THOMPSON
––––
The North Union Wildcats found themselves in 16th place after scoring 42.5 points at the Division III district wrestling meet at Heath High School on Saturday.
They will also advance two wrestlers to the state, which will begin Thursday at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center.
Chris Cox-Wilson will represent the Wildcats in the 182 weight class after finishing the district meet in fourth place. Cox-Wilson earned the state berth by winning his way to the semifinals round before losing his first match to Colton Snyder of Nelsonville-York by pin fall.
The setback bumped Cox-Wilson into the consolation bracket ,where he lost to Brice Berger of Danville by pinfall for third place.
Dylan Thompson will also be moving on to the state meet to represent North Union in the 220-pound class. Thompson followed in Cox-Wilson’s footsteps, losing in the semifinals to Josh Person of Columbus Academy by a 5-2 decision.
That knocked Thompson to the finals of the consolation bracket where he earned third place with a pinfall over Hunter Braithwaite of West Jefferson.
Cox-Wilson, a junior who has a 39-10 record, will battle Milan Edisons senior Sam Stoll (52-3) in the opening round.
Thompson (41-7), a junior, will open with a bout against senior Cole Mefford (37-7) of Indian Lake.
Fairbanks’ Trevor Chippas, wrestling in the 160-pound class, was able to make some headway at the D-III district meet. He won two matches before his season came to a close.