West Geauga's Wolverines wrestling team dominated the Chagrin Valley Conference Championships on Jan. 24 and 25 at Berkshire High School, winning the Chagrin Division championship for the second year in a row.
West Geauga’s Wolverines wrestling team dominated the Chagrin Valley Conference Championships on Jan. 24 and 25 at Berkshire High School, winning the Chagrin Division championship for the second year in a row.
Just how dominant were the Wolverines?
They scored 240 points, while their next closest competitor, the Crestwood Red Devils, only amassed 103.
In showing their strength on the mat, the Wolverines placed in 11 of the 14 weight classes.
Leading the Wolverines were individual CVC conference champions Zander Joltin (126-pound champion, third CVC title), Brian Denamen (165-pound champion, second CVC title), and Blake Welker (215-pound champion).
Four Wolverine wrestlers finished as CVC runners up: Caden Kaleal (120-pound weight class), who also earned his 100th career victory, Danny Sizler (144-pound), Austin Wheatley (175-pound) and Nasir Levy (190-pound).
Four additional Wolverines also made the podium: Chris Paradise (138-pound weight class, 4th place), Quentin Artino (150-pound, 4th place), Gradi Zerokata (157-pound, 6th place) and Maveric Milnar (285-pound – 6th place).
After repeating as CVC champions, West Geauga Wolverines Head Coach Joe Joltin said he was thrilled with how the Wolverines wrestled.
“I am so proud of the boys,” Coach Joltin said. “They work so hard and they’re very deserving. Seven guys in the finals, 11 guys placing overall. It’s just phenomenal.”
Heading into the CVC championship, he had reminded his wrestlers to take a process-focused approach in their matches.
“(I told them), let’s go out, let’s wrestle our style of wrestling, our brand, how we like to do it at West Geauga,” Coach Joltin said. “The points will come, and the wins will come, but we got to handle the business on the mat.”
Taking this message to heart, the Wolverines certainly demonstrated their style to the rest of the field.
Tops among them were their three individual champions, Zander Joltin, Denamen and Welker.
To win the 126-pound weight class, Zander won four straight matches.
After a first round bye, he pinned opponents from Berkshire and Beachwood to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, he had his closest match of the tournament against Mekhi Davenport from Trinity.
Zander defeated Davenport 4-3, winning the match with an escape just 26 seconds into the overtime period. Then he dominated the finals match, earning a 16-2 major decision over Perry’s Landon Rusnak.
Wrestling in the 165-pound weight class, Denamen claimed the second individual title of the tournament for the Wolverines.
After a first round bye, he won his first two matches over opponents from Orange and Edgewood with two second-period pins.
In the semifinals, Denamen defeated Dominic Palmisano from Geneva to punch his ticket to the finals.
Denamen then got his third pin of the tournament, defeating Bobby Shinault from Lakeside to win his title.
Winning West G’s final individual title of the tournament was sophomore wrestler Blake Welker.
After two straight byes to start the tournament, Welker defeated opponents from Crestwood, Harvey and Madison to win the title.
The finals match was a bit of redemption for Welker, as he had lost earlier in the season to Madison wrestler Chase White.
“Blake Welker got pinned by that Madison kid earlier in the year,” Coach Joltin said. “Him just coming back and learning from that, growing, and wrestling a great finals — and keep pushing pace — (allowed him) to do a phenomenal job. I’m so proud of him.”
In addition to West G’s three champions, Hawken wrestler Will Greenberg claimed the CVC title in the 285-pound weight class.
For the first time this year, the CVC also held a CVC girls wrestling tournament, where two Geauga wrestlers won individual titles: Chagrin Falls wrestler Savannah Brent in the 140-pound division and Cardinal wrestler Brooklyn Whitely in the 120-pound division.
“I had a lot of good matches today, pretty good competition out there” Whitely said. “Overall, I had a pretty good day.”
