The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Avon’s Sear close to qualifying for state
The SWC champion is aiming for a state berth in his senior campaign
Avon senior Tommy Sear has always felt underrated.
Sear has never been stateranked in his career despite being a three-time Southwestern Conference champion.
He would likely have been a four-time champion if he didn’t injure his shoulder last season.
Entering the postseason not ranked again according to In- termat, Sear (145) wants to gain some respect.
“My freshman year going into district I was never ranked,” Sear said. “I ended beating the 12th-ranked and 10th- ranked at district to get to the match to place. My sophomore year again I was never ranked and I upset a top 20 kid and got to the match to go. I’ve always been right there and still never got recognition.”
Avon has nine district qual- ifiers competing this weekend at the Division I Mentor District, where some programs struggle to ever get close to that many.
After Day 1 of the tournament on March 1, Sear went 2-0 and is on the verge of his first state tournament.
He beat Pickerington North’s Will Herdman in a 20-5 tech fall and won a 7-0 decision over Findlay’s Max Jolliff in the quarterfinal.
That sets up an All-Lorain County semifinal on March 2 against Midview’s Andrew Philion, who is ranked No. 17 in the state.
Sear is in the middle of a loaded Eagles lineup that features three state-ranked wrestlers in Cael Saxton (106), Jordan Greer (195) and Jack Roesch (285).
Head coach Jeremy Johnson joined Avon four years ago as an assistant and has been the head coach the past two years.
He’s a former state champion at Brecksville and Fargo champion.
“He’s made our room different,”
Sear said. “He’s put a nice college spin on it and we do a lot of new things. We do yoga workouts and swim workouts and a lot of techniques. In the offseason during freestyle, we all compete with Elyria kids in our room everyday and we’re in their room. He sometimes takes us to Brecksville, so he gives us a lot of good competition.”
Sear’s success has caught Johnson’s attention.
“He’s had a tremendous career,” Johnson said. “I’m super proud of the kid and he will always give his best effort.”
He took second in last weekend’s Westlake Sectional only losing to No. 1-ranked Bryce Andonian (St. Edward) in the final.
“It motivates me that I have
something to prove still,” Sear added.
When he was in the first grade at Midview, current Middies head coach Shawn Bristow was the gym teacher and gave Sear a flyer telling him to come to wrestling practice.
He’s been fully invested since then.
Besides wrestling, Sear’s family has a house on Kelleys Island in Erie County and enjoys fishing during his spare time.
He doesn’t plan to wrestle in college, so this weekend could be his last hurrah.
But he’d like to extend it just one more week and a win on March 2 will guarantee that.
“I’m approaching it with an allbusiness mindset and not looking
back,” he added. “I’ve been so close before and I have a mission. I plan on definitely getting a top four finish, only a handful of kids in our school history have qualified for state.”
Upset alert
Avon Lake’s Abud Salem (138) pulled off a major upset, beating Fremont Ross’ Jackson Weissinger in an 8- 4 decision. Weissinger is the No. 5-ranked wrestler in the state. He then followed up with a 15-5 major decision over Mentor’s Joey Ricco.
Elyria results
After Day 1, Elyria went 18-3 on the day and sit with 90 points in second behind St. Edward (135).