Columbia’s Schulke takes fourth

Four of seven area consolation wrestlers win last matches

With three of the remaining 10 Morning Journal area wrestlers making the state title match during Session 5 of the state wrestling tournament March 12, the remaining seven boys and girls had placing matches to finish during Session 4.

Elyria’s Riley Banyas (girls 100 pounds), Vermilion’s Lauren Ficker (105 girls) and Keystone’s Lydia Gould (115 girls) along with Columbia’s Cole Schulke (Division III, 113) all had made it to the consolation semifinals for the highest finish possible — third.

Only Schulke won his match to try for a repeat of third place, having already won 156 career matches.

He couldn’t finish with 157 wins, as Bethel-Tate’s Logan Dean nailed Schulke for a 4:25 fall, but the Columbia senior will take the podium for the third straight year. For Columbia coach Dan Juliani, it was heartbreaking to see him fall just short once again.

“Seeing how hard he works, all the extra things that he’s done,” Juliani said. “Extra morning workouts and workouts after practice to keep in shape and get stronger after his injury, all of the extra stuff that he did. For him to come up short, I just feel so bad for him and his family. I think he’s in a good place, he knows how good he is and how good he was with everything he’s done.”

In the fifth-place matches, Banyas, Ficker, and Gould won. Banyas and Gould are graduating this spring.

The first girls wrestler in Lorain County to 100 wins and then some, Banyas closed out her scholastic career with a 2:35 pin over Oak Hills’ Bri Graves, and the emotions set in immediately like many who finished their last matches.

“My senior didn’t end like how I wanted it to,” Banyas said. “I’m just glad I have amazing coaches by my side and they really helped me get through that last match to win it after so many hard matches prior. I’m just thankful.”

She goes out on a high note, the best any wrestler could ask for despite the end result, which she described as a huge relief.

“It definitely is,” she said. “I didn’t even think about that up until my coaches said something to me about it. I’m like ‘They’re absolutely right.’”

In the seventh-place matches, Columbia girls’ Cailyn Demagall (155) won by pin and Bay’s Anthony Rocco (113, Division II) lost by a 4-2 decision and Midview’s Austin Dye (285, Division I) lost by a 10-1 major decision.