The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Pioneers preparing for season like no other
It’s been a busy past few months for the Elyria wrestling program. Coach Erik Burnett is hoping that busy-ness carries into the fall and winter.
With the official start of the winter sports season less than a month away, Burnett is cautiously optimistic that a high school wrestling season will take place this winter — even if it looks a little different.
“Things have been going good for us so far,” Burnett said. “Just trying to use common sense but other than that it’s been good. We’ve been talking sanitation precautions and doing all the necessary things in the room like wrestling in rounds of three or four. That’s what we were doing last night at practice. Just kind of wrestling in pods.”
Luckily for Burnett, he’s been able to get a first-hand look at what wrestling during the coronavirus looks like, as the Pioneers have been competing in nationally sanctioned tournaments since August, starting with sophomore Riley Banyas fourth-place finish at the Reno World Tournament.
A few weeks after that, she finished 4- 0 at the Olympic Club duals held in State College, Pa.
After that, Burnett worked with his brother Scott Burnett — the head wrestling coach at Perrysburg — to put together a team for ‘ The Battle of the Burg’ freestyle championship in Philadelphia, where Elyria wrestlers Enrique Munguia and Nate Burnett both finished undefeated. Munguia (Kent State) and Burnett (Clarion) both made college commitments over the summer along with Peyton Fenton (Virginia).
The Pioneers also competed in the Grappler Classic at the start of October.
“The competition has been tougher,” Burnett said of the tournaments. “It seems like the only kids going are kids who are really into it and everybody you end up wrestling is really good. We have to be smart about how we do things in setting events up and doing things during the events. But competition wise it’s still really good.”
All of this sets the stage for a high school season like no other. While there haven’t been any official changes announced to the season, the OHSAA has already announced it was suspending the OHSAA dual team wrestling tournament for the 2020-21 school year.
Additionally, several area and national tournaments have also announced postponements for the season.
Last season’s state individual tournaments was postponed — and subsequently canceled — due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“A lot of the tournaments right now are looking like they’re going to be one day as opposed to two days. So they won’t be as big as they’ve normally been,” Burnett said. “What I think is trending right now it does look like they’re going to be some strong dual meets and we’ll see how things go as far as quads, tri-meets and double duals. In a perfect world, you’d love to have the big tournaments. But if we can’t have that this year, it is what it is.”
With the start of December approaching, Burnett’s prepared to do whatever it takes to get a wrestling season in.
“We’re doing preseason with modifications,” he said. “We have to use the modifications and cautions in place
and we’ve still been able to train. Things are goingOKfor us. Like I said in the spring, we’re going to do whatever whatever’s necessary to get a wrestling season in.”
“A lot of the tournaments right noware looking like they’re going to be one day as opposed to two days. So they won’t be as big as they’ve normally been.” — Elyria wrestling coach Erik Burnett
Cleveland’s the place to be
On Oct. 26, the NCAA announced its wrestling national championships sites for the 2023-2026 seasons, with Cleveland hosting in 2026. The championship was held in Cleveland in 2018, where Elyria alum and current Cornell wrestler Ben Darmstadt advanced to a national semifinal.
“Northeast Ohio in general is one of the best wrestling regions in the country,” Burnett said. “I think it’s awesome to have it here. There’s going to be a great local fan base. There are a lot of coaches in our area working with some dedicated kids right now who will hopefully be wrestling in that tournament. I think it’s going to be really cool.”