STATE PLACER … Wauseon junior Lawson Grime wrestles on day one of the Division II state tournament. Grime went on to place eighth at 132 pounds and finished the season with a record of 48-9. (PHOTO COURTESY OF SOFIA BARAJAS)
By: Mike Reeves
In a year of masks and vaccines the 84th Ohio High School State Wrestling Championships was wrestled at three different locations On March 13th and 14th. With Division I at Hilliard Davidson, Division II at Marango and Division III at Marion Harding.
It was different and tightly contested but they all got to compete and wrestling was allowed after a one-year hiatus!
Wauseon qualified six wrestlers to the state meet led by sophomore Conner Twigg (106) who brought home a 6th place medal after going 3-3 on the weekend.
He opened the tourney with a 12-6 win over Koleton Barker of Batavia. In the quarterfinal bout, he dropped a 12-4 decision to Javaan Yarbrough from Copley, dropping down to the consolation bracket where he beat Zach Fisher from London 4-2 gaining a spot on the podium.
Then the young Twigg met up with Ruben Pina-Lorenzana from Firelands and won a sudden victory bout 1-0 with a ultimate rideout to advance to the consolation semifinals.
There he met Tyler Hisey from St. Mary’s again after meeting last week and dropped a tough 7-2 decision.
For his medal bout he wrestled Javaan Yarbrough from Copley again and dropped a controversial 8-7 decision having Yarbrough on his back to end the match but received no back points that would have earned him the victory and one more step up on the podium.
At 120 pounds, senior Damon Molina just had a tough draw in a tremendously tough bracket. He won his opening bout versus Brock Christian from Perry 6-5, advancing to the quarterfinal round where he ran into Brandon Sauter of Batavia and lost a 5-2 decision.
The senior then dropped down into the consolation bracket where he ran into Zane Van Voorhis from Copley and lost 7-1 ending a brilliant career for the Indians! He was a three-time state qualifier and tremendous leader for the team Coach Mike Ritter said.
Junior Lawson Grime (132) wrestled a brilliant tournament for the Tribe as he opened the tournament with a 1:20 fall over Nick Gayner of Revere High School, but in the next round he lost 7-2 to Koen Kish from St. Clairsville.
He too had to drop into the consolation bracket where he would defeat Tyler Woods from Franklin 5-1. Moving out on in the bracket he lost to Hart from Nick Hart from St. Paris Graham 6-1 which sent him into the 7th and 8th place bout.
He would wrestle Shaun Pletcher from New Lexington losing by a 12-6 decision and bringing home an 8th place finish and All-State honors.
Junior Conner Twigg (152) just had too tough of a bracket to overcome as his first bout was a loss by pinfall to the eventual State Champion Peyten Kellar from Warren and then in the consolation rounds he got caught by Anthony Travisanno of Lake Catholic and his fine season ended by a fall.
Sophomore Zaiden Kessler (160) earned experience at state by going 0-2 after getting pinned by Austin Pownell of CVCA and then dropping a 6-1 decision to Gunner Gramblett of Graham to get knocked out of the tourney.
Next for the Indians was freshman Austin Kovar (170) who ran into a buzz saw in the first round getting pinned by East Liverpool senior Howard Williams in 1:18, then in the consolation rounds he dropped a 7-1 decision to Caiden Hart from Salem and his fine freshman year was over.
The Tribe ended up tied for 33rd on the board with 15 points but wrestled hard at the tough tournament and gained knowledge of the “work they needed to do to build on for next season” coach Ritter said.
He was “happy to get two medalist and gain experience for his young squad!” The future remains bright and good things are to come for this young squad.
DIVISION II FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1.Graham Local 181.5; 2. Louisville 95.0; 3. Copley 78.5; t33. Wauseon 15.0