Wapak and St. Marys Wrestlers Both Advance to Semi-finals
NORWALK - The St. Marys Memorial and Wapakoneta wrestling teams travelled to Norwalk High School for the district wrestling tournament Friday night for two preliminary rounds.
Win twice, and you advance to the championship semi-finals. Lose one of the two, and you are in the consolation bracket with hopes still alive for a third or fourth place finish that will advance you to the state tournament. Lose twice and you’ll be home next weekend, or watching from the stands in Columbus.
Both teams have strong candidates at 113 pounds, and both won their first two matches and will face familiar foes on Saturday morning..
Tate Hisey of St. Marys ran his undefeated record to 38-0 with pins in his first two matches at 2:41 and 3:29. He will face Joseph Lugabihl of Wauseon in the semi-final. He defeated Lugabihl in last weekend’s sectional semi-final, 9-2, and went on the win the championship.
Wapak’s Caden Mellott won his first match by a pin at 3:51, then chalked up a 12-4 major decision. He will toe the line against Alex Gonzalez of Napoleon in the semi-final. Gonzalez squeezed out a 5-4 decision against him in the sectional semi-final.
Redskin Antwain Adams also won his first two matches at on the evening in a 138 pound match, and they were both close ones. He captured a 6-4 victory in round one, then advanced to the championship semi-finals with an even closer 1-0 win. He will take on the Licking Valley sectional champion David Mcclellan of Columbus Desales.
Rough Rider Bo Hertenstein is also still in the championship bracket with a pair of wins. He took an exciting 11-9 decision in overtime, then had a much shorter match in round two with a pin at the 1:21 mark. He will take on another Defiance sectional wrestler, Benicio Torres of Wauseon who was the 144 pound sectional championship.
Eight other local wrestlers have split their first two matches and will hope to continue their quest for a state berth on Saturday.
138 pounds - Gavin Ridenour (W) won his first match 9-5, but fell 8-3 in the second round.
150 pounds - Isaac Torsell (SM) dropped his first match by a
12-3 major decision, but came back to win his second via pin at 3:46, while Wyatt Buell won 3-1, but fell 9-5 in his second match.
157 pounds - Corbin Mitchell (W) garnered a pin at 3:28 in his first action, but was then pinned himself at 1:10 of the match.
190 pounds - Cole Donovan (SM) was pinned at 3:55 in the first round, but battled back to take a 3-1 decision, while Jace Knous (W) also fell in his first match 7-4, but advanced in the consolation bracket with a pin at 1:49. 215 pounds - Jace Schaefer (SM) dropped a 5-0 decision, but followed that up with an impressive pin in only 23 seconds.
285 pounds - Braden Saeler started off strong with a pin at 1:52, but he was pinned in his next match at the 3:54 mark.
Wapak’s Reece Schnarre, 165 pounds, was beaten in both of his matches on Friday, falling 16-1 and 5-4 to drop from the tournament brackets.
Consolation round two and semi-final matches will get underway at 9:30 am. on Saturday morning the doors will be open at 8:30 am.