They remember like it was yesterday
John Kampf
Eighteen years have passed since Dale Kaprosy clinched the Division II state wrestling tournament for Lake Catholic.
The vivid detail in which Kaprosy recalls the winning moments makes it seem like it was only yesterday.
Then a senior for Coach Tim Armelli’s Cougars, Kaprosy was the last man standing between Lake Catholic and the 1989 Division II state championship that frosty March afternoon on the banks of the Olentangy River in Columbus.
In a jam-packed St. John Arena on the campus of Ohio State University, the 160-pound tri-captain walked onto the mat with the weight of the tournament on his shoulders.
Win and the Cougars overcome a two-point deficit to Kenston and win the state team title.
Lose and they settle for second place.
Battling back from a 6-2 deficit, Kaprosy shot in for a double-leg takedown with five seconds on the clock against James Gilbert from Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education.
The 11-9 win for Kaprosy gave Lake Catholic a 68-66 advantage over Kenston.
No area team has won a state wrestling championship since.
“Oh, God, yes. It was exciting, “Kaprosy said. “To this day, it’s easily one of the most exciting events of my life outside of marrying my wife and the birth of our daughter.”
Setting the stage
It was to the surprise of few that the state championship came down to Lake Catholic and Kenston.
Both the Cougars and Bombers had six state qualifiers that year. Highly ranked Steubenville had eight.
“Lake Catholic beat us at the Kenston Invitational Tournament, “then-Kenston coach Mike Rovtar said. “We won sectionals, and they won districts. I told Tim when we got to state that it was our turn again.”
It almost turned out that way, especially when the Bombers took a 66-60 lead going into the finals.
Prior to the finals, Kenston already locked up a trio of placers in 119-pound Jason Kuchnicki (fifth), 152-pound Judd Mintz (third) and 160-pound Chaz Ambrose, who defaulted to sixth place with a collarbone injury.
Going into the finals, Kenston had two wrestlers going for championships (Andy Carson, 140, and Jason Maxwell, 145), while Lake Catholic had its tri-captains – Vic Voinovich (140), John Volpe (152) and Kaprosy.
“We had three in the finals and had the whole day to wait, “Armelli said. “I don’t remember what we did with the time, to be honest.”
Watching it unfold
Rovtar’s team took a hit in the final round when both of Kenston’s finalists lost and took second place.
Voinovich got a huge win, decisioning Carson, 5-3, in a matchup between Lake Catholic and Kenston standouts. One match later, Kenston was dealt another blow when Maxwell couldn’t fend off Steubenville’s Dunyasha Yetts, settling for second via a 9-4 decision.
Kenston losing two matches didn’t catapult Lake very far. The Cougars still trailed, 66-64 – but they did have Volpe and Kaprosy yet to wrestle.
“We had to win one of the last two, “Armelli said.
Volpe might have been the most ballyhooed of the Lake wrestlers.
“Dale won’t admit it, “Armelli said, “but he couldn’t beat Volpe.”
Still, Volpe found himself in a dogfight with Oak Harbor’s Chad Miller and lost in overtime by criteria. Miller won because he earned two takedowns, while Volpe had only one.
“What I remember of it, “Volpe said, “is that (Miller) was one of the first people to take me down. He got in a deep shot, and I didn’t fight it like I normally do.”
Currently, Volpe is the captain of a ship with Tyco Telecommunications, laying and repairing fiber-optic cable around the world beneath the ocean floor. Reached on his cellular phone just off the coast of England, Volpe thought back to the match with Miller.
“I lost because I gave up the first takedown, “he said.
One last shot
Though four weight classes remained, the Division II state title was going to be wrapped up with the 160-pound class. Steubenville and Kenston were out of wrestlers, while Kaprosy was the last Cougar to wrestle.
When Gilbert, ranked No. 2 in the Brian Brakeman Report that year, took a 6-2 lead, Rovtar was feeling pretty good about Kenston’s chances.
“When Volpe lost, I started to eye up that trophy and salivate a little bit, “Rovtar said. “When Dale went down, 6-2, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, we may be taking that trophy home with us.’ ”
Armelli’s mind wandered a bit, too.
“Dale and John were drill partners, “Armelli explained. “You had to wonder the effect John losing a heartbreaker would have on Dale. When he went down, 6-2, I thought it wasn’t meant to be. I was already thinking, ‘How are we going to handle this?’ ”
Kaprosy battled back, though. He fought off his back in the first period and evened the score at 9 with a takedown late in the third period.
With the St. John Arena crowd at a deafening roar, Gilbert came out of an injury timeout and buckled back on his right knee when Kaprosy shot in for a double-leg takedown.
As soon as the official signaled two points for the takedown, Armelli and assistant Bill Rockwell leapt off their chairs and were quickly joined by assistant Tim Willis, who burst through the barrier of two security guards to hoist Armelli into the air, then Kaprosy.
“I was doin’ laps around St. John Arena, “said Willis, who earned the nickname of ‘The Dancing Bear’ after his mid-mat celebration. “I’m an excitable guy, ya know.”
Promise made good
The first couple days of the state tournament, Kaprosy repeatedly asked Armelli the name of the river that runs next to St. John Arena.
“I can’t remember it, “Kaprosy told his coach. “But I’m going to jump in it when I win the state championship.”
A March 1989 story in The News-Herald recants what happened after the Lake Catholic crew left the arena.
“We were getting to the parking lot, and the kids dropped everything and bolted, “Armelli said of the quintet that included the three finalists, as well as qualifiers Charlie Becks and Dave DeMaranis. “They all jumped in and were splashing around. The water was frozen on them in the van on the way back.”
Back at Lake Catholic, the state tournament representatives were treated like royalty. A large reception rally before the student body is one that has not been seen by an area wrestling team since.
Willis said he remembers the sound of the crowd when he carried Rockwell around the gymnasium on his shoulders.
“The students were great, “Willis said. “We had a lot of fun with it.”
The test of time
Though the area has had some outstanding individual wrestlers, no team has won a state title since 1989.
“Anymore, you’ve got to be out of Division I to have a chance, “Willis said. “With St. Edward there … But if you’re in Division II or III, you need to have guys you know are going to place. We had three guys in the finals that year, and that was 60 points right there.”
Although five time zones away, one could almost see Volpe shake his head in disbelief that nearly two decades have passed since that milestone was reached.
“Now that you bring it up, I can’t believe it’s been 18 years, “he said from his captain’s office on the ship. “Hearing those names brings all the memories back, though. Everything about the tournament.”
Even Rovtar has his pleasant memories, despite watching the state championship elude his Kenston team.
“Tim Armelli is a class person, one of the greatest ambassadors of the sport, “he said. “If we were going to lose to someone, I can’t imagine losing to a better team of people than Lake Catholic.”
And at the center of it all is Kaprosy, who shrugged off more pressure than many high school athletes will ever know.
Kaprosy said his VCR is broken, so he hadn’t had a chance to review his final match for a while. It often serves as a pick-me-up for him now that he is an insurance broker.
Being part of history still brings a smile to his face.
Or maybe it’s the vivid details in his memory that does it.
“It’s enormously significant to me, “he said energetically. “It’s been 18 years, but I remember it all. I gotta tell ya, when you’re 17 years old, looking up in St. John Arena and it seems like there’s 50,000 people screaming in there, at that point you just try to take it all in.”
Because situations and opportunities like that don’t come along very often.
Eighteen years of championship drought can attest to that.
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