Billy Reed-Bodey, top, of Fairbanks rides Drew Harris of Alexander during the second period of the district semifinals heavyweight match. Reed-Bodey beat Harris by a 4-1 decsion to advance to the finals. The Panther grappler won the district championship. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
JA advances three to state; Triad sends Leasure
The Fairbanks Panthers now have a district wrestling champion in Billy Reed-Bodey.
The heavyweight went into the Division III Central District meet at Coshocton High School with a perfect 39-0 record.
He kept that record flawless to move on to the D-III state meet.
Jonathan Alder advanced Reece Chapman (113), Josh Proper (120) and Oliver Byerly (138) to the Division II state tournament.
Isiah Leasure of Triad also qualified for the D-III state meet.
Reed-Bodey, who is the first district wrestling champion in school history, worked his way through the opening day of the tournament by pinning his first two opponents.
Nick Burns of Chesapeake and Ezekiel Bruney of Martins Ferry were the FHS grappler’s first victims.
Reed-Bodey said he felt pretty relaxed throughout the tournament.
“I didn’t really feel too much pressure,” he said. “I was pretty confident I was moving on.”
In the semifinals, Reed-Bodey wore down Drew Harris of Alexander during the first period.
Harris earned the first point with an escape in the second period.
Reed-Bodey earned that point back with an escape of his own in the third period. Harris gave up a point when he was hit with a stalling call.
Reed-Bodey sealed his win when he got a takedown in the final seconds to win by a 4-1 decision and advance to the district finals.
Reed-Bodey faced T.J. Wehr in the finals.
Wehr notched the first points with a reversal from the bottom in the second period.
Reed-Bodey answered back with a reversal of his own in the period to tie the match at 2-2.
The Panther grappler chose the down position to start the third period.
He earned a point on an escape to go on top 3-2.
The FHS wrestler held to win the district title.
Reed-Bodey said he isn’t done.
“I’m really happy and excited that I won, but I’m not satisfied,” he said. “I want to be at state (tournament) and look forward to competing against the top 16 wrestlers in the state.”
Also moving on to the Division III state meet is Leasure (182) of Triad.
He took the fourth spot at the Southwest District meet in Troy.
Leasure worked his way to the semifinals during the first day of the tournament.
However, an 8-6 loss to Lane Mefford of Indian Lake pushed Leasure into the consolation bracket.
Leasure topped Preston Sellers from Dayton Christian by a pin fall before losing to Adam Myers of Springfield Shawnee by a pin to take the fourth spot.
North Union’s Trace Williams (113) missed out on the state tournament after a solid day one.
He wrestled his way to the semifinals before falling to Daxton Chase of Pleasant by a pin.
In the consolation bracket, Williams missed out on his chance to qualify for the state meet after losing by pin fall to Wesley Wydick of Utica.
Williams was able to pick up a win in the fifth place match with a 2-0 decision over Haedyn Parman of Northridge.
Williams will be the first alternate for the state- meet should any of the top four wrestlers at 113 pounds from the D-III Central District are not able to compete.
Jonathan Alder has advanced three wrestlers to the Division II state tournament.
Chapman finished the Central District tournament as the runner-up at 113 pounds.
He earned pins in his first two matches and won by a 10-3 decision over Wyatt Hinton of Norwood in the semifinals.
Chapman’s only loss came in the finals against Malachi O’Leary of Wyoming by a pin.
Proper also advanced to the state tournament at 120 pounds.
He took third place at the district meet after falling in the semifinals to Brandon Sauter of Batavia.
Proper bounced back in the consolation semifinals to pin Drayk Kallenberger of Greenville.
Proper took the third spot by default over Owen Eagan of DeSales.
Byerly, Alder’s 138-pound wrestler, also finished in third place.
He dropped his quarterfinals match by pin fall to Nick Moore of Graham.
Byerly worked his way to the third-place match ,where he topped Amir Harris of Trotwood-Madison by a 3-2 decision.
The state wrestling meets will begin Saturday.
The Division III meet will be held at Marion Harding High School.
The Division II meet will take place at Highland High School.