Marysville wrestler Jake Marsh (left) finishes a single leg on an opponent in this file photo. Marsh won his third consecutive championship at the Top Gun Invitational in Alliance on Saturday.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Jake Marsh of Marysville won his third consecutive championship at the Top Gun Invitational on Saturday. The annual tournament was held Friday and Saturday at Alliance High School.
Marsh, a senior who earned Top Gun crowns in 2016 and 2017, won all five of his matches in the 152-pound weight class as the Monarchs placed fifth out of the 46 teams in the field.
Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary won the tournament with 182 points.
Rounding out the top five were Austintown Fitch-152.5, Olentangy-149, Louisville-144 and Marysville-137.5.
Massillon Perry, one of the top teams in northeastern Ohio, did not compete in the tournament due to a student tragedy.
Marsh, who was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler, won the 152 title with a 13-1 major decision over Justin Shaw of Carrollton.
He was not the only Monarch to place in the tournament.
Quentin Miller (6-2) was fifth at 106, while Tyler Connolly (4-2) earned the same place at 285.
Miller scored an 8-6 decision in overtime against Tyler Wittreich (Painesville Riverside) for fifth place, while Connolly earned his final spot on an injury default.
Heard placed sixth and went 3-1 at 145 as a result of his injury default, while Logan Painter took seventh place at 195 after beating Justin Rice of Trinity by a 3-0 margin.
Other MHS records were as follows:
-120: Jamieson Bigler, 1-2;
-126: Payne Miller, 0-2;
-132: Cole Hosterman, 3-2;
-138: Sam Shroyer, 3-2;
-160: Tyler Bates, 2-2;
-170: Ian Johnson, 1-2;
-182: Nathan Dewitt, 2-2;
-220: Ethan Smegal, 2-2.
“There were certainly some bright spots this weekend,” said MHS coach Shawn Andrews. “Quentin Miller wrestled his best tournament of the year, Tyler Connolly defeated an opponent from Wayne that he lost to earlier in the year, Walker Heard defeated a guy he split matches with at the state tournament in 2017 and Jake Marsh won his third Top Gun title.
“We battled the flu bug over the weekend, but in the end there isn’t an asterisk next to a result that says *wrestler A was sick that day,” he said. “We are still battling some inconsistencies as a team and that all starts in the practice room.
For us to reach our goals as a team, we have to develop a consistent effort in the practice room if we expect consistent effort on match day.”
The Monarchs have very little time to rest as Dublin Coffman comes to town for a dual match on Thursday.
“That should be a battle of the top two teams in our division (Central) of the Ohio Capital Conference,” said Andrews.
The Monarchs will then travel to Delaware Hayes next week for the first two matches of the State Duals.
“The traveling portion of our season is just about over, as the rest of January and February will be wrestled within an hour of home,” said Andrews. “Our focus has to be on what we do everyday in our practice room if we expect to be the best versions of ourselves when we compete.”