Lakeside's Wright, Jefferson's Bissell win titles at Riverside

Dec. 18—Staff Report

Geneva, Lakeside, Jefferson and Saint John were among the teams that battled in the two-day Riverside Invitational.

When the dust had settled, the Eagles took fourth with 213.5 points. The Dragons recorded seven with 156.5 points, followed the Falcons at 141 and Heralds, 15th, 63.

In addition, wrestlers from Lakeside and Jefferson each produced individual champions.

Dominic Palmisano's second at 165 pounds paced the Eagles.

Also for Geneva, Mathew Van Sickle, at 175, and Kenny Pavlisin, 215, each posted third; Isaacl Riddell, fourth, 157; Tanner Williams at 113 and Will Dushney, 126, both fifth; Codey Fuentes, sixth, 144; Lane Distler, 120 and Nathan Miller, 150, each seventh and Nigel Platt, eighth, 190.

"I am very pleased the way these individuals wrestled," Eagles coach Ron Cerjan said. "I saw a lot of good things after only competing two weeks.

"As always, there's things that need to be corrected to make us better. Overall, finishing fourth out of 16 teams was a good weekend, very pleased."

Lakeside's King Wright, at 157, and Jefferson's Jonathon Bissell, 140, both claimed first in their respective weight class.

Wright earned a 5-4 decision over Indian Valley's Brogan O'Connor for his title.

"King dedicated himself to the weight room all offseason, in addition to wrestling for our club," Dragons coach Andrew Horvath said. "He has gone from finishing last season at 11-21 to being 10-1 this year. We couldn't be more proud of King and are ecstatic about watching his hard work pay off."

Bissell defeated Brecksville's 2-1 to win his championship.

"Jonathon went 6-0 with six first-period pins for the tournament," Falcons coach Cody Lewis said. "It was nice to see him get pushed in the finals and highlight some things we need to work on."

Also for the Dragons, Lucas Eland, 120, notched second; Jacob Strailey, third, 138; Hassani Sy, fourth, 175; Abi Ortiz, fifth, 285; Bobby Shinault, seventh, 190 and Christian Fleissner, eighth, 165.

"We were pretty shorthanded due to illness going into this weekend, but the guys battled hard," Horvath said.

Aside from Bissell's finish, Jacob Lewis was second at 126; Caleb Ballash, 132, fifth; D.J. Partridge, 150, and Mathew Webster, 190, each sixth and Calvin Orem, 113, Ricky Sias, 138, and Jeremy Shank, 175, all seventh.

Lewis finished 5-1 with four pins.

"Overall, a solid weekend of wrestling," Lewis said. "I think we could have wrestled a little better in some situations and underperformed some of the high expectations I had set for our team and some individuals. I'm excited to keep improving and working hard."

For the Heralds, Aiden Hathy registered second at 175, while Joe Piccirillo, 165, and Dalton Nellis, 285, were both seventh.

GlenOak was the top team with 322 points, followed by Indian Valley at 301 and Brecksville 244.

BLUE STREAKS FINISH FIRST AT SOUTH

Madison won the Rebel Invitational at South on Saturday with 283 points. Avon finished second at 243.5 points.

For the Blue Streaks, Jordan McCullough at 120; Jack Harrison, 132; Addison Trisket, 150; Sonny Salajcik, 157 and Noah Blough, 165, each won invitational titles.

Also for Madison, Izaiah Siler, at 175; Kevin Pinon, 190, and Cam Mullins, 285, each finished second; Kaiden Ruscin was third at 106; Aidian Pastor, fifth, 113 and Justin Phillips, sixth, 126.