Westlake Wrestlers Sweep “Senior Night” Tri-Meet

You could feel the excitement in the air Thursday night as Westlake hosted North Olmsted and Columbia in a Senior Night tri-meet matchup.

For Westlake, it came down to the last match of the evening.

Demons heavyweight Alex Busser pinned North Olmsted's John Madison to give Westlake a hard-fought 38-30 win over North Olmsted and the tri-meet sweep. Earlier, Westlake topped Columbia, 56-14.  

“I really feel our team is gelling pretty good right now," said Mike Antonyzyn, Westlake head coach. "We wrestled two good teams on Senior Night. The match against North Olmsted came down to the final match of the night and Alex got the win. He has done that a few times this year for us. We are a really young team, graduating 10 seniors from last year’s team, but we are doing good.”

Junior Zach Goodwin (103 pounds) got the Demons off to the start they wanted, pinning North Olmsted’s David Brunner with 30 seconds left in the second period. Senior Mo Yassin (130) won both of his matches via a forfeit.

Westlake’s Sheldon Stuckart (152) had a good night, winning both of his matches. The senior topped North Olmsted’s Thaer Zayed (10-1 record) and Columbia’s Roman Waked (15-0).

“Sheldon is a great wrestler. He dropped down to 152 pounds and so did Zayed. I don’t think anybody thought they both would do that,” said Antonyzyn. “That match alone was worth the price of admission.”

At 119 pounds, Demons’ Mohammed Farraj didn’t have the night he was hoping – getting pinned twice. Farraj fell victim to Columbia freshman Sean O’Connell (42 seconds in the first period) and North Olmsted’s senior Thomas DiMarino (40 seconds in second period).

Mohammed Muntaser (189) also struggled for Westlake, losing twice via pin. The senior lost to Columbia’s undefeated junior, Brandon Heidinger (15-0), and to the Eagles’ Mouse (1:47 into the second period).

Westlake freshman James Bailey (215) split both of his matches, winning his first by forfeit. Bailey lost to Columbia’s Chuckie Sinnamond, getting pinned in the first minute of the second period.

The Demons next wrestle on Feb. 12 in the Southwestern Conference Championships at Midpark High School.