Lake’s individual results impress

Some coaches might be disappointed when their team gets swept in a quad wrestling match.

Lake Catholic coach Scott Hivnor isn’t one of those coaches, especially considering WHOM the Cougars wrestled on Jan. 6 and how the individual wrestlers fared.

Lake Catholic lost to Medina Highland, 35-34, and to Wadsworth, 45-29, in the team scores. But in a rugged mini-tournament that also included host Milan Edison, Lake Catholic more than held their own in a massive showcase of state-ranked wrestlers. Lake didn’t face Edison. “There were 28 stateranked kids on the mat among us and the two teams we wrestled,” Hivnor said. “When you add in Edison, there were 37 stateranked kids there tonight. It was pretty cool. Some real studs were on the mat tonight.”

Lake’s lineup has a pair of holes in it right now with forfeits, which didn’t help in the team race.

“Sure you want to win the matches, but we’re not optimized as a dual team right now,” Hivnor said. “I was more interested in how we did in our matches. We won five of the 11 against Wadsworth, so I was pleased with that.”

There were many highlights from the Lake contingent. However, a trio of Cougars went 2-0 against state-ranked foes.

Lake’s Ethan Smith is the third-ranked 138-pounder in Division II. He tech falled Medina Highland’s Creed Hill (ranked 16th in Division I), 17-2, then put a 20-7 major decision on Wadsworth’s David Shue (ranked 18th in Division I).

Rob Boley, ranked 10th in the state at 160 pounds in Division II, beat Highland’s James Scavuzzo, 9-4. Scavuzzo is ranked sixth in Division I. Then he beat Wadsworth’s Jacob Walsh, ranked seventh in Division I, 11-8.

Senior 182-pounder Cole Hivnor, ranked third in the state in Division II, techfalled Highland’s Lukas Stiles (ranked eighth in Division I), 15-0, then pinned Wadsworth’s Jamisen Jackson (ranked ninth in D1) in the first period.

“We had some great performances from all our guys tonight,” Hivnor said.

Lake Catholic will host the Jimmy Cook/Galeazzo Duals this weekend, welcoming Medina, North Canton and Buckeye for the four-team event on Jan. 9.