Cleveland ended its season on February 20-21 with junior Anteneh Demissie placing second in state at 106 and Simon Brown placing fifth at 113 in the state meet.

The 6A competition proved a good physical drive for the team all season, especially going into the big meet. “Our team was smaller than usual this season, but we were able to pull off a lot of accomplishments in meets and defy the odds despite our numerous injuries. For us to return and bounce back from that kind of roller coaster at state was a real team effort,” coach Jeff Zerba said.

The team added many newcomers to the team such as Aaron Kemper, a freshman who performed well at the district match as an underclassmen and really showed his true potential.

Immediately following their regional competition a couple weeks ago, the ladies of wrestling, juniors Lily Salisbury and Saylor Neher and sophomore Lexi Moyer, bounced back from amazing individual performances. Neher placed fourth in the 113 weight class and Salisbury placed second in the 120 weight class.

As a team, Cleveland scored 40 points, which put them at fourteenth place out of 43 teams. Brown, a sophomore, scored the most pins for the team with two, above Junpei Hunt, who scored one. Demissie, with 20 points, scored the most overall team points. Brown scored 14 points and Hunt scored four.

“I always dream of having more people qualify for state than expected, but I was just happy that we could come out and perform to our best no matter what,” Zerba said regarding the end of the season.