Bay Wrestlers Claim Conference Championship

The Bay High wrestling team captured the first ever Great Lakes Conference Championship with a win at the league tournament hosted by Elyria Catholic two weeks ago.

The Bay High wrestling team captured the first ever Great Lakes Conference Championship with a win at the league tournament hosted by Elyria Catholic two weeks ago.

It’s a year to remember for the Bay High wrestling team as the Rocket matmen claimed the first-ever Great Lakes Conference championship at the league meet hosted at Elyria Catholic on Sat., Feb. 6.

Bay posted 206 points and crowned six champs in taking the title in the first conference tournament for the newly aligned league.

Winners for Bay were Connor Kloepfer (145), Vincenzo Zitiello (152) Nick Kubinski (160), Matthew Cover (170), Josh Barr (182) and Josh Novotny (220).

It was Bay’s first conference wrestling title in 40 years, dating back to the old Southwestern Conference days of legendary coach Joe Scaletta.

For his efforts, current Bay head coach Ryan Cover was named Great Lakes Conference Coach of the Year. This year’s title is a testament to Coach Cover’s commitment to bringing the glory days back to Bay wrestling and a reward to his team of committed athletes.

Following Bay in the team totals were Parma (142), Rocky River (126) and EC (110). Normandy and Valley Forge rounded out the GLC field.

Bay put a dominating 10 wrestlers into the 14-weight finals. Taking seconds were (106) Connor McCarty, (113) Luke Nickel, (132) Dillon Barry, and (285) Max Edgerly.

Now it is off to the tournament season for Bay. The Rockets will be at Brookside the weekend of Feb. 19.

(Photos by Paul Langer, LangerPhotos.smugmug.com).