High school wrestling: Columbia shows its strength with second-place finish, eight district qualifiers

INDEPENDENCE — Columbia flexed its muscles Saturday. The Raiders competed in every weight class at the Division III sectional with an area-leading eight wrestlers qualifying and another securing an alternate spot for Friday's district tournament at Garfield Heights. The showing resulted in a second-place finish out of 14 teams. Cole Schulke was the only Raider to reach a final, bringing home the championship at the 106-pound weight class with a 17-0 technical fall over Black River's Joe Dennis. Three others — David Oleksiak at 113, Dom Governale at 144 and Garrett Szuch at 165 — won their third-place matches. Schulke is the defending district champion at 106 and placed fourth at last year's state meet. He improved to 25-0 and looks to be getting healthy after facing some injury woes throughout the season. "I'm wrestling good," said Schulke, who battled back from a torn labrum. "I was pushing the pace there and I think things are going great. Just have to get more conditioning in this week. It's affected me a little bit not being able to wrestle because of my injury. But we just keep pushing and pushing." The Raiders weren't the only area team to post a strong showing as Black River and Wellington will send five wrestlers each to the district tournament. Oberlin was the only other area school with a qualifier as Conner McConrghy took fourth at 175. The Dukes sent the most area wrestlers to the final with Jeremiah McKee bringing home the school's lone championship. The senior improved to 41-2 with three pins en route to the 132 title. Last season, he was the district runner up at 132. Cayden Conrad (157) and Derrick Andolsek (165) took second in their respective weight classes. Conrad, however, was the only wrestler in the tournament to knock off a No. 1 seed prior to the championship round with a third-period pin of Black River's Brandon Rollin, who took sixth at last year's district meet at the now defunct 152 weight class. Rollin bounced back to finish third Saturday, improving to 29-4. "I didn't do as good as I wanted to in the finals, but overall I think I wrestled pretty solid," Conrad said. "I lost to (Rollin) twice actually, and this was the one I knew was going to be different. I'm going to be working hard and I want to make it to state this week for my senior year. I've just got to keep pushing." The Pirates sent two of their five qualifiers to the final. In addition to Dennis at 106, Travis Owen strung together another strong sectional tournament, needing just two matches to bring home the 285 championship — a pin and a 2-0 decision. He will take a 36-4 record into the district meet. Owen was the district runner-up last year at 285 and went on to place eighth at the state meet. It's his third straight sectional championship and fourth straight time to the Independence podium, placing fifth his freshman year. "It feels great," Owen said. "It's a great way to end my career. It feels awesome going into districts knowing that I've got that advantage (of being a No. 1 seed)." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter. TEAM SCORES 1. Tuslaw 180.5; 2. Columbia 165; 3. Mogadore 162; 4. Cuy. Heights 154; 5. Gar. Garfield 136; 6. Wellington 97; 7. Black River 96; 8. Independence 94.5; 9. Fair. Park Fairview 93.5; 10. Hawken 85; 11. Luth. West 50; 12. Brooklyn 12; Oberlin 12; 14. Elyria Catholic 3. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS Top 4 advance to the Division III district tournament at Garfield Heights, fifth place serve as alternates. 106 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Cole Schulke (Columbia) tech. fall Joe Dennis (Black River) 17-0; Third: Travis Hummel (Mogadore) pin Cooper Kucia (Cuyahoga Heights) 0:25; Fifth: Lucas Bucher (Tuslaw), by default. 113 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Brady Funk (Mogadore) pin Vinnie Kubicki (Independence) 2:18; Third: David Oleksiak (Columbia) dec. Ian Hewitt (Fairview) 8-7; Fifth: Zander Mooney (Cuyahoga Heights) pin Kaitlyn Justice (Tuslaw) 2:41. 120 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Patrick Reineke (Hawken) maj. dec. Sam Knouse (Tuslaw) 15-2; Third: Owen Roberts (Mogadore) pin Charlie Meyer (Independence) 1:52; Fifth: James Zellmer (Fairview) tech. fall Ethan Valentine (Columbia) 17-2. 126 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Antonio Chieffallo (Cuyahoga Heights) dec. Vince Damico (Garfield) 3-2 OT; Third: Jack Valenti (Independence) dec. Jacob Szucs (Fairview) 6-0; Fifth: Luca Mead (Lutheran West) pin Dillon Perni (Hawken) 3:46. 132 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Jeremiah McKee (Wellington) pin Thomas Snyder (Tuslaw) 2:33; Third: Charlie Puklavec (Independence) pin Chris Davis (Columbia) 2:33; Fifth: Seth Kucia (Cuyahoga Heights) dec. Ian Hunt (Garfield) 7-6. 138 — CHAMPIONSHIP Zach Lyons (Tuslaw) def. Dustin Kattler (Cuyahoga Heights) by forfeit; Third: Sam Smith (Wellington) dec. Josh Hickman (Columbia) 9-6; Fifth: Matthew Plum (Mogadore) pin Dylan Smith (Brooklyn) 2:02. 144: Maxwell Cooper (Tuslaw) maj. dec. Jacob Hlifka (Hawken) 13-4; Third: Dom Governale (Columbia) dec. Tim Sommer (Garfield) 5-3; Fifth: Ryan Krajewski (Cuyahoga Heights) pin Joey Finnegan (Lutheran West) 0:29. 150 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Jacob Lyons (Tuslaw) pin Joseph Sparks (Garfield) 0:48; Third: Quinn Bruder (Fairview) pin Andrew Jakubczak (Cuyahoga Heights) 1:34; Fifth: Ronnie Skye (Mogadore) pin Bryan Jones (Columbia) 1:44. 157 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Devyn Vanest (Tuslaw) dec. Cayden Conrad (Wellington) 5-4; Third: Brandon Rollin (Black River) dec. Tony Governale (Columbia) 6-5; Fifth: Cole Karliak (Fairview) pin Lucas Brandt (Hawken) 0:45. 165 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Hunter Andel (Garfield) dec. Derrick Andolsek (Wellington) 10-4; Third: Garrett Szuch (Columbia) pin Jeremi Strong (Tuslaw) 1:46; Fifth: Caleb Mahoney (Cuyahoga Heights) maj. dec. Finn O'Maley (Fairview)10-2; 175 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Keegan Sell (Garfield) dec. Luke Torgerson (Cuyahoga Heights) 9-3; Third: Charlie Wells (Black River) pin Connor McConeghy (Oberlin) 0:20; Fifth: C.J. Dupaski (Columbia) pin Ryan Disch (Lutheran West) 0:38. 190 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Tyler Knight (Mogadore) pin Rory Corrigan (Independence) 1:33; Third: Isaiah Alarcon (Lutheran West) pin Michael Chapman (Columbia) 2:01; Fifth: Angelo Rocco (Cuyahoga Heights) maj. dec. Ben Conley (Fairview) 12-2. 215 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Michael Lowe (Mogadore) pin Jonathon Hundzsa (Garfield) 1:51; Third: Cooper McKean (Black River) pin Salvatore Camarata (Tuslaw) 2:34; Fifth: Colin Deka (Cuyahoga Heights) pin Clay Caldwell (Fairview) 0:38. 285 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Travis Owen (Black River) dec. Will Greenberg (Hawken) 2-0; Third: Tyler Schellenbarger (Mogadore) def. Devan Diedrick (Wellington) by forefit; Fifth: Oliver Lowe (Lutheran West) pin Ben Bowling (Columbia) 0:35.