 85.5, 8. North Ridgeville 75, 9. Roosevelt 71, 10. Lakewood 68, 11. North Olmsted 60.5, 12. Avon Lake (B) 49, 13. Bay 40, 14. Wellington 36.106 — Grady Moos (EC) m.d. Ryker Leonard (St. E), 9-1. 113 — AJ Bechlem (St. Eds) t.f. Blake Elton (AL), 19-1. 120 — Nate Grieger (AL) p. Caz Bushnell (St. E), 2:30. 126 — Michael Rusinko (Str) p. Hunter Sabatino (A), 1:06. 132 — Michael Salcedo (St. E) t.f. Maddox Mitchell (BR), 15-0. 138 — Cannon Driscoll (St. E) m.d. Kaeden Lademann (AL), 13-4. THIRD: Tristyn Herrick (BR) t.f. TJ Sumpter (W), 15-0. 144 — Juelz Martin (EC) t.f. John Lutsock (AL), 17-1. 150 — Brayden Patterson (AL) ff Grant Eaton (A).157 — Jake Hill (EC) d. Ambrose Ieropoli (AL), 4-3. 165 — Drake Brasiel (A) p. Luke Peace (AL), 1:49. 175 — Aide Omoijuanfo (AL) p. Dane Albert (Str), 4:30. 190 — Landen Kunzelmann (AL) s.v. Mason Koberna (BR), 6-5. 215 — Javion Pierce (NO) d. Santino Stark (M), 7-1. 285 — Travis Noble (EC) p. Ashton Roessler (W), 1:35. GIRLSStandings: 1. Elyria 155, 2. Clyde 120, 3. Normandy 108, 4. Avon Lake 103, 5. Walsh Jesuit 99, 6. Columbia 98, 7. Lorain 66, 8. Midview 60, 9. Berea-Midpark 56, 10. Lakewood 54.5, 11. Strongsville 53, 12. Valley Forge 52, 13. Bellevue 51.5, 14. Oberlin 51, 15. Mapleton 47, 16. Keystone 46, 17. Lutheran West 41, 18. Wadsworth 39, 19. North Ridgeville 37, 20. Calvert 34, 20. Black River 34, 22. New London 33, 22. Firelands 33, 24. North Olmsted 30, 25. Port Clinton 29, 26. Crestview 27.5, 27. Olmsted Falls 24.5, 28. Cleveland Central Catholic 22, 29. Aurora 21, 30. Hudson 14.5, 31. Brecksville-Broadview Heights 3.100 — Cali Otero (Lor) d. . Destiny Cabot (AL), 17-14. 105 — Isabella Thiel (WJ) p. Brooke Yontosh (Norm), 1:38. 110 — Skye Price (Mid) p. Sophia Soto (WJ), 1:03. 115 — Olivia Campbell (Ely) p. Kayla Tischler (Cly), 0:39. 120 — Elana Quigley (LW) p. Gabrielle Lopez (Norm), 2:16. 125 — Meredith Greenslade (Cly) t.f. Bianca Craig (AL), 18-0. 130 — Ravenna Guidicelli (Ely) d. Mallory Meggitt (Cly), 1-0. 135 — Stella Januszewski (Str) p. El Tha (Lake), 3:44. 140 — Rielle Hawkins (Ely) p. Madison Hahn (Wad), 0:42. 145 — Youstina Hanna (Col) d. Naomi Gearheart (Crest), 5-3. 155 — Taylor Owen (BR) p. Skylar Hopstetter (Mapleton), 2:48. 170 — Joanna Torres (VF) p. Jasmine Razo (Col), 0:24. 190 — Seraiah Jackson (Ely) ff. Kira Maassen (Ely). 235 — Deionna Borders (B-M) p. Hadeel Abuqbitta (VF), 2:17.