The Wrestling season came to an end on the 28th of February with the end of the OSAA state championships. The season was most notable for the team’s general performance and ambition to continue through whatever was thrown at them by opponents, and Refs.
Beginning in December of 2025 the wrestling season lasted through to February with Cleveland participating in 14 meets starting with the Rose City tournament and climaxing in the OSAA state Championships. When asked on his thoughts of the team’s improvement throughout the season head coach Rustin Marchello said that the “mental fortitude” of the team has come a long way since the beginning of the season, and is the aspect of the team which he believed has improved the most. Wrestling requires immense dedication both on and off the mat, according to Wrestler Robert Perry “Exercising, eating right, making sure that you’re on weight” were the main things which the wrestlers have had to focus on throughout the season to perform at their best.
The two most notable events of the season were the back to back PIL districts and OSAA state meets. The district meet saw the majority of the team competing while state had only a select few of Cleveland’s wrestlers compete, with highlights being the high placements of the finalists in districts and Elijah Borrayo placing second in state. “I think that it really inspired the rest of the kids to look forward to the next season” said head coach Marchello in regards to Eli’s performance at state.
The season ended with the end of the state championship. For certain wrestlers the 2026 season will be their last season wrestling for Cleveland. Team Captain Ben Suzuki is one such wrestler “I’m glad I kept wrestling and didn’t give it up and the only thing would change is I wish that started earlier” said Suzuki in an interview after the season. Most of those on the team will continue to wrestle in the “freestyle” season taking place in spring, a much more relaxed time compared to the eventful winter season.
6A District Championships
“No prisoners today, no prisoners” were the words of Cleveland wrestling head coach Rusty Marchello in a speech to the wrestling team on the onset of the PIL districts meet at Lincoln high school. Taking place from the 20th-21st of February the districts meet is the final wrestling meet to take place before the OSAA State championships. “It decides whether you go to state – the highest possible competition for Cleveland- or not.” Said assistant coach Sedat Clowers in an interview before the meet. “It also gets you placements which some people find cathartic”.
The team got off the bus from Cleveland on the first day, and made their way to the Lincoln gymnasium, before locking in their weight which they had spent the past days cutting in order to meet their specific weight class requirements before the meet officially started. The Cleveland team faced steep competition on the first day of the event with a steady mix of wins and losses. The highlight performance of the day was Nolan Johnston’s narrow escape from a takedown securing him a victory in the final second of his match. The day ended with Cleveland’s team tired but ready to keep going.
The highlight of the second and final day of districts was the spotlight events which began in the late afternoon. The spotlight events were where the two best wrestlers of their respective weight classes competed for gold. Cleveland had four wrestlers competing in the finals: Elijah Borrayo, at 120 pounds, Stewart Bromwell at 132 pounds, Ben Suzuki at 150 pounds, Nolan Johnston at 165 pounds. 3 of the 4 wrestlers managed to beat their opponents and place 1st in their respective weight class. The same 4 wrestlers moved up to perform in the OSAA state finals: the most important event for the select few from the Cleveland team who managed to qualify “I think we got 4 good kids that all have good shots at being in the hunt to place” concluded Marchello.
OSAA State Championship
The Wrestling season culminated in the state championship taking place from February 26th to the 27th. Cleveland had 4 wrestlers who ended up making it to the meet: Elijah Borrayo at 120 pounds, Stewart Bromwell at 132 pounds, Ben Suzuki at 150 pounds, and Nolan Johnston at 165 pounds, the same who were in the finals at districts. At 5:30 on February 27th the wrestlers got off their bus and made their way into the Memorial coliseum where they laid their things in a small room and then warmed up before getting a pep talk from head coach Marchello.
Cleveland’s performance in the event began with Stewart Bromwell. Stewart showed good finesse in the beginning of the match and led over his opponent, however towards the end Stewart performed a move which was called out as an illegal slam by the referee leading to his eventual disqualification from the Championship, the call was very controversial and the decision for Bromwell’s disqualification remains debated amongst Cleveland’s coaches. Followed by Stewart were the remaining wrestlers. Both Ben and Elijah managed to win their matches, however Nolan ended up being defeated by a wrestler from Grant, leading to his elimination with Ben and Eli being the only wrestlers who proceeded to the second day.
The next morning the same 4 wrestlers again arrived at the memorial coliseum. The wrestlers who made it to the second and final day of the event had the potential to compete for 1st place in the final of their respective weight class. So the stakes were high. Each wrestler had a match in the late morning which both of them won, however Suzuki was knocked out after losing his quarter finals match a few hours later, leaving only Borrayo to proceed to the finals.
Before the final matches took place at 6:00 pm the remaining wrestlers were paraded around the four mats that would be used for the matches. Borrayo’s match took place at 6:30 against Caleb Enoch of Clackamas High School. The match was heated however whenever Elijah gained points Caleb would inevitably bounce back, by the final 10 seconds of the match the score was 5 for Elijah and 7 for Caleb with Elijah being in a good position to perform a takedown to secure him the gold medal, however in the final critical few seconds his position was reversed and Caleb ended up doing his own takedown, making the final score 10-5 with Caleb in first place. “It was a devastating loss, because it was such a close match” said coach Marchello in an interview after the meet, “but he handled the defeat like we want: with his head held high”.
Robbery at State
At the OSAA state championships Stewart Bromwell was disqualified for what was deemed “unnecessary roughness” by his referee. Bromwell at 132 pounds wrestled up to the third round of consolations when competing against James Dough of Tigard Bromwell performed the slam which ended in his disqualification.
Bromwell denies having done anything wrong “I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious” stated Bromwell in an interview “From our point of view there was nothing wrong that happened, it was just he landed in an unfortunate position”. After the slam Bromwell tried to help Dough by picking him up; however he offered no resistance “like a wet noodle” according to Bromwell.
Immediately afterwards members of the medical team saw to Dough however he failed to stand in the mandated two minute injury time window and his coaches rather than forfeiting the match opted to disqualify Bromwell. “I was just in disbelief because I felt like I did nothing wrong and just had a year of work taken away from me”. While Cleveland’s coaches went on to do everything they could to try and get Bromwell back wrestling in the tournament their efforts were fruitless.
Bromwell is currently a junior and his senior year is his last chance to compete for Cleveland at state. “We’re going to be working hard all summer, we’re going to come back and I hope to win it all” Concluded Bromwell “Having something taken from you after working so hard is a tough reality to face but it’s definitely now something that motivates me.”
