The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Schulke wins Columbia’s first district title since ’95
From the time Cole Schulke entered Columbia’s High School wrestling program, Columbia coach Dan Juliani knew Schulke earning a state tournament berth was a matter of when, not if.
It briefly looked as if that first state berth would come last season, as the then-freshman opened his first ever postseason with a sectional title at Independence. After winning his first two matches at the
Garfield Heights District the next weekend, things unraveled for Schulke, who dropped his last two matches en route to a sixth-place finish.
With last year’s defeat in his mind, Schulke entered this year’s postseason tournament focused on getting to high school wrestling’s biggest stage.
It showed.
After securing his second straight sectional title Feb. 27, Schulke captured the 106-pound Garfield Heights District title March 6 to clinch his first state berth.
“I’m still kind of in shock,” Schulke said March 8. “I keep going back and watching the match and looking at the bracket and my medal and just soaking it in.”
Surprisingly enough, Juliani was concerned about Schulke at the start of the postseason. Despite Schulke entering the postseason with 26 matches under his belt (and a 24-2 record to boot), he hadn’t wrestled many tightly contested matches, a symptom of the Raiders quarantining multiple times throughout the season.
“He had some good competition against Firelands’ Ruben (Pina-Lorenzana) and Canfield’s Ty Stricko during the regular season. But aside from that he hadn’t had a lot of tough competition,” Juliani said. “
It turns out Schulke had a workaround to alleviate those concerns — don’t have a close match. Of Schulke’s six postseason wins, three have come via pinfall, two have come by major decision and one has come by decision — an 8-4 win over Rootstown’s Bryce Edwards in the district championship match.
“Last year my mind wasn’t with it. I just needed to get more confident,” Schulke said. “This year I really picked it up and worked this offseason. I’ve been looking to find ways to keep moving while looking to get takedowns.”
As he left Garfield Heights last season, Schulke swore to himself he’d leave the gym a year later as a state qualifier. While his first year came with a disappointing ending, it was also a tangible example of the talent he possessed, as he finished 37-14 despite wrestling almost 10 pounds underweight. This year he’s wrestling at 106 pounds and is headed to Columbus.
“With a little bit of weight and a lot of hard work I knew I could pull off a state berth,” Schulke said.
Schulke opens the state tournament against Versailles’
Lance Bergman (34-10), the No. 4 seed out of the Troy district. If Schulke wins, he could face Otsego’s Trevor Wilcox (the No. 6 wrestler at 106 pounds) in the quarterfinals. Milan Edison’s Max Hermes (the No. 1 wrestler in the state at 106) is on the other side of the bracket.
“I like how the bracket’s set up,” Schulke said. “I’m at the state tournament now so every matchup’s going to be tough, so I’ve just got to push through and win every match.”
Schulke is Columbia’s first district champion since 1995 and is the Raiders first state qualifier since Josh Newman in 2017. With such a young team (12 of the 13 Raiders who wrestled in the Independence Sectional are underclassmen), Juliani’s hoping Schulke’s state berth motivates them to reach their teammates level.
“It’s a huge step for Cole to be able to go in there and dominate in the way that he did,” Juliani said. “It’s big for our program too. I know some kids are already ready for next year so they can build on Cole’s performance.”
The Raiders’ first qualifier in Juliani’s tenure comes in a year when so much of the spectacle of the tournament will be muted. Instead of all of the divisions wrestling together at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center, the tournament will be held in three locations across Central Ohio, with the Division III tournament taking place at Marion Harding High School.
Although the Raiders didn’t have any state qualifiers last season, Juliani was planning on bringing them to the state tournament so they could soak up the atmosphere. This year — despite having a state qualifier — the rest of Columbia’s wrestling team will be rooting for him from home.
“The environment at the district tournament was so different and muted so I’m not even sure if Cole realized what he had done in the moment because of how muted it was,” Juliani said. “His teammates can’t come down to support him so it’s a little upsetting because you want the, down there to cheer on Cole while also seeing what the state tournament is like.
“I know they’re all going to be with him in Columbia cheering him on.”
Area finishes with 22 qualifiers
Schulke will have some company from the area at the state tournament, as he was one of 22 Morning Journal Coverage area wrestlers to qualify for the state tournament. Division I unsurprisingly led the way with 15 wrestlers while Division II had four and Division III had three. Aside from Schulke, the only other area district champions were Elyria’s Nate Burnett (145) and Jake Evans (182).
Ten area wrestlers enter the state tournament as four seeds while four will enter as three seeds. Five will be two seeds while Schulke, Evans and Burnett will be one seeds.