Wrestling: Medina has four champs, but can't defend Hudson title

HUDSON — The Medina wrestling team had four champions and seven placers Saturday but came up short in its quest to repeat as team kingpin at the 58th Hudson Holiday Tournament.The Bees sent nine wrestlers to the event and finished second to North Royalton. The Bears had just one champion but made up for it with a full 14-man squad that had 10 placers for a 197.5-184.5 advantage.The teams will square off in a dual later in the season, when Medina will have a little payback on its mind."We had some younger guys step up," 285-pounder Cliff Nicholson said. "We still did a lot. They kind of filled the space. Four champs is great and I think us taking second, we'll see North Royalton in a dual later in the season and I think we will show them why we are more of a high-end wrestling team because we only brought nine and they had their whole team."Nicholson moved to 14-0 on the season and finished atop the podium to give himself a belated birthday present."My birthday was (Friday), and I just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible," the senior said. "Get 'em done, get 'em quick and call it a day. It is nice to get it twice in a row and get some momentum going into the M.I.T. (Medina Invitational Tournament)." Nicholson nabbed his second consecutive first-place finish, winning his title bout over Jacob Igleheart of Woodridge via pin in 2:47. It was Nicholson's third pin in four matches, as the only match that went the distance was a four-takedown, 12-6 semifinal win over Bo Barney of Padua Franciscan.Medina had another repeat champion in Teagan Gilmore, who pinned his way to the 126 final. He then picked up a 6-0 decision over Grady Lambdin of Chippewa to win the tournament for the third straight year."It's nice, but all these tournaments I don't really care about," said Gilmore, who is 14-0 this season. "I am just focused towards March and the big prize. That is all I am set for right now."Cooper Lavender (138) battled into the finals and picked up a 5-3 decision against Cameron Barnett of Archbishop to win his second tournament after taking gold at Milan Edison two weeks ago."I had close wins all tournament," he said. "I battled through, and all those kids are good. I just wrestled how I wanted to wrestle. I wrestled my match, and I shut down his offense and created my own offense."Dominic DiFilippo (113) won the Bees' fourth individual title, cruising through his first three matches before a dominating 15-0 technical fall against Brayden Cortese of Padua in the final.DiFilippo's pins came in 1:13, 29 seconds and 59 seconds, while the tech fall win took just 2:54.Tyler Bradshaw (132) finished as a runner-up, dropping his final via pin against John LoFaso (Padua) after pinning into the finals. Michael Kessler (5th, 144) and Lazar Kovacevic (7th, 165) also placed.Caleb Burke (157) finished third for Cloverleaf, helping his team to 16th place (66 points) after after wrestling his way back into the semifinals.Burke emerged from a scramble against Padua's Cyrus Czerwinski in his third-place bout and finished with a pin in 59 seconds."We were tied up, and he tried shooting me a bunch of times," Burke said. "He tried to hip toss me, and he tried to grab my head. He failed to do that, and I got underneath him, grabbed his shoulder and just put him to his back and didn't let him go."Isaac Montgomery was the Colts' other placer, finishing sixth at 150.Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com.ResultsStandings: 1. North Royalton 197.5, 2. Medina 184.5, 3. Warren Howland 159.5, 4. Streetsboro 151, 5. Hudson 143.5, 6. Padua Franciscan 133, 7. John Glenn 131.5, 8. GlenOak 130.5, 9. Woodridge 118.5, 10. Archbishop Hoban 100, 11. Field 95.5, 12. Coventry 85, 13. Eastlake North 84.5, 14. Bay 78, 15. Chippewa 70, 16. Cloverleaf 66, 17. Stow 58.5, 18. Rhodes 40, 19. Akron North 38.5, 19. Lakewood 38.5, 21. Fairview 35.5, 22. Tallmadge 32.5, 23. Ravenna 31.5, 24. Maple Heights 30, 25. Akron Garfield 29, 26. Youngstown Boardman 24, 27. Ellet 18.5, 28. Akron East 15.106 — Johnny Bollinger (Street) d. Jaden Weaver (MH), 10-4. 113 — Dominic DiFilippo (Med) t.f. Brayden Cortese (WH) 15-0. 120 — Gavin Genovese (Wood) t.f. Bryden Spellacy (Pad), 19-4. 126 — Taegen Gilmore (Med) d. Grady Lambdin (Chip), 6-0. 132 — John Lofaso (Pad) p. Tyler Bradshaw (Med), 4:51. 138 — Cooper Lavender (Med) d. Cameron Barnett (Hob), 5-3. 144 — Dalton Keith (Cov) dec. Deacon Mock (WH), 4-1; FIFTH: Ben Pierce (Chip) t.f. Michael Kessler (Med), 17-1. 150 — Aiden O'Donnell (WH) m.d. Cameron Rogowski (Street), 10-1; FIFTH: Rion Dancy-Toma (EN) m.d. William Montgomery (Clov), 15-5. 157 — Owen Edwards (JG) p. Eddie Morrison (WH), 5:18; THIRD: Caleb Burke (Clov) d. Cyrus Czerwinski (Pad), 3-0. 165 — Tyler Rowles (NR) p. Cohen Rudesill (WH), 0:42; SEVENTH: Lazar Kovacevic (Med) t.f. Colin Ray (Fair), 18-2. 175 — Dominic Bates (JG) d. Avery Conroy (Street), 4-3. 190 — Evan Owen (Cov) d. Bradley Davis (Rav), 8-4. 215 — Brydon Fiester (Hob) p. Kian Barton (JG), 2:31. 285 — Cliff Nicholson (Med) p. Jacob Igleheart (Wood), 2:47.