The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Kruger’s wrestling run ends one match shy of the podium
Westlake’s underdog surprises at state
COLUMBUS >> Westlake senior 160-pounder Liam Kruger (40-5) wasn’t highly regarded heading into the postseason. But, following a runnerup finish at both the Westlake Sectional and Mentor District and a huge pin in the first round over defending state placer Drew Wiechers in 2 minutes, 28 seconds, putting him just one win away from reaching the podium as a state placer. However, the morning of March 8 was not kind to the Demon. He dropped two tough matches — losing a 21-6 tech. fall to Wadsworth’s Dom Loparo and a heartbreaking 16-13 match to Oxford Talawanda’s Sean Mondello in the second round of the consolation bracket. “He had a great run here the last few weeks,” secondyear Westlake coach Mike Carpenter said. “He was a little bit of an unknown — he wasn’t ranked high all year. But he had a nice sectional and knocked off some people who were ranked pretty high. “He had a nice first round match here, but then came up a little short today (March 8), especially in that last match to place against a solid wrestler. He was a great wrestler that we’ve had the last couple of years. He’s a great kid and a great student and he was always an exciting wrestler to watch. He had an exciting style and people liked to watch him compete.” Kruger, not state-ranked, has felt slighted throughout the postseason. “I knew if I won this match, I get to go to my hotel and relax,” Kruger said. “I’ve never hit a spladle move in my career. I wanted it more. I look at the projections and they always have me losing every match. It makes me mad a little bit and it drives me a little bit. “The bright lights don’t bother me, I honestly think it’s really cool. It’s crazy. I want recognition and I’ve been driven this season.” In his go-home match against Mondello, Kruger jumped out to an quick 4-0 lead in the first period and increased that lead to 10-6. But a takedown and back points from Mondello cut the deficit to 13-10 after 2 periods, and he escaped from the down position and picked up a takedown to tie the match at 13 with a minute remaining. Kruger gave up two more back points in the final seconds to drop a heartbreaking loss. He lay on the mat in exhaustion for a minute at the conclusion of the match, and the exhaustion continued after he left the mat. As Carpenter talked, Kruger laid prone on his back, too spent in every fashion to move. “He worked really hard and I’m proud of him,” Carpenter said. “It was a solid run. But (Mondello) was able to hit a few big moves on us and score a lot of points and it changed the whole complexion of the match. He made it tough at the end and it came down to the final turn.” Kruger was Westlake’s first state qualifier under Carpenter, a former St. Edward assistant coach. In fact, Kruger was joined by Mo Zayed, Thayer Zayed and Hunter Ashburn as district qualifiers this season — the first Carpentercoached district qualifiers for Westlake. “We didn’t even have a district qualifier last year, so to send four this year and one of them going to state was a nice improvement,” Carpenter said. “That was a nice little run we went on this year. “Hopefully, our younger guys see Liam make it down here and have some success and it motivates them to work hard and get here as well and do some pretty cool things when they do. “Kruger felt he proved himself to a lot of people these last few weeks. “I really appreciate my teammates coming down with me, they are like brothers to me,” he said.
“Our team is a family. Every time I win, they think I’m lucky, but I don’t care. I just show people what I’m made of.”