The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Lorain Titan Classic: Westlake leads tournament after first day
Westlake coach Mike Carpenter knew his Demons had been wrestling well. But he had no idea that they were atop the leaderboard after the first day of the annual Lorain Titan Wrestling Classic Tournament Friday night.
The Demons led the 16team field with 94.5 points after Friday’s three-round round-robin completion, which served to seed today’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ brackets. Perkins (second, 88), St. Edward’s ‘B’ team (third, 84.5) and Cloverleaf (fourth, 80.5) round out the top four at the conclusion of wrestling Friday night.
“There are a lot of good wrestlers and well coached teams out here so we knew we were going to run into good competition,” Carpenter said. “So far, our guys are responding and wrestling well.
“Tomorrow, we’ll see. Sometimes it is tough to get 5-6-7 matches in, and you’ve got to respond to that physically and mentally. Hopefully we continue to wrestle well tomorrow.”
Among the standouts for Westlake include senior 132-pounder Thaer Zayed and senior 152-pounder Issac Carmichael. Both went undefeated during Friday’s competition, with Thaer going 2-0 with a 24-9 technical fall over Columbia’s Dom Governale and a 23-12 major decision over St. Ed’s sophomore Parker Croston, an Amherst resident. Carmichael went 3-0 with three pinfalls.
“A lot of our young guys are stepping up and our seniors are doing great and providing some leadership,” Carpenter said. “We’re excited about what we see so far.
“We didn’t really say anything about wanting to do a certain thing here. We just wanted to wrestle our best and represent ourselves as best to our ability and see where it finishes at the end.”
The host Titans, in Dan Findlay’s head coaching debut, sit in fifth place with 64 points after the first day. Senior 145-pounder Daniel Findlay went 3-0 in the round-robin, pinning Fairview Ethan Laube in 3:28, a 21-5 technical fall over Valley Forge’s David Cruz and pinning Parma’s Nick Heabler in 2:17.
“I had a rough go of it a little bit last year, so (my) senior season, I came out here hoping to get the ‘W’ back,” Findlay said. “Wrestling competition is a lot of fun, and you learn new moves as you go. It’s a good mental accomplishment coming in with three wins. It gets your confidence up and boosts your energy. It gets you prepared and ready for the rest of the season.
“My dad’s coached every one of my matches since I was 3, so it’s nothing really new. It’s a little bit different since he’s the head coach this year with Mark Moos stepping down, but you still have to wrestle your hardest and push with everything you’ve got.”
With his 3-0 performance, Findlay earned the top seed for today’s main bracket.
“It’s cool to open the season and show out for your home crowd,” Findlay said. “Getting the chance to wrestle in front of your friends just adds to my motivation. I just want to have fun and give it all I’ve got.
“Last year, I ended up winning the ‘B’ bracket, so my goal is to win the ‘A’ bracket, nothing less.”
Lorain sophomore 160-pounder Brandy Crawford also stood out for the hosts, earning a pair of victories Friday night – pinning Painesville Harvey’s Alex Spondike in 24 seconds and a 14-4 major decision over St. Ed’s Aris Dashiell.
“I just went out there and did what I normally do,” Crawford said. “For the first match of the season, it was a good match. So I just went out there and tried my hardest. It’s fun wrestling my teammates (in practice), but there’s some things I can’t do against them, like going hard. When you’re wrestling somebody new (from another team), you can go your hardest on the mat.
“It’s kind of hard getting back into wrestling shape going from baseball to football to wrestling. I like that we have our first tournament at home. I’ve got family and friends here so I want to wrestle my best for them and do the best I can.”
Other standouts for Lorain included senior 132-pounder Deonte Dean, who went 2-0, sophomore 106-pounder Xavier Santiago, who went 2-0, and sophomore heavyweight Santana Sanchez, who went 2-1.