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Sports

Lakewood St. Edward Wins State Wrestling Crown

All 10 Eagles at state meet finish no lower than fifth place; St. Ed's 26th team wrestling title.

Armed with 10 underclassmen, the St. Edward High wrestling team comes home with three individual champions and its 26th Division I team title from the 74th Ohio High School Athletic Association state championships at the Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus on The Ohio State University campus.

"I couldn't be more happy for the kids," said St. Edward head coach Greg Urbas, whose team won its 15th title under his direction. "They wrestled their hearts out for the three days of the tournament. In fact, they did that all season long, but especially during the tournament."

"We bring back three state champs and three others who were runner-up who I know wanted to be state champion, but that's the way it goes in this sport. Our goal every year is to have 14 state champions, but these guys really did a great job."

The trio of Eagles to win their weight classes were sophomores Dean Heil (119 pounds), Domenic Abounader (160), and junior Mark Martin (152) to help St. Edward to 187 points. Second went to Massillon Perry with 109 while 2010 Division I team champ Wadsworth finished third with 96.

"We told the kids to forget if they were sophomores or juniors and that they were St. Edward Gold team members and they performed," Urbas said of his 10 wrestlers who fought through the journey of sectionals and districts to reach the state tournament in Columbus.

Heil swept through his four opponents, getting a pin and two decisions before winning a 7-2 decision from Max Byrd of Cincinnati LaSalle in the title match.

The Eagles' only defending champ back in Columbus this year after winning a state title as a freshman at 103 last season, Heil was joined at the top of the award stand by Miller, who won major decisions to get to the semifinals. Miller advanced with another decision in the semifinals before closing out his season with an 8-4 victory over Teddy Hammer of Medina in the championship round.

The third Eagle to end up his tournament as a state champion was Abounader, who pinned his first two opponents, won a 10-0 decision and claimed the 160-pound title by winning a 5-1 decision over Sheldon Brandenburg of Wadsworth.

Three more Eagles reached the championship round, but settled for second with all three losing close decisions. The runner-up finishes started with sophomore Edgar Bright falling to George DeCamillo of St. Ignatius, 3-1 in sudden victory for the Wildcat 112-pounder, who ended the year 38-0.

Ty Walz, another Eagle junior, advanced to the 215-pound championship but was on the short end of a 5-2 decision to Nick Tavanello of Wadworth. Walz advanced with a win by default in the opening round and secured close decisions his next two times on the mat before meeting Tavanello.

The final St. Edward runner-up finish went to 285-pound junior Greg Kuhar, who fell to Kyle Rose of Centerville, 3-2 in the title match. He had won easy decisions in his first two bouts and won by sudden victory in his semifinal match.

All 10 Eagles placed as high as fifth with a third place, a fourth place and two taking fifth place on the way to securing St. Edward wrestling its 26th team title since its first back in 1978.

"That is truly amazing," added Urbas of all his state qualifiers placing. "They all come home with some hardware."

Junior James Suval wound up his tournament with a 2-1 decision over Irayel Williams of Cleveland Rhodes in the third place match at 189. Suvak went 4-0 after losing his second-round match.

Finishing fourth at 135 was St. Edward junior Nick Barber, who lost a third-place match to Ty Davies of West Chester Lakota West, 8-7. Barber won his first two matches, fell in a semifinal and added a 14-10 win over Lakewood senior Nick Ramsey in a consolation match before losing to Davies.

Rounding out the Eagle contingent was 125-pound sophomore Markus Scheidel, who won a fifth-place match, 5-2 against Matt Yurkovich of North Royalton. Scheidel lost his second-round match, won two consolation round matches and lost again to drop him to the fifth-sixth place match against Yurkovich.

TEAM RESULTS

How they finished: 1. Lakewood St. Edward 187 points; 2. Massillon Perry 109; 3. Wadsworth 96; 4. Cincinnati Elder 72; 5. Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller 66; 6. Solon 57; 7. Medina 51; 8. Twinsburg 50; 9. Mayfield 45.5; 10. Springboro 43.5.

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Area notables: 11. Cleveland St. Ignatius 37; 14. Copley 34; 16. Elyria 26.5; T17. Lyndhurst Brush 26; 20. Mentor 22; T27. Brecksville-Broadview Heights 17; T30. Maple Heights 15; T33. Lakewood 14; T35. Cleveland Rhodes, Macedonia Nordonia, North Canton Hoover 12; 39. Stow-Munroe Falls 11; T44. Chardon, Olmsted Falls 8; T46. Willoughby South 7; T50. Midpark, North Royalton 6; 55. Lorain 5.5; T56. Shaw 4; T62. Westlake 3; T68. Brunswick, Euclid 2; T73. Cuyahoga Falls, Strongsville 1.

LAKEWOOD ST. EDWARD STATE ATHLETIC TITLES

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(*national championship)

Wrestling (26)
1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982*, 1983*, 1984*, 1985*, 1986*, 1987*, 1989*, 1992*, 1997, 1998*, 1999, 2000*, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007*, 2008, 2009, 2011

Hockey (11)
1985, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008

Baseball (3)
1998, 2008, 2010

Basketball (1)
1998

Football (1)
2010

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