Junior Max Russell led the Cardinals with a second place finish in the 2015 WCAC wrestling champions at Bishop O’Connell Saturday.
First-year wrestling head coach Kwinten Brown hoped for a higher team finish, but at the end of the day, thought his young wrestlers had acquitted themselves pretty well.
“I was very proud of junior Max Russell advancing to the finals, Diego Tavara wrestled extremely well, I was very proud of him. He has great potential for us.” remarked Brown.
Russell got the Cardinals started with a 9-0 win over Ben Clancy of Gonzaga at 120, then shut out his second straight opponent, PVI’s Conlin Frank, 6-0. The finals saw top-ranked Malcolm Robinson of St Johns capture the title when he scored a first period pin over Russell.
At 126, John Walsh was decisioned by Josh Kent of PVI 10-2, but bounced back to top Julian Castro of O’Connell 8-7 before falling to St Johns Adrian Nelson 9-1 to finish 4th. Senior Andrew Grabowski had an up and down day. Tyler Lavallee of DeMatha pinned Grabovski in his first match, Andrew rebounded in the consolation round to deck Paul VI’s Danny Herbst, before Brady Lemmon of St Mary’s Ryken ended the lanky senior’s day with a pin in third match of the day.
Joey Siedlarz opened his day with a 6-1 win over Jacob Schoenick of St Mary’s Ryken before losing a 14-5 decision to the eventual champion at 182, Donovan McAfee of Good Counsel. The setback sent Siedlarz back to meet Jasean Davis of DeMatha. Siedlarz pinned the Stag in that match, setting up a rematch with SMR’s Schoenick. Siedlarz had the better of that match as well, winning by a 9-0 margin to earn a tournament third place.
Tre Lovisone earned a third place finish as well at 195. After pinning Blair Leach of Ryken, Lovisone found Brian Hennessy of St Johns more than he could handle in a 10-2, sending the Ireton junior to face Cory Snyder of Paul VI. Lovisone pinned this Panther to earn a consolation championship bout with Bailey Ogilvie of Gonzaga. Ogilvie and Lovisone wrestled for three periods before the Cardinal down the Eagle by a fall to earn the bronze medal.
Diego Tavara at 22o wrestled perhaps his best tournament of the season. Tavara earned a first round bye, then was stopped by the eventual champion, Nick Miller of Good Counsel by a fall. The determined Tavara then faced Anthony Orellana of St Johns. It took overtime but the Cardinals got the win by a 3-2 margin. Nick Skalka of Gonzaga met Diego in the consolation finals and edged him in another nail biter 3-2, sending Tavara to a 4th place finish.
In the 285 class, Ireton’s Gavin Webster lost by a pin his opening match to Phil Spencer of St Johns, but bounced back in the next bout to pin Carrington Jones of SMR only to fall 3-1 to Kojo Dingle of Good Counsel, ending his day.
Good Counsel pulled away in the championship round to win their 3rd consecutive WCAC team title. St Johns challenged them early, Paul VI was third, while the Cardinals were just behind St Mary’s Ryken and DeMatha, with an eighth place finish.
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