Plain Dealer Reporter
Pat Galbincea
Since 1978, St. Edward has been – simply put – the King of Ohio high school wrestling.
St. Edward has won 21 state championships during the time span, including the last nine straight big-school state titles – and the Eagles’ dynasty is by no means over.
St. Edward has assembled a team that is in position to not only win a 10th consecutive Division I state crown, but also field its greatest team ever.
St. Edward won last year’s state title with a state-record 2091.2 points . and a whopping 1851.2 of those points were earned by wrestlers who returned to the Eagles this season. The Eagles are also preseason favorites to earn the No. 1 ranking nationally.
The Eagles are so deep in talent that junior Errol Young, who placed third at state last season at 130 pounds, will be sitting on the bench much of the season. He lost a recent wrestle-off with junior Shawn Harris, the state runner-up last year at 112 after winning the state title at 103 as a freshman, for the right to start at 135.
The Eagles also have returning state champions in senior Lance Palmer (140) and junior Sean Nemec (145); state runner- up and high school national champion senior Keith Sulzer (125) and returning state place-winners sophomores Neal Birt (119) and Brian Roddy (171), plus senior Mike McLaughlin (152).
New this year are freshman Colin Palmer (112) . Lance’s brother and a two-time junior high state champ . and junior Chris Honeycutt (189), a state runner-up from Massachusetts who moved back to Greater Cleveland.
“Let’s face it, St. Edward is in a class of its own, “Solon coach Tony DiGiovanni said. “They’re one of the few schools that can have almost 100 kids in the wrestling room, many of those kids who would easily start at other schools. That doesn’t leave us much hope for beating them out for a state title.”
With plenty of margin for error, the only question facing the Eagles may be, will they win the national title for the 10th time?
They’ll have to do it without sophomore state runner-up and Junior National champion Ben Kuhar, Ohio’s best heavyweight, who is recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered in a football game against Cincinnati Elder.
Complacency is not a problem in the Eagles’ wrestling room, according to Lance Palmer, a three-time state champ who pinned his way to the state title last season.
“Every year is a new year, and everyone starts with a clean slate, “he said. “This year is just as important if not more so than any of those past years. Even though we have a history of winning state titles, we take none of them for granted.”
One of Lance Palmer’s goals is guarding against overconfidence.
“If I wrestle my best, no one can beat me, “he said. “But there’s a fine line between confidence and overconfidence. If you’re overconfident, you think you’ve achieved more than anyone else. That’s not me. If you’re confident, you will train to achieve that which you know you can accomplish.”
Sulzer said the Eagles’ team and individual goals are modest – to improve each day.
“Everyone in our room has the opportunity to get better, but so do wrestlers at other schools, “Sulzer said. “Other teams are gunning for us, so we all have to keep working hard. The second we start slacking off is the second we allow other programs to catch up to us.”
Sulzer also said the team won’t rest on its remarkable laurels . no sport in Northeast Ohio has enjoyed the success at state that St. Edward has in wrestling – because there is one more task to accomplish.
“Since I’ve been here, we haven’t won a national title, “Sulzer said. “We’re not satisfied. We want to beat Blair Academy [N.J.] and win our first national title since 2000. We’re still one step away from where we seniors want to be.”
Wrestling fans who have not seen Harris since the state tournament will be in for a surprise. He has grown nearly a half foot, and his weight gain from 112 pounds to 135 is wiry muscle. He never thought he’d be challenging Young at 135 pounds six months ago.
“My brother Tom once grew four inches and [gained] 40 pounds in one year, and I grew likewise, “Harris said. “I knew right away to start lifting weights, and I also worked on foot speed since I was getting taller and my feet weren’t catching up.”
Harris said he, like most St. Edward wrestlers, finds that his toughest matches are within the St. Edward practice room.
“I had to wrestle off to earn my spot, and that’s what makes our team so good, “he said. “Besides, coach [Greg] Urbas doesn’t let us get overconfident. Crazy things happen every day. We lost Kuhar to an ACL tear. We lost a senior student, Alex McCann, who died [Frid a y ] . We can’t take anything for granted.”
Nemec said he doesn’t need much motivation to keep improving.
“I have to work as hard as I did last year if I want to repeat as a state champ, “Nemec said, “and the other thing I do is remember how it felt when I took second in the state as a freshman. As a team, we want a state and national title, and we’ll work as hard as we can to get them.”
If the Eagles indeed win the state tournament again, it will be the 11th for St. Edward coach Greg Urbas, and that would tie him with his predecessor, the late Howard Ferguson . who won 10 state titles in a row from 1978-87.
The St. Edward wrestling legacy is remarkable in that come March, Urbas could match the legendary Ferguson, who died unexpectedly in 1989 at age 51. The mere mention of possibly tying Ferguson makes Urbas blush.
“I learned so much from Ferguson, “said Urbas, who served as Ferguson’s assistant coach from 1978-89. “He was unbelievable to work with. He believed every year is unique.
“There is no mold or cookie-cutter process to keeping a successful sports program alive.”
And St. Edward wrestling has never been more alive and vibrant.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: [email protected], 216-999-5159
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