PERRY—Kirtland senior Gaetano Savelli stood atop the podium at the 2023 Chagrin Valley Conference wrestling championships on Saturday.
Savelli went 4-0 with two pins and a major decision on his way to claiming the 165-pound championship.
“I was very excited with how I wrestled,” Savelli said. “I think there’s always room for improvement, but I was pretty happy overall.”
Savelli, who improved to 33-4 on the year, received a first-round bye and then pinned Berkshire’s Danny Tiller in the second round. A 12-0 major decision over Cuyahoga Heights’ Francis Connors sent Savelli into the semifinals, where he pinned Orange’s Fred Berland in four minutes flat.
He then claimed his first CVC title with a 5-1 win over West Geauga’s Ethan Bartlett in the championship bout.
Savelli rolled through several scrambles to score on Bartlett.
“I like scrambling,” he said. “You just have to keep your hips higher than the other person’s. That’s my mentality going into scrambles.”
Savelli placed sixth at 144 last season.
With the CVC championships behind him, Savelli is looking ahead to the postseason and he’s confident he’s on track to accomplish his goals.
“I think I’m close to where I need to be,” he said. “I have to work on a few things, but I’ve got time to do that.”
Ian Borthwick and Eddy Podojil-Schlesinger also finished among the top six in their respective weight classes.
Borthwick placed third at 132 while Podojil-Schlesinger was fourth at 113 pounds.
Preston White went 0-2 at 106, Luke Valencic was 2-2 at 138, Warren Eveland finished 2-2 at 144, Zach Freeburg was 0-2 at 150, Jerry Zovko went 1-2 at 215, and Otto Loschert was 0-2 at 285.
