Cedar wrestlers earn medals at Wakefield

WAKEFIELD — There are multiple reasons why the Cedar Catholic Trojans wrestling team should feel mighty good about itself as the district tournaments begin this weekend.

At 3 p.m. Friday at Norfolk Catholic High School, the Trojans will hope to kick-start a run toward state bids and continued improvement on the status quo. The second day of the tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“All in all, our team has had a tremendous season and has been wrestling hard all year,” Cedar Catholic head coach Justin Bartling said. “We have a very good chance to send a big number to state this season. And the best part is we are still young.”

Freshman Maverick Heine broke the school season record with seven technical falls this winter, breaking the previous record of five. The school record for tech falls in a career is eight.

“Maverick continues to get better every week,” Bartling said of his wrestler who is ranked No. 5 in Class C at 106 pounds. “Mav is going into districts with a lot of momentum and will need that to get to the finals.”

Sophomore Braeden Kleinschmit heads into the district meet coming off a good run of performances.

“The timing is perfect heading into districts next week,” Bartling said. “He is in a very talented bracket and making it to state will be no easy feat, but if he wrestles like this next week, the sky is the limit.

“Brady Hochstein is definitely sitting in a good spot going into districts next week, and if his head is on right, we will be making a trip to state.”

Another wrestler who could come up big for the Trojans is Weston Heine.

“Once Weston figures out that favorite move from the top position, he will be a dangerous opponent next week,” Bartling said. “He has had some close matches with some of the top guys in the state all year, so I know he is battle-tested and more than capable of making a run at state.” Keegan Carl, Hunter Kuchta, Tavious Pinkleman and Nicholas Coleman are four other wrestlers who can all have a really good shot to make statements at districts, “if we can stay away from the mental errors,” Bartling said.

“Kale Korth continues to improve each and every week,” Bartling said. “Kale has really come on these past few weeks and has tons of momentum going into districts. He is definitely capable of making the run to state.”