The Olentangy Liberty and Delaware Hayes wrestling teams made some serious noise at Saturday’s Division I sectional tournament at Marysville, combining to win eight of the 14 weight classes.
The Patriots, who earned the sectional team title with 261.5 points, were led by four individual champs — Hunter Ford (106 pounds), Lucas Uliano (145), Dylan Russo (195) and Jadon Brownlee (285).
Ford doubled up Hilliard Davidson’s Wyatt Moore 6-3 to win his championship final, Uliano cruised past Marysville’s Jack Golla 9-2, Russo edged Hayes’ Clay Ours 5-4 and Brownlee knocked off Teays Valley’s Joey Thurston 9-4 to finish 4-0 on the day.
The Pacers, who closed third behind Liberty and runner-up Marysville with 229 points, had four individual champs as well.
Emmett Cain (160) blanked Liberty’s Jayce Fitzpatrick 3-0 to pick up first-place points, Corbin May (170) handled Marysville’s Christian McCartney 14-1 in his championship final, Mason Sutandar (182) beat Liberty’s Ben Cox 10-5 and Nathan Robinson pinned Liberty’s Kaden Tong in just 27 seconds to nab sectional bragging rights.
Hayes’ Tamas Eder (113) and Liberty’s Austin Bensman (138) also competed in championship matches, both finishing second in their respective weight classes.
Other area standouts included the Patriots’ Nick Rutsky (106), Josh Sutton (113) and Ethan Stamp (152), who won their third-place matches; the Pacers’ Tristan Burton (145), who also finished third; and Liberty’s Adam Gintert (126) and Hayes’ Marshall Klingel (285), who finished fourth to earn spots in next weekend’s district tournament.
Watkins Memorial Sectional Tournamnet
Olentangy’s Ethan Hand (285) and Olentangy Berlin’s Evan Butcher (106), Israel Foston (152) and Corey Hill (160) won individual sectional titles to highlight area standouts at Saturday’s Division I sectional tournament at Watkins Memorial.
Hand was dominant in his championship final, pinning Central Crossing’s Omari Greem in just 1:31. Butcher was just as efficient, forcing Watkins Memorial’s Gavyn Louks to the mat in 1:13 to win his bracket, while Foston beat Gahanna’s Paulo Dragin 7-1 and Hill blanked Walnut Ridge’s Sihlas Padmore 8-0.
Other area district qualifiers included Olentangy’s Vaughn Fowler, who was second at 120; Berlin’s Matt Kirsop, who earned runner-up honors at 220; the Bears’ Jacob Tompkins, who was third at 195; and the Braves’ Gabriel Bulugaris (113), Jackson Moses (132) and Ben Hall (138), who were fourth in their respective weight classes.
Berlin was fourth overall while Olentangy finished sixth among the 12 teams in action.
Upper Arlington Sectional Tournament
Keegan Knapp (132), Tristan Bluntschly (170), Dylan Dempsey (182) and Geoffrey Kaminski (195) all finished second to lead Olentangy Orange to a runner-up showing at Saturday’s Division I sectional tournament at Upper Arlington.
Big Walnut, which finished 10th as a team, was also in action. The Golden Eagles got a boost from Lawrence O’Malley (160), who beat Hilliard Darby’s Caiden Rayburn 6-3 to win his weight class.
BW’s Andrew Parker (106), Wyatt Lenz (182) and Max Lenz (285) all finished third, as did Orange’s Cardan Mutai (220), while the Pioneers’ Zack Miller (138), Ian Krider (145) and Connor Svantner (152) were also steady, finishing fourth in their respective brackets.
Licking Valley Sectional Tournament
Ethan Szanati (126), Will Weinberg (195) and Matthew Viri (106) were solid at Friday and Saturday’s Division II sectional tournament at Licking Valley, punching tickets to the upcoming district showcase with top-four showings.
Szanati had the best finish, closing second after winning each of his first three matches to reach the championship finals.
Weinberg, meanwhile, beat Hartley’s Tony Thivener in his third-place match while Viri finished fourth in his bracket.
Buckeye Valley finished ninth as a team with 74 points.
