PPT Slide
Trio of ‘first-timers’ thriving on Day 1 of state wrestling tourney
With the glare of the bright lights and the roar of thousands of fans inside Ohio State University’s Value City Arena, a wrestler’s first trip to the state tournament can be an overwhelming affair. For a trio of Western Stark County qualifiers making their state tournament debuts Thursday in the 68th annual state wrestling tournament in Columbus, it seemed more like a case of “been there, done that” than one of opening-night jitters. First-timers Dante Rini of Jackson, Zach Mizer of Perry and Drew Kapper of Northwest topped a group of nine area wrestlers who moved one win closer to a potential state championship with opening-round victories on Thursday. That nine emerged from an original group of 13 Western Stark County-area qualifiers. Of that group, all but two did not win a match – either their first-round bout or in the consolation preliminaries – before Thursday’s festivities concluded. Also picking up opening-round wins were Jackson’s Ben Johnson (125 pounds) and Perry’s Chris Hartley (119), Thomas Straughn (140) and Dustin Schlatter (145) in Division I; and Tuslaw’s A.J. Hall (130) and Fairless’ Ryan Bowers (heavyweight) in Division III. Johnson, Hartley and Schlatter all won via pins to advance to this morning’s quarterfinals, which will begin at 10 with Division III, followed by Division II and Division I. Their quarterfinal foes will be Lakewood’s Matt Curley, Mount Vernon’s Trever Davis and Elyria’s Matt Whitely, respectively. Straughn posted a 16-3 major decision over Beavercreek’s Chad Geist. He will meet Harrison’s Cris Adams in the quarterfinals. Hall won 4-3 over Nelsonville-York’s Steve Young and Bowers claimed a 5-0 win over Johnstown-Monroe’s Steve Dillinger. Hall faces New Albany’s Chris Andrews – whom his brother Joel defeated twice a year ago – while Bowers is matched up against Sycamore Mohawk’s Domenic Bentz in the Division III quarterfinals. “(Winning your first-round match) makes you feel a lot better,” Hall said. “I didn’t want to do the same thing I did last year. It’s my senior year. I have to make it count.” Dalton’s Trevor Phillips bounced back from an opening loss to win in the consolation preliminaries at 103 in Division III. Northwest went 1-1 in the Division II consolation preliminaries, with Scott Weber (215) winning and Patrick McLaughlin (112) losing, while Perry’s lone qualifier to lose in the opening round – 152-pounder Cory Nelson - also lost in the Division I consolation preliminaries. But the story of the first day was the poise shown by the three first-time
