See a photo gallery from Day 1 of the state wrestling tournament here. COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was the day the Skonieczny brothers have dreamed about for quite some time.
See a photo gallery from Day 1 of the state wrestling tournament here.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was the day the Skonieczny brothers have dreamed about for quite some time.
Thursday, all three competed in the Division II state wrestling championships in Value City Arena.
"It was awesome, very exciting to come back here and bring my brothers," said junior Nate Skonieczny, who is a two-time state-placer for Walsh Jesuit and won his first-round match by pinning Josiah Dunlap of Pataskala Licking Heights in 1:33. "This is everything we've been building for."
Nate's twin, Nic, won his debut match at state for Walsh, edging Medina Highland's Colin Rininger, 5-4, at 140 pounds.
Their younger brother Ryan, a freshman at St. Vincent-St. Mary, started slow against Lima Shawnee's Colin McDermitt at 125 pounds. He rallied but lost, 13-11.
"Ryan was real tentative and I was hoping he'd come out a bit better, but it is very difficult to wrestle here as a freshman on this stage," Nate said. "It may have been a bit of stage fright in front of 14,000 people."
Ryan bounced back to edge Circleville Logan Elm's Andrew Macioce, 4-3, in the consolation round to remain alive for placement.
The brothers have been building for this moment for some time.
"Ryan is a junior high state champion and, of course, my dad was a solid wrestler with a big heart and our older brother Chase is wrestling in the MAC championships this weekend for Kent State," Nic said. "We're very close. The three of us have tattoos on our right ribs that say 'Skonieczny' and our goal is for all of us to place."
Nate finished third last season after being runner-up as a freshman.
"We definitely fight and wrestle a lot in the house and we're always breaking something," Nate said. "My dad doesn't mind, but he keeps forcing us outside. Chase came home over the holidays and beat us up pretty bad. He wrestles at 141, but he's teaching us not to back down from any challenge on the mat."
Nic says the constant battles are all in fun and provide some incentive to become better.
"We have little battles like who can get the most wins, who can beat an opponent better and things like that," Nic said. "We push each other and we motivate each other. We all want the same thing for each other. There have been many great brothers wrestle here, but I don't know how many of them were three brothers together. That's what we want to do, make a name for the three of us."
Walsh Jesuit coach Fred Daugherty doesn't mind the twins' battles.
"It depends on what day it is because sometimes they're throwing fists at one another," Daugherty joked. "Most times, they practice hard together. I think Nate really helped Nic prepare for today. Nic was a bit nervous, had a lot of butterflies because it was his biggest match to date. It's great he got a win the first time out there and got the monkey off his back."
Walsh Jesuit finished the day in second place with 18 points, trailing only St. Paris Graham (36.5), which had six wrestlers defending their state titles.
Crestwood went 5-3 in the first round and finished the day third with 17.5 points. Padua (16), Oak Harbor (15) and Highland (13) followed to round out the top six. St. Vincent-St. Mary was tied for 11th with nine points.
There were some surprises, as Highland won only one of its five matches in the first round. Daniel Mirman won his opener in an attempt to return to the championship at 135 pounds. But 2010 state-placers Tyler Bloniak (152) and Adam Kluk (160) both fell in the first round.
Bloniak lost to New Philadelphia's Mitch Riker, 4-3.
"He was better than me today, that's all," Bloniak said. "I needed to want it more when I went out there. I've never felt worse."
Kluk lost to Austin Jones of Dresden Tri-Valley, 10-7.
Both bounced back in the second round to keep placement hopes alive.
Brad Emerine is a sportswriter for ThisWeek Newspapers in Columbus.
Source: http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/-2473329749909574467
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