On Saturday March 2, Ryan Harris won the state wrestling tournament for division III, 160-lb. weight class.

Harris faced Jared Mattin from Delta in the final round. Mattin became the 50th consecutive opponent Harris defeated this year.

Coach Dugan Bentley described Harris: “[He is] probably the most naturally gifted wrestler that I’ve ever coached… has the best movement, the best positioning, the best timing and he really is a special wrestler,” Bentley said. “He makes very good wrestlers look really bad because he’s just that much better than they are,” he continued.

Harris is proud of his state title. “I felt very good and happy,” he said. “It’s a great feeling.”

“I was very proud of him,” said Bentley, “But I also felt a sense of relief for him, for myself, and for his family. He’s had the expectations to win a state title and the community has the expectation [that he will] win a state title… as happy as I was, it was also a sense of relief that he’s finally of done it.”

Harris’s total record is 114-11. In his freshmen year he won 7th at the state tournament, and in his sophomore year he won 3rd.

While Harris is serious and focused on the mat, he is a different person  with his friends.

“He’s fun and nice and likes to make jokes. He also likes to make people laugh… make a funny face or something like that,” said junior Brittany Penn.

Two other Beachwood wrestlers qualified for the state tournament this year:  junior Sammy Gross and senior Alex Angersola. Gross’s record was 48-3 and Angersola’s was 35-12.

“Overall, I thought it was a pretty big success for us as a team,” said Gross.

Gross lost in his 3rd round, the semifinals to  Greenview’s Logan Lacure.

“He sort of went into a slower defensive mood. The score was close. There were a few questionable calls by the official that did not help us out and Sammy put himself in a bad position. In the 3rd period he went down by one point with about 30 seconds left; and essentially when time ran out he was down,” explained Bentley

“It was a real emotional down for me, but you know I knew I had to come back and get third and finish strong,” reflected Gross.

Gross won 3rd in his weight class.

Both Gross and Harris are juniors, and have next season to think about.

In the post-season, Harris plans to stay focused: “Just a lot of practice, working out and staying in good shape and getting stronger,” he said.

After all, his goals for next year are ambitious. “ I want to be an undefeated state champ again and ranked 1st in the nation,” he said.