Harrison Central wrestlers compete at sectional tournament

Harrison Central wrestlers recently competed in the sectional tournament at Sandy Valley. The Huskies were represented by five wrestlers: sophomore Jakob Kreptowski, freshman Brody McCabe, sophomore Tristan Cummings, freshman Alex Reister and senior Jaden Harris.

Competing in the 132-pound weight class, Kreptowski opened with a technical fall victory over David Proctor of Bridgeport before losing to Owen Simpson. He then defeated Dom Dorsey in 43 seconds before falling to Chris Adamik of Newcomerstown by technical fall. Kreptowski placed fourth to advance to district competition.

At 138 pounds, McCabe faced George Savakis of Coshocton in his opening match and won by technical fall, 17-1. After losses to Jaysen Sonson of Sandy Valley and Russell Maroni of Riverview, he faced Savakis again in the consolation round, pinning him in 1:30 to claim fifth place.

Cummings, wrestling at 144 pounds, lost to Braylon Books of Garaway and Charlie Peters of Fairless.

In the 165-pound class, Reister was defeated by Adan Bender of Caldwell and Roberto Baredes of Coshocton.

At 190 pounds, Harris pinned Cooper McKenzie of West Muskingum in three minutes before losing to Dillon King of Garaway. He then dropped a 4-3 decision to Christian Briggs of Toronto before facing McKenzie again and pinning him in 1:05 to earn fifth place on the podium.

Still dealing with injuries, the Huskies had four wrestlers unable to compete. Harris and McCabe earned alternate status going into districts.

“We are very young and inexperienced. The plus is we have seen some growth in a lot of these kids. They come to practice and give us all they have. That’s all we ask. We are struggling a little bit number-wise and skill-wise. We have a good eighth grade coming in so that should help, even then most of those guys are only in their first year or second year of wrestling, most of them. There will be a lot of teaching for the next few years. When you don’t have a big return of guys it is hard for the young guys to know how to do things the right way because there is no one setting that example,” coach Bill Bryant said.

Bryant said the coaching staff is considering ways to generate more interest in the program and encourage wrestlers to return. He said he hopes his core of upperclassmen will help guide the younger wrestlers.

“As far as sectionals go, I thought we wrestled very well with what we had. We put three guys in the semifinals. I thought we would have three district qualifiers, and it just wasn’t in the cards. Two of the three lost and in my opinion, those were kids we could beat. It just wasn’t our day,” Bryant said.

“Jakob (Kreptowski) placed, I am very happy for him. He learned a lot this year. On top of that we bumped him up a weight class. He is doing a good job. We thought that was the best option for him, to get him to be able to compete and get to the District Tournament. It worked out in our favor. It doesn’t always work out. This time it did. He went out and wrestled well, wrestled hard. He is doing well for himself. He has a better understanding of things, and the flow of wrestling is getting better,” Bryant said.

Bryant noted Kreptowski had not wrestled since third grade.

“He is a competitor, he doesn’t like to lose,” Bryant said.

Kreptowski returned to the mat Friday at the district tournament, where he faced No. 1 seed Nate Sloan, 31-2, of Ironton from the Alexander sectional. Sloan defeated Kreptowski by technical fall. In the consolation round, Kreptowski faced Josiah Green of Shadyside, the No. 3 seed from the Barnesville sectional, and Green won by technical fall.