by Max Steigauf / sports@kvsc.org

The dust has settled on the 2018-19 Division II wrestling campaign, and the Huskies emerge victorious once again. The Huskies traveled to Cleveland with 9 of their ten wrestlers qualified to wrestle helping the Huskies gain team points in bunches which is needed to win the team title.

The Huskies ended day 1 with three wrestlers still in the winners’ bracket (Velasquez, Eischens, and Dietz). Velasquez seemed to be on fire the first day as he started the tournament off with a pin. Eischens won both of his day one matches by only 2 points each. Dietz won his first match 10-2 and pinned his 2nd match. There was also a few surprises Chance Hemlick won his pigtail match to get into the bracket and won his next game, but unfortunately, he lost his next two matches.

At 165 Fitzpatrick was upset in his first match but rebounded nicely winning his next 2. Pleski and Barzowski both won their first matches of the tournament but lost their second and ended up winning their third.

At the beginning of day 2, the Huskies had 7 of their original nine wrestlers still wrestling. Velasquez and Eischens both lost their semi-final matches putting them in the consolation bracket, and both would end up winning 4th. Pleski would also place 4th while Barzowski placed 3rd. Vos and Fitzpatrick both lost the 5th place match giving them 6th. Vince Dietz was the lone survivor for the Huskies for the fourth session (Finals) Dietz started solid taking down Mason from Tiffin after a scramble Dietz elevated mason’s leg and tripped him and covered him out of bounds giving Dietz a 2-0 lead. Dietz kept the pressure on Mason as he cradled him no more than 30 seconds later as Dietz locked up a nearside cradle that wouldn’t result in any points. Dietz rode out Mason for the rest of the first period and accumulated 1:22 of ride time. Late in the second period though Mason hit a gramby reversing Dietz making the score 2-2. It would stay that way until the third Dietz chose neutral and looked to have taken down Mason after he locked up a nearside cradle. Coach Costanzo challenged the call after the refs looked at the video review, they decided it wasn’t a takedown, and soon after that Mason got his takedown making it 4-2. Dietz didn’t try to escape with a late stall with 5 seconds left to make the match 5-2.

This match was tough to watch being it was going to be Dietz’s final match, and he had a perfect record going into the finals match. Then to add what I would call a blown call burned. It was tough to see Dietz lose this match, and I hope the best for him. He still can though call himself a national champion as well as all of the other Husky wrestlers as they won with a team score of 95.5 total team points which was eight over the second place Wheeling Jesuit’s 87.5. The Huskies end a very successful year once again on top and can claim they had seven total All Americans in their lineup. Here is how everyone ended up at the end of this weekend.

125 lbs. Velasquez 13.5 team points 4th place All American

133 lbs. Vos 12 team points 6th place All American

141 lbs. Swanson 1 team point

149 lbs. Pleski 11.5 team points 4th place All American

157 lbs. Barzowski 14.5 team points 3rd place All American

165 lbs. Fitzpatrick 9.5 team points 6th place All American

174 lbs. Eischens 13.5 team points 4th place All American

184 lbs. Helmick 2 team points

197 lbs. Dietz 18 team points 2nd place All American

As the year comes to an end, we look forward to next year and hope that the Huskies can fill some of the big holes the seniors will leave behind especially the 125 and 197 weight classes.