Jack Golla (left) of Marysville hooks up with a Lancaster opponent during the Division I wrestling sectional that was held last weekend at MHS. Marysville will be sending 13 athletes to this weekend’s district tournament at Hilliard Darby. (Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
A quartet of sectional winners will lead Marysville High School’s wrestling team into Division I district action this weekend.
Emilio Guerrero (120), Jack Golla (160), Ben Bickerstaff (195) and heavyweight Zach McMinn each captured titles in their weight classes during the sectional that was held at Marysville High School.
They are four of the 13 Monarchs who will compete Saturday and Sunday during the district tournament that will be held at Hilliard Darby High School.
The other MHS grapplers (and their sectional places) are as follows:
-126: Nathan Thompson, second;
– 138: Lincoln Heard, second;
-145: Josh Melms, second;
-170: Colton Powers, second;
-106: Ethan Skiles, third;
-112: Zach Pfarr, third;
-152: Erryl Will, third;
-182: Brady Seger, third;
-220: Stephen Garcia, fourth.
Thompson, Heard, Melms, Will, Golla, Powers, Bickerstaff and McMinn each have previous district tournament experience.
The top four in each weight class will advance to next week’s D-I state tournament, which will also be held at Hilliard Darby.
Dublin Coffman, which has 10 district qualifiers, has been labeled the team to beat for the district championship.
The next level includes the Monarchs, Olentangy Liberty, Westerville North, Lancaster and Teays Valley.
Bonus points that come from pins, technical falls and major decisions and moving multiple wrestlers to the finals will be vital for the Monarchs in order to capture the district crown.
First-round district matchups for Marysville wrestlers are as follows (records included):
-Skiles (20-10) vs. Ben Tong, Olentangy Orange (19-8);
-Pfarr (20-14) vs. Andrew Palmer, Grove City (17-4);
-Guerrero (18-8) vs. Kadin Walls, Teays Valley (28-8);
-Thompson (25-4) vs. Tamas Eder, Delaware Hayes (19-9);
-Heard (21-5) vs. Logan Smalley, Reynoldsburg (4-1);
-Melms (10-4) vs. Lucas Milanovich, Dublin Jerome (19-5);
-Will (31-5) vs. Dylan Grimes, Watkins Memorial (14-6);
-Golla (30-4) vs. Tate Sterling, Westerville Central (24-11);
-Powers (27-4) vs. Jaden Fields, Thomas Worthington (26-8);
-Seger (20-3) vs. Mitchell Broskie, Dublin Coffman (21-7);
-Bickerstaff (27-7) vs. Dashar El-Amin, Pickerington North (15-16);
-220: Garcia (12-12) vs. Geoffrey Kaminski, Olentangy Orange (20-7);
-Hwt.: McMinn (32-3) vs. Robert Snyder, Hilliard Bradley (21-7).
The district will be split into two sessions on both Saturday and Sunday.
Competition will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday for weight classes 106-145.
Wrestlers in weight classes 152 to heavyweight will take to the mat at 4:30 p.m.
Sunday’s action will again begin for those 106-145 at 10 a.m.
The championship round for those divisions will begin at noon.
Grapplers 152 and up will begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The title round for those athletes will start at 5 p.m.