Madison cruises to WRC wrestling title in final year before departing for CVC
Feb. 11—Now THAT is what you call a mic-drop moment.
For seven years straight years, the Madison wrestling team specialized in second-place finishes at the Western Reserve Conference wrestling tournament, with four runner-up finishes in that span.
In their final WRC meet before departing for the Chagrin Valley Conference starting in the 2023-24 school year, the Blue Streaks won their first — and only — WRC title. It's Madison's first league championship in wrestling since 2015, when the Blue Streaks were in the now-defunct Premier Athletic Conference.
Madison crowned three individual champions at Riverside's Fieldhouse on Feb. 11 and had seven others finish in second place. The 229.5 points Coach Andrew Tomaso's team put up easily outdistanced second-place Riverside (157) and the rest of the seven-team field.
"This," Tomaso said, clutching the league championship plaque, "is a big monkey off our backs."
Jamie Harrison, the lone senior in Madison's starting lineup, and juniors Sonny Salasjak (157) and Noah Blough (165) won individual championships, while Aidan Pastor (106), Jack Harrison (132), Ashton Zembower (138), Addison Trisket (144), Izaiah Siler (150), Kevin Pinion (175) and Chase White (215) all placed second.
The Blue Streaks' superior depth steamrolled the rest of the league like the locomotive the team wears on its singlets.
"Today, we weren't looking for individual champs," Tomaso said. "We put the best team we could out there. Guys went up, guys went down. I didn't care if we had zero champs. At the end of the day, we wanted a team trophy.
"Going forward, we'll work on more individual stuff. This is the last team thing we wanted to wipe off the list."
Harrison decisioned North's Dylan Preston, 9-6, for the 126 title after he bumped up from 120. Salasjak put a 12-3 major decision on Chardon's Dylan Kick for his title, and Blough used a five-point move late for a 9-4 win over Riverside's Collin Fairbanks.
Blough is coming off a back injury, but broke a 2-2 tie late with a reversal and three near-fall points.
"This is my first (WRC title), so it's good to get it out of the way before we leave this league," the junior said. "(Fairbanks) is really strong. I'm not the strongest. It was a really good match. I've got to give respect to him."
Riverside got championships from David Rocha at 113 and Antonio Bottiggi at 215. Bottiggi was particularly dominating, recording nine takedowns before pinning Madison's White.
"Looking at the whole grand scheme of things, 75 percent of my team has only been wrestling for a year or two," Riverside coach Justin Toth said. "With that amount of kids lacking wrestling experience, taking second today was pretty good."
Mayfield placed third with 146 points, but the Wildcats were with a big chuck of their linup, including Dwight Fritz Jr. and Nico Traczyk. Still, the Wildcats crowned three champions — Sal Palmisano at 120, Vinnie D'Alessandro at 132 and Braeden Beck at 150.
D'Alessandro's pin of Madison's Jack Harrison gave him his fourth league title.
"It's kinda cool," D'Alessandro said. "But it's not the ultimate goal. I still have thing to focus on for the next season coming up."
Meaning the Division I sectional-district-state run.
"In the past month or so I've been focusing on my feet a lot more and getting more attacks," he said.
Chardon was fourth, paced by Will Vucetic's 38-second pin for the 175-pound championship, while North was fifth, anchored by champions Shamus Brady at 106 and Derek Martinez at 138.
Martinez's major decision win in the title bout gave him his 100th career win. His next pin will give him 32, which will be a new single-season record at North.
"It's a great feeling to end my senior year with a WRC title and hit 100 on the same day," Martinez said. "(The pin record) is something I'm pushing for. It's going to be a great feeling when I do."
Kenston was sixth, led by junior heavyweight Sean Doyle, who won his weight class with a 10-7 decision over Mayfield's Chris Fero in the finals.
South was seventh. Teddy Griffin (144) and Eric Lufi (190) took home individual titles for the Rebels.
