Legacy Christian’s Campbell eyes third straight championship
Dillon Campbell expects to get his hand raised for the third straight year at the Division III state wrestling tournament this Sunday. But there is one thing he will enjoy more.
“Knowing and seeing how much work they put in it is a great feeling,” he said. “It’s better than winning my own state title for us to succeed like that.”
Campbell’s Legacy Christian teammates are also wrestling Friday through Sunday at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center and the Knights are favored to win a third straight team championship.
Campbell, who wrestles at 126 pounds, leads five other teammates to Columbus. Eli Campbell is a favorite at 113 after finishing as runner-up at 106 as a freshman and fourth last year at 113. Also expected to place for the Knights are freshman Nathan Attisano at 120, junior Brayden Brown at 138, senior Boede Campbell at 144 and senior Ethan Cooper at 157.
Campbell is from Springboro and began wrestling as a second-grader. As a middle-schooler he was drawn to Legacy through a club team based out of Xenia that many top wrestlers from Southwest Ohio compete with.
“I came here knowing there’s a great program here, surrounded by highlevel guys,” Campbell said. “I wasn’t the best in the room. That’s what got me to where I am today because of the level of the room. That’s how I got as good as I am.”
His commitment, his training partners and his coaching gave Campbell confidence when he got to high school.
“I always knew state titles were coming,” he said. “I was doing national tournaments in my junior high years. I was down in Virginia Beach, I was down in Maryland and going against the best kids in the country in junior high. So once I got here, it kind of already clicked for me that I was going to be a state champ.”
Outside of the high school season Campbell competes in national tournaments with Palmer Wrestling. Collin Palmer was a four-time state champion at Division I powerhouse Lakewood St. Edward. His Ohio State career was cut short by a back injury. He operates the club out of Columbus DeSales High School, where he coaches.
College is Campbell’s next step. He is in demand in the Big Ten, which regularly has 10 teams ranked in the national poll. He has taken official visits to Purdue, Rutgers as well as ACC power Virginia Tech. He took an unofficial visit to Ohio State. He hopes to reach a decision before his senior season.
“Dillon’s special,” said firstyear Legacy coach Michael Sizemore. “He is the epitome of a high school athlete. He doesn’t get frazzled by anything. His only two losses were to ranked kids in the country. I’ve talked to a lot of college coaches in the past two months about that young man.”
Sizemore was an assistant coach at Beavercreek for 14 years, then head coach at Greeneview for 10 years through 2016. He coached an individual champion and several runners-up. He returned to Beavercreek as an assistant until the Legacy opportunity came.
“These guys are not afraid to work,” Sizemore said. “They asked me about guarantees. I said, ‘I bring no guarantees. The only guarantee I can tell you is you’re going to work hard. And then everything else will fall into place.’’”
Also in Division IIII is twotime state placer Cooper Shore (120) of Miami East. He is one of two unbeaten Division III qualifiers.
Troy Christian is projected to place fourth at state and led by defending 175-pound champion Connor Havill, a senior who has committed to Ohio University. Havill finished second at districts to Versailles senior Kane Epperly. Eagles senior Kyle Schroer, who won at districts, is projected to place at 106.
Division I: Springboro won the district tournament and qualified seven to state led by two district champions: senior Conner Kleinberg (150), sophomore Jack Kowalski who won the district tournament at 175. They are joined by senior Ryan Wissmar (132), sophomore Jack Hoffman (165), senior Myles Johnson (190), sophomore Aidan Weimer (215) and junior Richard Thornton (285). The Panthers are expected to place just inside the top 10.
Division II: Vandalia Butler 120-pounder Noah Moreland won the district tournaments and is the highest rated Dayton area wrestler as the projected runner-up. Also for Butler, junior Jadon Gyan (113) was district champion and senior Parker Lee (132) and Jack Hoskins (150) placed third at districts.
Carroll sophomore Jimmy Betcher (215) and Chaminade Julienne sophomore Jeffrey Blair (285) also won district titles.
Girls: For the first time, the OHSAA is sponsoring the girls state wrestling tournament, which was previously run by the coaches association.
Five area wrestlers are ranked No. 1 in the state, led by three-time state champion Josie Davis of Sidney at 125. The others are Northmont freshman Lacie Knick (120), Brookville junior Molly Luebke (110), Miami East sophomore Kira Cole (115) and Miamisburg senior Cassia Zammit (130).