Strongsville Wrestler Kevin Scholtz Advances To State

Four Strongsville grapplers entered the Lorain District with aspirations of the ultimate prize - a trip to state.  Only one survived what is now known as the new "meatgrinder" and with good reason.

Kevin Scholtz at 125 pounds took home fourth place this weekend and earned every bit of his trip to Columbus as all of his matches were close, and all via decision. He started his tourney with a 7-1 win over Perrysburg's Alec Herhold, then followed it up with a 3-1 decision over Lakewood's Yassir Abdul Salem. His final win was 3-1 over North Olmsted's Brian Brunner. That win guaranteed him a ticket to state.

Jake Demio (112)  just missed out on alternate status, placing sixth overall. Demio started well, with a decision over Sylvania's Bruce Iberra and a 5-0 decision over Mansfield's Michael Evans. In his consolation finale, he fell via major decision.

Arkshak Asriyn (215) finishes his year with a 22-13 slate. He had one win during the rough Lorain District, downing Marion Harding's Eric Hines, 5-4.

Jacob Slimek (171) lost both his matches to some very tough competition, as he fell to Sandusky's Phil Henderson in his first match, then lost to Lorain's John Findley in his second match of the tournament. He finishes the year with a 12-15 slate.

The Mustangs, as a team, finished the Lorain District 24th overall with 19 points. Lakewood St. Edward finished in first place with 265.5 points.

The OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament will be held March 3-5 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University. One hundred schools and 224 wrestlers have been selected to participate.