The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Geneva, Riverside ahead of curve
Chris Stamper has never been so happy to be wrong.
The head wrestling coach at Geneva, Stamper admitted earlier this week that when the season started, he was bracing himself for a rebuilding season.
But after his team’s victory at the Howland Invitational Tournament — Geneva’s third tournament championship of the season — Stamper fessed up.
His Eagles are better than he thought they’d be.
“Oh, by leaps and bounds,” Stamper said. “They’re ahead of where I thought they’d be.”
In Stamper’s defense, Geneva graduated its two best wrestlers from last season — Kody Brown and Juan Rodriguez. And there are only two seniors — 160-pound Donald Evans and 170-pound Aidan Cardaman — on this year’s roster.
There are 10 freshmen and sophomores throughout the Geneva lineup.
Generally speaking, that type of youth screams “rebuilding year.”
Only the Eagle wrestlers didn’t want to settle for that.
The team opened the season finishing third out of 17 teams at the Rick Link Invitational at Union Local High School in Belmont.
Since then Geneva has won the Rebel Invitational at South and the John Matteucci Memorial at North.
This past weekend at Howland, the Eagles piled up 190 points to best Edgewood (161). Earlier in the week, the Warriors beat Geneva in a dual. Junior Braden Bilicic (145), freshman Caleb Selman (152), Cardaman and freshman Charles Taylor (220) all placed first. Sophomore Johnny Wayslaw (120) and Evans placed second.
“Really, the very first tournament we went to down by West Virginia, where we took third, I thought maybe
it was a fluke, that I didn’t know much about the team there,” he said. “Then we did well at Riverside and won three others.
“They’ve continued to grow and get better. I had no idea they’d be this good this year, but it’s been great.”
The team leaders in wins are Wayslaw (30-8, 23 pins), Bilicic (26-8, 18 pins), Cardaman (26-4, 19 pins) and Taylor (25-8, 19 pins).
Stamper credits Evans and Cardaman for their leadership with an otherwise young team. Cardaman is the son of former Ledgemont three-time state placer Tony Cardaman.
“They’ve been great leaders,” Stamper said. “Aidan, as soon as last season was over, had it set in his mind that he was going to do good things this year. He worked out. He was at every open-mat session. He was pushing other guys.
“We try to give guys breaks now and then, and he just won’t take one.”
And the rest of the team is feeding off it.
“They’re all pushing each other,” Stamper said. “It’s a tight group. They really do care about each other. I think it’s gotten through to them — the harder you work with your drill partner, the better you can do. It’s really good to see.”
Ahead of the game
Riverside is ahead of where it thought it would be at season’s start.
With recent dual-meet victories over Chardon and Rootstown, the Beavers are 4-0 in head-to-head bouts.
Senior Alex Farenchak, a returning state qualifier,
pointed out since he has been with the team as a freshman, “we never have won anything” as a team. That is now changing. “I really thought where we are right now would be where we would be two years from now,” Coach Mike Richner said, “when our current freshmen were juniors. That’s when I thought people would start taking notice. In my mind, yes, we are two years ahead of where I thought we’d be.”
Not surprisingly, Farenchak (22-1) leads the team. But plenty of others are coming up big, too, including Oscar Rocha (17-6 at 120), Danny Martich (16-9 at 126) and Markie McElroy (13-6 at 152).
The roster is fraught with youth. Chris Rocha (113), Martich, Tyler Longstaff 9145) and Noah Daugherty (182) are just a handful of the freshmen in the starting lineup. In all, there are eight freshmen in the program, a big step up from recent years.
The only seniors are Farenchak and Matt Lamos (182).
“After we won the Riverside Rumble, our kids were like, ‘Wow. Can you believe we’re here?’ ” Richner said. “Last year we were in last place at Top Gun. This year we were in the middle of the pack. And after we placed high at Kenston, I had coaches from other schools coming up to me and saying, ‘Wow, where did you guys finish last year?’ “It’s been rewarding.” Richner is promoting competition in the practice room.
“For our program to be good, we have to have wrestle-offs at every weight,” he said.
Richner likened wrestling success to being a good dancer.
“When you have a good dance partner, it just flows,” he said. “When you have a good drill partner, it helps.
“Alex Farenchak has been a great leader in that respect. The other kids see the success he has had and see what he does in the room. (Leadership) is spending time with the underclassmen, drilling with them. They start to figure it out.”
Case in point, sophomore 106-pound Tyler Wittreich, a placer a Top Gun and the Riverside Rumble, who has gotten better through work in the practice room.
“He really wasn’t even on the radar, but here he is,” Richner said. “He’s having a really good year.”
As are all of the Beavers, especially in a 43-28 win over Rootstown that included the Beavers giving up forfeits at 220 and heavyweight.
“It was kind of nice because my brother (J.R.) helps out down there,” Richner said. “I jabbed him a little after we won that one.”
Soaring Hawks
The Hawken wrestling team crowned a trio of champions at the Berkshire Invitational this past weekend, doing so in impressive fashion.
The trio — 113-pound Jackson Reineke (22-2), 120-pound J.P. Hlifka (23-4) and heavyweight William Lindsay (173) — are all among the team leaders in wins as well. All three went 5-0 at the Berkshire Tournament. Reineke defeated an undefeated wrestler from Canton South in the finals, giving him his second tournament win of the season. The victory earned Reineke the Most Valuable Wrestler Award for lower weights. Returning statequalifier Hlifka also won his second tournament of the year. Lindsay pinned his way through the bracket to earn his first high school tournament championship.