It was a very productive weekend for the area’s wrestlers at their various sectional tournaments Saturday.
Benjamin Logan’s squad was second in the Division II sectional tourney at Graham High School, while Indian Lake finished third
in the Division III Covington sectional.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the district tournaments. The Raiders recorded 219.5 points and qualified 11 wrestlers to the district tourney. Graham won the Division II sectional title with 288 points. Bellefontaine was 12th with 42 points.
Carter Buck led the Raiders with a championship at 120 pounds. He earned an 8-6 win in sudden victory over Ashton Noggle of Greenville in the finals.
Ben Logan had three runner-up performers with Cooper Buck (106), Kendall Plikerd (157) and Hayden Hites (165). Cooper Buck was pinned by Graham’s Jake Landis (1:03) in the finals, Plikerd lost to Kenton Ridge’s Braydon Cox 6-3 and Hites was pinned by Graham’s Bryce Kohler (2:15).
Finishing in third for the Raiders were Evan Carpenter (138), Jordan Pender (144), Kameron Larson (175), Owen Jordan (190) and Daniel Koehler (215).
Also moving on to the districts with fourth-place efforts were Kyle Kibler (126) and Owen Weaks (132). Ethan Carpenter (150) was fifth for the Raiders.
Jared Young (113) and Zane Tevis (138) each secured fourth-place finishes to advance to districts for Bellefontaine.
Additionally, Jeffery Smith finished in sixth place in the 120-pound category.
“Zane works hard and puts in the extra work to achieve what he has,” said BHS head coach Aaron LaBatt. “He had a solid day and should be proud
“Jared did OK and could have finished higher, but he still wrestled well.”
Miami East won the Division III sectional at Covington with 196 points. Covington was second with 177 points and the Lakers had 162 points for their third-place finish. Triad was sixth with 108.5 points.
Indian Lake was led by champions Owen Pummel (190) and Dylan Valerio (285) and the Lakers advanced six wrestlers to the district tourney.
Pummel pinned Dixie’s Jayden Kincer (2:55) in the 190-pound title bout, while Valerio recorded a 6-4 decision over National Trail’s James Baker in his championship match.
Indian Lake’s Czar Dickson (144) and Adrian Crumley (215) placed second. Dickson was edged 2-1 by Caleb Ryman of Covington in the finals and Crumley lost to Miami East’s
Drake Bennett in the championship round.
Finishing third for the Lakers are Jackson Young (165) and Ryan Culp (175). Draden Stevenson added a fourth-place finish at 138.
Taking fifth for the Lakers was Ke’Shawn Blackwell (120). Gavin Henry (126) was sixth.
Triad was powered by junior standout Awsom Mitchell, who won the 175-pound weight class. Mitchell earned a 7-2 decision over Dayton Christian’s Austin Sellers in the finals.
Triad had a pair of third-place finishers in Wyatt Smith (120) and Garrett Bollock (138).
Earning fourth-place finishes and advancing to the district tourney for the Cardinals were Reid Todhunter (132) and Blayk Thomas (144). Jacob Haser (126) and Brendan Nelson (190) both placed fifth for Triad.
West Liberty-Salem competed in the Division III Versailles sectional and the Tigers finished seventh with 89 points.
Versailles won the tourney with 211.5 points and Brookville was second with 175.
WL-S had two wrestlers finish in second place. Lucas Merriman was the runner up at 120 pounds after losing to Alter’s Rocco Mauro 12-6 in the finals.
Silas Krabill was second at 150, falling by pin to Brookville’s Luke Dolan (1:45) in the finals. Finishing in third for the Tigers were Jacob Griffith (132) and Slayde Merriman (144). Madden Kilgore (106) finished in fourth place for WL-S.
The Tigers’ Malachi Christison was sixth at 157.