State dual-meet tournament to begin

The state dual-meet wrestling tournament begins this week, and Lake Catholic isn’t shy about its goal. The Cougars want to win the Division II state title. Plus, a look at other area teams.

Lake Catholic wrestling coach Eric Lakia has not shied away from it.

Every since Lakia took over the Cougars’ head coaching job, the goal has been out there and verbalized.

Lakia wants his program to win a state championship.

The Cougars will take their first step toward that goal on Jan. 24 with the first round of the state dual meet tournament, a trek that Lakia hopes takes his team to the state tournament on Feb. 11 at St. John Arena.

“It’s anybody’s tournament,” Lakia said of the Division II race, one which was changed dramatically when perennial Division II team champion St. Paris Graham opted to participate in the Division I duals this year. “That’s the goal. I’ve been saying it after practice and am going to continue to do so.

“Let’s go win a state championship. I think we have a team that can make a run at it.”

Lake Catholic is the top seed in the Region 11 subregional, which will be wrestled Jan. 24 at Perry. The Cougars will wrestle the winner of fourthseeded University and fifth-seeded Harvey in a regional quarterfinal.

In the top half of the bracket, third-seeded Cleveland Central Catholic will meet second-seeded Perry for the right to advance to the regional semifinals on Jan. 31.

Lake Catholic will be the heavy favorite to advance.

“We’re pretty motivated,” said Kevon Freeman, Lake Catholic’s 160-pounder and two-time individual state champion. “We want another shot at a state dual tournament and are looking forward to chasing that goal of a state title as a team.”

The Jan. 24 sub-regional at Perry will be the first time this year that the entire Lake Catholic team will be together. Early weeks of the season were dotted with injuries (such as Luke McKeon’s broken hand), split squads (with Hunter Ryan, Conor McCrone and Freeman taking part in the Ironman tournament early on) and incomplete lineups (such as the Wadsworth Grizzly Invitational, where Ryan and McCrone were idle to make up for having too many points this season).

Senior Cade Acitelli (220 pounds) is slated to make his season debut at Perry, while first-year heavyweight Jeff Harris got his first action of the season on Jan. 20 at Wadsworth.

“As a full team all the way through from top to bottom, yes, this will be the first time this year we’ve been together,” Lakia said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Freeman agreed, noting the full lineup and increased depth could give the team some latitude.

“If we need to bump anywhere or drop anywhere, I think we can do that with everybody back and healthy,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what this team can do.”

Aside from the Perry sub-regional, other firstround matchups in Division II include:

• Third-seeded West Geauga will face secondseeded Streetsboro on Jan. 24 at Aurora.

• Fourth-seeded Chardon will face fifth-seeded NDCL on Jan. 24 at Aurora, with the winner advancing to face the topseeded Greenmen.

• In Girard, seventhseeded Geneva will go up against second-seeded Girard on Jan. 24.

Division I

• In Mentor, thirdseeded Kenston will wrestle sixth-seeded Lakeside on Jan. 24, while secondseeded Riverside faces seventh-seeded South on a neighboring mat.

Also in Mentor on Jan. 24, fourth-seeded Mayfield squares off against fifthseeded Madison, with the winner advancing to face top-seeded Mentor.

Division III

• In Beachwood, secondseeded Kirtland will wrestle third-seeded Beachwood on Jan. 24, with top-seeded Brooklyn facing fourth-seeded VASJ at the same time.

The winners will then wrestle each other.

• At Hawken, fourthseeded Berkshire faces top-seeded Pymatuning Valley on Jan. 24, with second-seeded Hawken facing third-seeded Newbury.

The winners will wrestle each other afterward.

All regional dual matches on Jan. 24 will begin at 5 p.m., with the winners meeting 20 minutes after the completion of the first round.