BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – The Wrestling Raiders are sending a contingent forward in the Buckeye State postseason brackets. Seniors Matt Williams and Mahdi Salti earned automatic berths for next week’s district
tournament; junior Ryan Maloney and senior Ergi Sulce will join them as
alternates.
Those four slots were earned in Saturday’s DII Bay Sectional Tournament, a 12-team, 130-wrestler event contested at Bay
Village High School on Saturday.
At 113 pounds, Williams qualified for his third district tournament by earning a couple key pins in the wrestleback brackets after losing his second bout of the day. For the tournament, the three-time Great Lakes Conference runner-up went 3-1 with three wins by fall in placing fourth. He’s now 31-11 on the season.
Salti took a near-identical path to placing third at 195. Also a three-time GLC runner-up and now a district qualifier thrice over, the athletic Pirate grappler went 3-1 with three pins. Salti’s lone loss was to the eventual champ at 195, Griffen Novotny (junior, Bay). Novotny defeated Salti, 6-4, in what marked the second bout for both. Mahdi Salti totes an 18-11 record into next week’s district event.
At 120, Ryan Maloney carded a fifth-place finish by going
2-2. Maloney pinned his opponent in the fifth-place bout at 120. Ergi Sulce
went 2-2 to place fifth at 285. Both Maloney and Sulce will be alternates in
the DII Norwak District Tournament, which will be held at Norwalk High School on
March 6-7.
Other placers among the dozen grapplers Rocky River sent to
Bay were Mohammed Salti (sixth place at 126) and John Sadiku (sixth at 220).
by Skip Snow
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