CLEVELAND — Cleveland and Northeast Ohio’s strong wrestling tradition has played a part in bringing prestigious events to the city, and this weekend is no different, as the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships have come to The Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University.
Nearly 200 athletes have come to Cleveland with the goal of becoming a national champion, and they get to ply their trades in front of a passionate fan base.
“We love to come to Cleveland because we know Ohio, especially Northern Ohio, is a hotbed of wrestling,” said Jackie Paquette, the chair of the NCAA Division II Wrestling Committee and associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at the University of Indianapolis.
“We want to come somewhere where we know that we’re going to get wrestling fans. It’s good for us. We want some of the local folks to come out and see the product that we’re putting out, see the product that our 180 student-athletes are putting out. We want wrestling people to come and see our kids wrestle, and we know that we get that when we come to Ohio.”
NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships come to Cleveland
Although the athletes are only two rounds into competition at the 2019 NCAA Championships, there have been no shortage of surprises within the brackets for the 10 weight classes.
“We’ve already had some upsets,” Paquette said. “We’ve already had some high-ranked kids that aren’t supposed to lose, lose, and that’s what this is about.
“The coaches and student-athletes will tell you, ‘Everybody’s record is 0-0 coming into this, and anybody can win on any given day.’ That’s the beauty of this (event) and the beauty of the sport.”
Cleveland and The Wolstein Center were chosen as the hosts for the 2019 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships nearly three years ago, and this weekend’s competition follows the NCAA Divisions I and III Tournaments, which came to Northeast Ohio last winter.
More than a year of work went into the 2019 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships, including site visits, getting multiple organizations on board to help officiate and track the results of the event and do the behind-the-scenes work to make sure everything runs smoothly.
“We knew we were going to come to a great wrestling town, but how people showed out for DI and DIII both, the help we received from the city and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, this is a great place for us to come,” Paquette said.
“It’s a great place for me, who is in charge of running a circus like this, to know that I’m going to have the help that I need, the help that our folks need and that we’re going to be able to run a great event.
“There’s so many pieces that have to come together to make this great, and here in Cleveland, we’re so comfortable in knowing that’s going to happen.”
