Fri Feb 10 2012
by Michael Leonard
Sports Editor
When reflecting on what his team had to face at the Division I sectional at Medina a few weeks ago, Nordonia wrestling coach Tom Milkovich didn't mince words.
"I don't want to think about it," Milkovich said.
Based on the Knights' performance at Medina Feb. 19 and 20, it's easy to see why Milkovich was dreading it.
Nordonia finished 10th in the 12-team field at Medina with 42.5 points. More importantly, the Knights had only one wrestler -- 189-pounder Brian Yurko -- advance to the Division I district tournament at Ashland.
The top four finishers in each weight class at Medina advanced to districts.
Wadsworth dominated the tournament with 303 points, while Brecksville was second with 205.5.
Milkovich said the strength of the field at Medina was tougher than many district tournaments he's dealt with in the past.
"It was a bear of a tournament," Milkovich said. "I said from the beginning I had two, maybe three kids that could get out of there. Then Mark Gupko went down with a knee injury, so that made it two."
Yurko had to earn his ticket to districts the hard way. He lost his opening match to David Stauder of Strongsville 14-7.
The loss meant Yurko needed to win three matches to get to districts and he did just that. Yurko defeated Copley's Dean Casanova 14-10, got a default win over John Marshall's Zach Carpenter and then won a rematch with Stauder 7-6 to book his ticket to districts.
"That kid from Strongsville had beat him three times already this season," Milkovich said. "With Brian, a lot of it is in his head. He had it in his head that he could compete with the kid and he did."
Yurko closed the meet in style by defeating Barberton's Vern Rowe 8-4 in the third-place match.
Yurko advances to districts where he will face Kyle Haitmeyer of Toledo St. Francis DeSales in his first-round matchup.
Coming into the tournament, Nordonia's best hope for advancement was senior 145-pounder Mike Benson.
Benson came in seeded third at 145 and started well. After a bye, he defeated Barberton's Taylor Thornton 16-5 to reach the semifinals.
In the semifinals, however, Benson lost a very tight 4-3 decision to Brecksville's Kyle Roddy. Needing a win in the consolation semifinals to make districts, Benson dropped another tight decision. This time, he lost 10-7 to Copley's Josh Tomayko.
Benson forfeited his fifth-place match vs. Thornton, ending his high school career.
"Mike Benson let the pressure get to him," Milkovich said. "Sometimes, no matter how much you believe in them, kids in their own minds start selling themselves short. It's a shame because he's a really great kid. I can't say enough about the kind of person he is."
Senior 160-pounder Ian Keil and sophomore 152-pounder Terrell Glen also took sixth at Medina.
Milkovich said the tournament was a tough cap on what has been a very challenging season. He said better health and greater depth will be the keys for the Knights moving forward.
"It was one thing after another this season," Milkovich said. "Of course, we need to get healthy. It's never happened to me that much before where he had so many injuries at the wrong time, but it happened this year. We need to have kids out for wrestling. We only had 16 kids this year and you can't have a successful team with that many kids."
E-mail: mleonard@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3113
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