North Union’s 113-pounder Trace Williams (left) ties up and hand fights with Centerburg’s Heath Merklin (right) in the second round of the Don Wasserbeck Invitational. The Wildcat eventually took first place in his bracket.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
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Marysville’s 126-pounder Boston Burkardt reaches for a single leg against Whetstone’s Cole Basham in the third round of the Wasserbeck tournament. The Monarch went on to place second in the weight class.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
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North Union wrestlers hosted the Don Wasserbeck Invitational.
The event featured several Wildcats along with the visiting Monarchs from Marysville placing in the top five of their respective weight classes.
North Union finished in seventh place after tallying 108.5 points.
Miami East claimed first place with 217 points, followed by Elgin (183.5) in second and Benjamin Logan (148) in third place.
Individually, two Wildcats were crowned as champions in their respective brackets.
NU’s 113-pounder Trace Williams defeated Benjamin Logan’s Landon Zehner by pin in the final seconds of the first period during the finals match.
Additionally, 126-pounder Gabe Hansen of NU also claimed first place after defeating Marysville’s Boston Burkhardt by a 5-0 decision.
Burkhardt placed second following the loss.
At 190 pounds, NU’s Shan Swank defeated Columbus Academy’s Phillip Nedeltchev by pin in the third period to take home fifth place.
At 215 pounds, senior Wildcat Brody Wilson defeated Marion Harding’s Rashawn Turner with a second-period pin to also take home fifth place.
Marysville earned sixth place as a team, scoring 111 total points after all brackets concluded.
The highest placing Monarch was Burkardt with his runner-up spot at 126 pounds.
At 113 pounds, Marysville’s Michael Bates defeated Elgin’s Jacob Hostetler with a 10-5 decision to take third place in the weight class.
Taking fourth place for the Monarchs were Blaze Hall (150 pounds), Alton Dobyns (165 pounds) and Gage Counts (215 pounds).