Wrestling: Lightweights making difference for Canal Winchester Indians
Canal Winchester wrestling coach Shawn Cassady let Bobby Davies and Micah Dollery skip practice Jan. 17, largely based on their work so far this season but also because of their dedication.
On an off day from school because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Davies and Dollery attended a leg camp conducted by DeSales coach and four-time state champion Collin Palmer.
As far as Cassady is concerned, such an approach is what has made Davies and Dollery two of the team’s top competitors through the first two months of the season and the anchors of a strong group of lightweights.
“Things like that, that extra work, are what give you an edge,” Cassady said. “I always tell these kids we can get you somewhere, but if you want to get really good, you have to put in that work after. You have to put it in in the offseason and after you’re tired from practice. That mentality of doing more is what puts you at a higher level.
“When these guys walk onto the mat, they’ll be competitive. None of them give up a point lightly.”
Dollery was 18-7 at 120 and 126 pounds and put an 11-match winning streak on the line Jan. 20 when the Indians visited defending OCC-Capital Division champion Westerville North. Davies, the team’s only returning Division I district qualifier, was 15-6 at 113 and 120, and freshman Chance Newsome was 16-5 at 106 and 113 including both varsity and junior varsity matches.
Heavyweight Mason Fry had a team-best 22-7 record before Jan. 20.
Sophomore Stephen Radanovich usually wrestles at 106.
“We’ve been drilling a lot more the past few weeks and I think that’s a big reason why we’re all doing so well,” Davies said. “It shows us and teaches us different situations.”
Dollery wrestled his first 14 matches at 126, going 7-7, and finally made weight at 120 during the first week of January.
“I was giving up a lot of height and strength (at 126) and I realized I really was as good as them. Technique-wise, I felt good but at times against bigger guys, it wasn’t working. I can win with my technique in the long run,” Dollery said. “It starts in (practice). We are working all the time ... and I’ve been riding my momentum from win to win to win. Winning those has given me confidence.”
Davies, a junior who went 0-2 at district last year and finished 15-9, began this season with a second-place finish in the Lee Spitzer Golden Bear Invitational at Upper Arlington. Fry’s first-place finish led the team.
“(Last year) gave me a little momentum. I just wanted to come in and work harder,” Davies said. “I’ve been able to ride people out when I need to ride them out and get off bottom sometimes.”
Newsome acknowledged that switching levels occasionally has been challenging.
“It has its moments,” he said. “It’s just the range of difficulty. You definitely have people who are better than you, but with every loss, you can learn something.”
dpurpura@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekDave
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Wrestling: Lightweights making difference for Canal Winchester
