Benjamin Logan, Indian Lake and Triad’s wrestling teams all left their mark Saturday during the Division III sectional tournament at Covington High School.
The Raiders came away with five district qualifiers, the Lakers had four qualifiers and the Cardinals came away with two qualifiers.
The top four in each weight class moved on to the Division III district tournament this weekend in Troy.
Greenon won the 13-team sectional championship with 215 points, Covington was runner-up with 179 points and Brookville took third with 168 points. Ben Logan finished sixth with 100.5 points, Indian Lake was seventh with 79 points and Triad came in ninth with 55 points.
“We didn’t wrestle to our full potential,” said BL head coach Kyle Seeley. “Many of our matches we should have won and we should have had more qualifiers. We were quarantined (because of coronavirus) the week before sectional. I felt some our kids were not prepared for that change and didn’t wrestle their best.
“I felt that, unfortunately, we hit covid at a point in the year where it didn’t affect us wrestling at sectional, but it definitely affected our physicality at sectional. It was disappointing in some aspects, but I was happy for those five who weathered the storm.”
Highlighting the local wrestlers was Laker senior Hayden Pummel who won the 170-pound sectional title and became the school’s first four-time sectional champion.
Pummel also tied the program’s all-time wins record with 147 career victories.
“It feels great to be the first ever four-time sectional champion,” said Pummel. “There have been so many great wrestlers before me that have set the bar so very high to be broken.
“It means a lot to me to tie the all-time win record at the Lake. That is now shared between Heath Lange, Connor Dixon and myself. Those are two guys I have trained with and learned from, so it feels amazing to tie that record. I still have eight matches that I have to win to accomplish my goal (of being a state champion). I am close to 150 wins and that is a mark I’ve set to reach since I started wrestling.”
This year’s projected state champion, Pummel secured his fourth sectional title by beating Troy Christian standout Connor Havill, who is the projected state runner-up, by a 3-1 score.
“I am very grateful that I’ve accomplished these goals, especially by beating a very highly-ranked opponent in Havill. That made it even better.”
Pummel, who placed seventh at state two years ago and was district champion last season, went 4-0 with three pins on Saturday.
The Lakers’ Lane Mefford also had strong performance by earning runner-up honors at 170 pounds. Mefford won a close 3-2 battle with Triad’s Isiah Leasure in the semifinals.
Mefford then lost to Greenon former state placer and projected state champion Trevor Stewart by a 9-4 score.
Indian Lake had two other qualifiers with Joseph Scarberry, who was third at 195 pounds, and Nate Cummins, who took fourth at 138 pounds and earned his 100th career victory. Teammate Dylan Valerio (285) added a sixth-place finish.
Ben Logan was sparked by senior Cadman Roose who won the heavyweight title by going 2-0 with two pins. He received a bye to the semifinals where he beat Covington’s Scott Blumenstock by fall in 1:37. Roose then pinned Greenon’s Ty Jenkins in the finals with a fall in 3:38.
“He has been hitting on all cylinders,” said Seeley. “He is in a good mental state and is wrestling really well. He is peaking at the end when it matters most.”
Taking third for BL was Owen O’Brien (126) and placing fourth were Kade Thomas (106), Jacob Roth (113) and Connor Whitt (170).
Also for the Raiders, Matthew Creamer (220) was fifth and is a district alternate. Teammates Evan Carpenter (120) and Chase LeVan (132) both finished sixth.
“I was excited that Jacob Roth made it for the first time,” said Seeley. “He has been a backup 113, so for him to get out is great. It’s also Connor Whitt’s first time making the trip. It has been a big goal for him so I’m happy to see him fulfill that.”
Triad qualified Isiah Leasure (182) and Thomas Ford (195) to the district tournament. Leasure went 3-1 on the day with a pin and a major decision.
The Cardinals’ Jacob Haser (106) and Coleman Hauck (152) both placed fifth and are now district alternates, while Sam Stokes (138) placed sixth.
WL-Salem qualifies 2 out of Lehman sectional
West Liberty-Salem’s wrestling team competed at the Division III sectional tournament Saturday at Lehman Catholic High School. The Tigers qualified to wrestlers to the district tournament with Slayde Merriman (113) and Ian Maurice (132).
Mechanicsburg won the sectional championship out of 12 teams with 202 points and qualified 11 wrestlers. Legacy Christian took second with 195.5 points, Miami East was third with 188 points and Versailles took fourth with 186 points. WL-Salem finished seventh with 44 points.
The top four individuals advance to the Division III district tournament this weekend in Troy.
The Tigers had four individual placers in the top six. Merriman led the team by going 1-1 to take third at 113 pounds and recorded a fall in the finals over Springfield Shawnee’s Grant Driskill in 2:54. Maurice went 2-1 to place third at 132 pounds. In the finals, he beat Miami East’s Garrett Kowalak by a 7-3 decision.
Also for WL-Salem, Jacob Griffith finished fifth at 126 pounds and is a district alternate, while Logan Instine took sixth at 195 pounds.
Look for a Division III district preview later in this week’s Examiner.