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Eastwood's wrestling team is off to a good start under fifth-year coach Joe Wyant.
The Eagles, who competed at the 22-team West Jefferson Invitational on Tuesday and Wednesday, have a 12-2 dual-meet record this season. Eastwood is 4-0 in the Northern Buckeye Conference, with wins over Genoa, Woodmore, Rossford and Lake. The Eagles also went 8-2 and placed fourth out of 20 teams at last weekend's Bowling Green Duals.
“We did real well last week,” Wyant said. “With our injuries and the fact that we were forfeiting four weight classes and still ended up 8-2, we were happy with that. They're very hard workers and they'll do anything I ask them to do.”
The Eagles originally had 20 wrestlers on this year's roster but have lost heavyweight Joe Nauman (knee) and freshman 113-pounder Aldo Gomez (broken arm) to injury. Gomez broke his arm in practice two weeks ago.
Nauman, the Suburban Lakes League heavyweight champion a year ago, wrestled with a knee brace this season and compiled a 12-1 record. He had surgery last week and is probably out for the rest of the season, according to Wyant.
“He wrestled up until last Friday,” the coach said. “He just wanted to wrestle a few matches, but his knee kept locking up on him.”
Junior Jordan Randall, a first-year wrestler, is now Eastwood's top heavyweight and has gone 2-2 with two pins in four matches
“He's big,” Wyant said. “He's all of 285 pounds and he's got potential. He's doing OK for never wrestling before.”
The Eagles' top returning wrestlers — senior Casey Horn at 170 pounds and juniors Randy Caris (152) and Kyle Patterson (182) - were all SLL champions and district qualifiers last season.
Horn is 13-1 this season, with his only loss coming via default after he suffered a concussion against Genoa. Horn competed at 152 last season.
“Casey is the best athlete on our team and he has the potential to have a big year,” Wyant said. “He's very athletic and he's got all the tools to be really good.”
Caris, the 140-pound league champion a year ago, has an 11-1 record this season.
“He's had a very good season,” Wyant said. “Randy's one of the hardest workers we've got. He'll wrestle any weight class I ask him to or wrestle any wrestler I ask him to. He's not intimidated.”
Patterson, who is 13-1, was the SLL champion at 171 pounds in 2011.
“Kyle has worked very hard in the offseason to get where he's at right now,” Wyant said. “He's probably put in more mat time than anybody we have. Wrestling is the only sport he does, and he's worked very hard in the offseason to get better.”
The rest of the Eagles' lineup includes seniors Johnny Shumay (106), Hosung Schermerhorn (120), Justin Burket (132), Tyler Bourdo (138), Jacob Welch (160) and Bobby Brooks (195); juniors Brad Radabaugh (145), Adam Wolf (220) and Randall (285); and sophomore Matt Drown (126).
Burket and Brooks both had 12-2 records heading into the West Jefferson Invitational, while Radabaugh, Welch and Wolf were all 10-4.
Eastwood, which hasn't won a league championship since 2008, hopes to come out on top at the end of the inaugural NBC season.
“Our kids really want to win it, obviously,” Wyant said. “It's definitely one of our goals. With Elmwood and Genoa being as good as they are, it's going to be hard. We have a few injuries, so we're really going to have to come together to make that happen.”
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