From staff reports
Five area wrestlers will move on to the 67th Ohio State Wrestling
Championships this week after placing in the top four of their
respective district meets over the weekend.
The one down note is that no Celina wrestlers will automatically
qualify for state since none placed in the top four that advance
to state. The only outside chance would come from junior Garrett
Gray, who placed fifth in the 145-pound division and is the
alternate should any of the top four wrestlers be unable to
compete in Columbus. Gray won the fifth-place match by a 5-4
decision over Matt Whitely of Elyria.
The second-highest finisher for Celina, which placed 24th in
the team standings, was junior Trent Hellwarth, who placed sixth
in the 189-pound class. Hellwarth lost in overtime to Mike Beiger
of Springfield, 2-1, in the fifth-place match.
The Division I tournament at Perrysburg brought in some of the
top teams in the state from the Northeast as state powerhouse
Lakewood St. Edward won the team title with 296 points, 1911⁄2
points better than runner-up Garfield Heights.
For St. Marys, Caleb Cisco will represent the Roughriders at
Columbus after placing second in the 103-pound division at the
Division II district at Galion.
Cisco lost to Jan Ulinski of Eastwood 10-3 in the championship
match. Cisco (32-5) will face Brian Connelly of Mentor Lake
Catholic in his first-round bout.
As a team, the Roughriders placed 16th overall with 30 points.
Wapakoneta placed eighth and Van Wert was tied for 12th.
Division III will have the most local representatives at state
as the Midwest Athletic Conference will be well represented.
Versailles sends three wrestlers after placing second in the
team standings at the district meet at Xenia. Bluffton beat
the Tigers for the team title by a 132-1091⁄2 margin.
John Schmitmeyer brought home the only championship for the
Tigers at 160 pounds after beating Ian Lehn of Batavia 11-7.
Eric Strausbaugh finished second after losing 9-3 to Belpre’s
Jeffery Wettengel in the 171-pound final. Mark Keiser is the
third automatic qualifier after winning the third-place bout
in the 215-pound division, 7-5, over Spencerville’s Brad
Caudill.
Schmitmeyer (36-5) will take on Chris Estep of Collins Western
Reserve in his first bout on Thursday. Strausbaugh (34-7) will
face Steve Eicher of Massilon Tuslaw (28-8) and Keiser (35-6)
will face Josh Patton of Burton Berkshire (27-16).
Coldwater will have one automatic qualifier for the second straight
season after Craig Homan placed fourth in the 275 division,
losing 4-3 in overtime to Trace Baird of Westfall. Marty Hemmelgarn
earned fifth place and the alternate spot after winning by default
over Dave Bernholt of Versailles when Bernholt suffered a knee
injury.
Homan (32-9) will face Koel Davis (45-2) of Belmont Union Local
in his first match.
The State Championships start Thursday at the Schottenstein
Center on the campus of The Ohio State University at 3 p.m.
with the Division III first-round bouts. The Division II bouts
will start at 4:20 with Division I matches at 6 p.m.
|
