MEDINA — On Thursday and Friday of last week, the Northmor Golden Knights sent a portion of their wrestling squad to Medina High School to compete in the annual Medina Invitational Tournament.
In an absolutely stacked field of 45 teams, many of which send multiple wrestlers to the state tourney, Northmor finished 28th overall, scoring 46 points with just six wrestlers from their usual lineup participating. Wadsworth was the team champion, amassing 211 points over the two-day tournament.
Conor Becker, the Knights representative in the 170-pound weight class, was the only individual placer in the invite for Northmor. Becker wrestled his way to a runner-up finish in the class, falling to champion Dom Loparo of Wadsworth by an 8-3 decision for his first loss of the season.
Becker’s day started with a first-round bye and he needed just 37 seconds to advance in the bracket as he pinned Garrett Hruby of Midview. In his next match, Becker bounced Antonio Quezada of Genoa from the championship bracket via a 15-0 tech fall. It was a similar situation in the next round, this time it was a 17-2 tech fall victory for Becker over Adam Dillion from Lebanon. In the semifinals, Conor was fitted against Lucas Salmon of Perkins and moved on to the match against Loparo with a narrow, 7-6 victory.
At 106-pounds Dale Brocwell opened his tourney run with a bye as well before falling to Carey Haney of Medina Highland via a 4:48 pinfall. In the consolation bracket, Brocwell was eliminated by eventual seventh-place finisher David Cerney of River Valley via tech fall; 17-0.
Freshman Trenton Ramos entered the tourney for Northmor in the 126-pound weight class and would also receive a first-round bye. In the next round, Ramos would be defeated via 55 second pinfall from Andrew Chambal of Davison and sent to the consolation bracket. Ramos would win a 7-4 decision over Jake Haliwall of Norwayne to keep hopes of placement alive. However, in his next pairing, Ramos would be eliminated by Dublin Coffman’s Davante Cooper via a 10-1 Major Decision.
Gavin Ramos, wrestling at 132-pounds for the black and gold, marched on in the tourney after a first round victory, a 4-3 decision over River Valley’s Jacob Fohl. In match two, Ramos was shutout in a 9-0 Major Decision by Austintown-Fitch’s Zach Richards. In his opening consolation round match, Gavin pinned Napoleon’s Omar Estrada in 4:47 to keep his run alive. Upper Arlington’s Jacob Shanklin would end that run though in the next match by claiming the 7-3 decision.
In the 138-pound class, Niko Christo suffered an 18-3 tech fall loss to Midview’s James Hutchinson in the first round. Christo would bounce back, winning his next match against Medina’s Travis Petkovich; 9-4. Niko would earn a 10-2 Major Decision victory over Hunter Seguin of Richmond to move on and face Ben Brown from Hilliard Darby. Christo would wrestle his way to another win, this time via an 8-5 decision to advance. In match five, Christo prevailed 13-6 over Logan Steppenbacke of Medina Buckeye before being eliminated by Medina Highland’s James Scavuzzo after a 21-4 tech fall defeat.
Austin Amens received a first-round bye in the 145-pound weight class and would pick up a second round win via a 12-9 decision over Alex Henry of Green. Lincoln Splete of Mentor would end Amens hopes of a top-four finish with a 6-4 decision, thus sending Amens to the consolation bracket. Once there, Austin defeated Khalid Morales of Lutheran West; 4-0 before being pinned by Beavercreek’s Garrett Golden in 4:04.
