Sophomore Caleb Greenwood competed at the OHSAA Div. III  state wrestling tournament in Columbus on March 7 and 8, completing his 2024 season with the strength of a Bison.

Greenwood won his first round and advanced to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Reese Stephen of Barnesville and placed 8th in the state.

“Placing at states feels really good,” Greenwood said. “I can’t wait to see what I can do next year, building off all I managed to do this season.” 

Greenwood had a remarkable season, achieving a 44-8 record in the 150 lb. weight class, but the team saw some challenges this year.

“I think we were definitely a less powerful team coming into this year,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of newbies this season, so earlier on it was a little hard to get some dubs.” 

As with every high school team, the roster is ever-changing. As new wrestlers stepped onto the mat, graduating seniors unfortunately made their exits.

“My brother Josh [Greenwood ‘23] and Uzonna [Nzekwe ‘23] both graduating was kind of a big hit to our team,” Greenwood said. “They were a really big help in the weight room, and they also both placed at states last year.” 

Not everything on Beachwood wrestling was different this year, though. Practices remained fundamentally the same. 

“The way we wrestle has been pretty consistent for at least the last three years,”  junior Mikael Edwards said.  “[Coach Greenwood] always pushes us to be aggressive, and to attack with all our power.”

“This year we had to circle back to basics due to the high number of freshmen wrestlers,” Greenwood said. “It worked out well, though, [everybody] was a fast learner.” 

Wrestling practices can be some of the most rigorous training for any high school level sport. Wrestlers may need to cut or gain weight in a short amount of time while still maintaining full effort for all their practices.

“It’s definitely a hard part of my life,” said sophomore Arjun Dhillon, who is new to wrestling this year. “Waking up early every morning, working hard after school… It’s worth the experience and bonding, though, for sure.”

“I want to shout out freshmen Justin Elwell and Jackson Klein for showing out this season,” Edwards said. “I think they’re gonna have really successful seasons in the future.” 

“Adrian Cintron-Perez was a hard worker for sure this year. He’s going far as well,” Greenwood added.