Riverside wrestling: Antonio Bottiggi motivated after overcoming vocal chord disfunction

Mar. 7—Antonio Bottiggi choked in last year's postseason wrestling tournament.

There was absolutely nothing the multi-sport athletes from Riverside could have done about it, but he choked.

But after having treatment and physical therapy for vocal chord disfunction, an ailment that made it impossible for him to breath in wrestling matches late last season, Bottiggi is headed back to the Division I state wrestling tournament to prove that he is one of the best wrestlers in Ohio.

Because of his vocal chord disfunction, Bottiggi had to default out of one of his matches at last year's district tournament at North Canton Hoover. Even though he qualified for the 2022 state tournament with a third-place district finish, he again had to default out of his consolation match on the state level when he couldn't breath and used up all of his injury time.

Fresh off a district runner-up finish at this past weekend's tournament at Hoover, Bottiggi heads to Columbus with a 41-4 record and a boat-load of motivation fostered from last year's turn of events.

"I can't wait," Bottiggi said. "Hopefully I can do some damage in Columbus."

Bottiggi was doing plenty of damage in last year's district tournament, taking a 4-2 lead over Brecksville's Max Vanadia with 50 seconds left in a quarterfinal match. But his throat seized up, and he took all of his allotted injury time and defaulted.

"I wasn't really out of breath," Bottiggi said. "My throat closed. No air could get in."

Even though he was able to win a few more matches at Hoover to advance to the state tournament, the same malady hit him at the Schottenstein Center a week later. In a one-point match in the third period of his consolation match, his vocal chord disfunction got him again and he defaulted out of the tournament.

Carrie Bottiggi, Antonio's mother, explained that her son has a history of asthma and has always used an inhaler. But after wrestling season, more tests were done that revealed the vocal chord disfunction.

"They did a scope of his throat and you can see his muscles spasm," she said. "When that happens, he can't exchange air. It causes panic and that can make it worse. On top of that his neck is so huge that with those muscles, everything has to be in coordination (to breathe properly)."

With his issue diagnosed, Bottiggi went through speech therapy to help with his vocal chords, and he also took medication that "helped calm his esophagus," his mother said.

Even though he is no longer on that medication, Bottiggi does breathing and throat exercises prior to matches to calm his breathing and relax the muscles in that region.

"I'm almost fully recovered from it, Bottiggi said. "I've been wrestling my whole life. I have the greatest support system. I just have to calm down before my matches so I can control my breathing."

Bottiggi has been a wrecking ball all season, following uphis stellar junior year on the football field where he helped anchor Riverside's defensive line on the gridiron with a 41-4 record on the mat. He breezed through the district tournament, including a 7-4 win over Vanadia in the district finals — the same wrestler who beat him twice in 2022.

Coach Justin Toth said Bottiggi had the ability to be a state-placer last year. Now that he has his vocal chord disfunction under control, the sky is the limit this weekend.

"It helps tremendously that his conditioning is so much better," Toth said, noting that a foot injury and the vocal chord issue last year made conditioning a tougher. "He's so confident late in tough matches."

Bottiggi faces Ashland's Cayden Spotts (40-13) in a 215-pound tournament opener on March 10. A win there puts him — most likely — against two-time state champion Dylan Russo (40-3) of Olentangy Liberty.