Kirtland heavyweight will wrestle at JCU

Jeff Kusar got a little snippet of a college wrestling atmosphere last summer and liked it.

Because of that taste, the senior heavyweight from Kirtland is hungry for more.

With that in mind, Kusar has announced he will wrestle for John Carroll following graduation. Carrying a 3.0 grade-point average, Kusar plans to major in business while wrestling for the Blue Streaks.

“Between my junior and senior year, I went to some open practices at John Carroll,” he said. “Then I went to Kent (for camp) for a week.

“The college atmosphere is great, so much different support-wise from in high school. I wanted to be part of that.”

Unlike many male studentathletes at Kirtland, Kusar gave up football following his freshman year to focus on the sport he truly loved — wrestling. He advanced all the way to the Division III state tournament this past winter before the novel coronavirus forced the cancellation of the tournament just days short of its beginning in Columbus.

“It stinks, because my junior year I had surgery on my collarbone,” Kusar said. “Then my senior year, the tournament got canceled. But I’m pretty excited about college wrestling. I hope to make it to nationals and keep working, because all the hard work I’ve been putting in is paying off.”

Kusar got an early start in wrestling. He remembers wrestling two or three times per tournament when he was a mere kindergartner. He stopped wrestling briefly in third grade, but was eventually drawn back to the sport.

“I got a lot better when I got to high school,” he said.

Particularly in the past two seasons.

As a junior, he was 32-8 (with 22 pins) before his season was cut short due to injury.

Then this past season, he went 32-5 (with 28 pins) and was runnerup at the Division III district tournament in Garfield Heights, thus placing him in a state tournament in which he never got to wrestle.

“I look for pins,” Kusar said.

“I only went three periods a few times my senior year. I like to be aggressive

and take shots. I like to attack the legs, but it seems like I always find myself in position for a throw or headlock.”

Kirtland coach Scott Francis said John Carroll is getting a good one.

“It’s a great opportunity for him,” Francis said. “He still has a lot of room to grow.

“We stress with our heavyweights to be patiently aggressive. Go out and be in attack mode, but don’t force a move and make a mistake. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. And because his core is so strong and he has good hips, even if he does make a mistake, he could get out of it.”

Francis said having a wrestler move on to the college level is not only good for Kusar, but also for the Kirtland program.

“It’s great for them to see that,” Francis said. “A lot of people think when you wrestle in high school, that’s it. But going on to wrestle in college is something they can do.”

“A lot of people think when you wrestle in high school, that’s it. But going on to wrestle in college is something they can do.”

SUBMITTED Jeff Kusar, senior heavyweight at Kirtland, will wrestle collegiately at John Carroll.