Wrestling: Elyria Catholic's Grady Moos one of three semifinalists from Lorain County at M.I.T.

MEDINA — Elyria Catholic freshman Grady Moos has seen what the Medina Invitational Tournament is all about from afar for years. Now that he's in the arena of "The greatest show in wrestling," Moos is doing everything he can to make his mark. "I've been coming to this tournament for a long time," Moos said. "My dad's been coaching for a while. It feels nice to finally be out here and finishing matches how I want." Moos won his first three matches of the M.I.T. by technical fall to dominate his way into a semifinal with North Canton Hoover's Constantine Paxos this morning, and sits two wins away from winning the tournament title at 106 pounds. His win gave Lorain County its first of three semifinalists in a tournament that has attracted some of Ohio's best wrestling teams in its 49th edition. Avon heavyweight Eian Englehart bookended Moos' accomplishment by reaching the semifinals with a pair of pins. He'll meet Liberty Center's Logan Sifuentes to start his day today. Sifuentes finished fourth in the state in Division III last year. After finishing fourth at the M.I.T. last year, Englehart can improve on that mark with a win against Sifuentes. "I'm confident in my coaches for sure," Englehart said. "I've been working all week to prepare for this. I've done better than last year, so that's always good. It's a long tournament, so I'm just trying to keep my energy the best I can throughout the day." Between Moos and Englehart came Columbia sophomore Bodey Gibbs, who reached a semifinal against Dominic DiFilippo from the host Bees this morning with three wins that didn't last the full three periods. Gibbs (113), who won the M.I.T. last year on his way to winning a D-III state title at 106 pounds, pinned Olentangy Orange's Collin Long before recording technical falls against Uniontown Lake's Devin Wisener and Paxton Laughlin of Louisville (15-0). The quarterfinals were far crueler to the rest of Lorain County, which started with 14 quarterfinalists with hopes of winning a championship. No team felt that cruelty more than Avon Lake, which entered the quarterfinals in first place before the Shoremen (77.5) fell to sixth place after going 0-4 in the quarterfinals. Nathan Grieger (120) suffered a 20-4 technical fall loss to Mayfield's Asilbek Anarov. Kaeden Lademann (138) lost a 14-1 major decision to Green's Joel Brink. Landen Kunzelman (190) took the closest loss in an 8-2 decision against Brock DuVall of Wauseon. Finally, Ambrose Ieropoli (157) was pinned by Genoa's Tyler Abbey. Buckeye took advantage of Avon Lake slipping down the leaderboard to claim first with 97.5 points headed into the final day of the tournament. The Shoremen have 77.5. Moos started his tournament with a 19-4 technical fall over Canfield South Range's Ralph Stellato before doing more of the same to Mayfield's Carter Slife (18-2) and Copley's Maximilion Holley (19-3). "I feel pretty good," Moos said. "I know (today's) going to be harder, so I'm going to be right tonight and get a lot of rest. I'll eat the right stuff so I'm ready to go." Englehart pinned Columbia's A.J. Lamb and Olmsted Falls' Nathaniel Scheffler, the latter coming in just 43 seconds. "This is a really good tournament early in the season," Englehart said. "Our team likes to look at it like a benchmark for districts. If you place here, there's a good chance you'll place at district and make your way to state." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.