Tyler Bates of Marysville High School holds Nick Copley of Dublin Coffman in an arm bundle during the opening round of the Divsion I Central District wrestling tournament at Hilliard Darby on Friday. Bates went on to win the match by a 16-0 technical fall.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Kevin Behrens)
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The Marysville grappling Monarchs got their Division I district wrestling tournament underway at Hilliard Darby on Friday. Marysville has five wrestlers that are still in the hunt for a district title.
Twelve wrestlers represent the Monarchs at the tournament but the team was weaned down to only a handful still fighting for a chance at a district title after the first two rounds.
Walker Heard, wrestling at 145, was able to clear the opening round with a major decision over Anthony Lawson of Gahanna Lincoln and followed up with a technical fall over Marcus Zullo of Pickerington Central in the quarterfinals.
Jake Marsh in the 152 weight class, also advanced to the semifinals with an opening round technical fall over Dillon Strand of Lancaster and pin fall at 1:17 over Jeffery Mullinax of Logan in round two.
Tyler Bates, a 160 pound wrestler, will move on the semifinals after a 16-0 technical fall over Nick Copley of Dublin Coffman and a 10-3 decision over Max VanFossen of Mount Vernon in the quarterfinals.
Ethan Smeagal, wrestling in the 220-pound class, made his mark at 2:46 with a pin fall over Billy Lee of New Albany and followed the victory up with a 12-4 major decision over Max Lenz of Big Walnut to stay on track for a district championship.
Tyler Connolly, wrestling at 285, was able to win by pin fall over Tanner Daniels of Big Walnut in the opening round and collected his second pin of the night in the quarterfinals at 1:55 over James Castro of Pickerington Central.
The following Monarch wrestlers lost during either round one or two and now have a chance to wrestle for a third place finish at the district tournament.
Michael Jones (113) won his opening round by pin fall over Christian Jodrey of Big Walnut, but lost by pin fall to Cristian Salazar of Gahanna Lincoln in the quarterfinals.
Jamieson Bigler (120) lost by an 11-5 decision in the first round to Mitchell Coultas of Licking Heights.
Lincoln Heard (126) lost by pin fall to Jordan Rosselli of Dublin Scioto in the opening round.
Cole Hosterman (132) lost by an 11-2 major decision to Joey Orlando of Upper Arlington in the opening round.
Sam Shoyer (138) lost by a 7-1 decision to James White from Olentangy in round one.
Nathan DeWitt (170) won his opening bout by a 11-2 major decision over Kevin Mullins of Watkins Memorial, but lost a 9-2 decision to Mitch Potterf of Westerville North in the quarterfinals.
Logan Painter (195) lost by pin fall to Quinn Kelley of Lancaster in the opening round.
The Monarchs are still in the hunt for a team district title with 56.5 points, which puts them in third place. Olentangy Liberty is in second with 71.5 and Lancaster is in the lead with 72 points overall.
The three teams are pulling away from the rest of the schools and look to widen that gap today with at least five wrestlers from each team in the semifinals.
“The five semifinalist did thier job in day one,” said Monarch head coach Shawn Andrews. “We need more from the rest of our guys if we are going to still challenge for a district title. Lancaster has seven guys in the finals and Liberty has six. If we want to close the gap with them its going to take our seven guys in the consilation rounds to show up ready in the morning. Our guys are going to have pin thier way back into the team race.”
The Central District tournament will resume today at 9 a.m.