Firestone graduate earns MAC Wrestler of Year award

Jermail Porter, a 2004 Firestone High School graduate, recently earned the Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Year award after the Kent State University fifth-year senior won the 285-pound MAC title in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Porter earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with the win. This will be his third appearance at the tournament.

KSU finished second in the team standings to champion Central Michigan. Fourth-year sophomore Mike Miller, a 2005 Lake High School graduate, won a 174-pound MAC title and qualified for the NCAA Championships.

KSU had four MAC champions: Porter, redshirt junior Danny Mitcheff (133), redshirt freshman Dustin Kilgore (184) and fifth-year senior Drew Lashaway (141). Each of them received a berth in the NCAA Championships.

Mitcheff earned the Wrestler of the Tournament, Kilgore nabbed the Freshman of the Year and Golden Flashes coach Jim Andrassy was named MAC Coach of the Year.

CMU has won eight MAC Tournament titles in a row and 13 overall.

Other local wrestling champions:

Rocco Caponi, a 2004 St. Vincent-St. Mary High School graduate, won his third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title at 184 pounds.

Caponi, a fifth-year senior at Virginia, is a Uniontown native and will be making his fourth appearance at the NCAA Championships. Maryland won the ACC team title and Virginia took second.

Steve Luke, a 2004 Perry High School graduate, won his third consecutive Big Ten tournament title at 174 pounds. Luke, a fifth-year senior, will be making his fourth trip to the NCAA Championships.

He is ranked No. 1 in the country at 174 by Amateur Wrestling News. Iowa won the Big Ten title for the 33rd time. Illinois and Michigan were second and third, respectively, and Ohio State placed sixth.