Legacy Christian’s Campbell makes history
Senior who finished his career with 1698 record will wrestle at Virgina Tech.
Dillon Campbell is not only Legacy Christian coach Tom Sizemore’s best wrestler.
He’s also the team’s hardest worker, and that is no accident.
“Dillon is a consummate professional,” Sizemore said of his senior star who made history at the state wrestling meet by winning his fourth straight championship.
“He doesn’t like to waste time, so when practice starts at 4:15, we’re starting at 4:15, and he makes every minute, every second count.
“Halfway through we’ll take a five-minute, 10-minute break just to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, get ready for the next 45 minutes to end practice. And he’s already up seven minutes into the break going, ‘Okay, we’re ready. We’re ready. Let’s go.’”
Campbell also wasted little time in the Division III 132-pound championship match at the Schottenstein Center on Sunday, pinning Casper Caizzo of Norwalk St. Paul with eight seconds left in the first period to conclude a 46-4 senior season.
In the process, Campbell became the 33rd boy to win four state wrestling titles, and he did so in typical dominating fashion.
Sizemore said Campbell, who posted a career high school record of 169-8 and will wrestle at Virginia Tech next season, scored bonus points for the Knights in all 16 of his career matches at the state tournament, recording seven pins, four technical falls and five other major decisions.
Legacy teammate Nathan Attisano also claimed a state championship with a 25-10 technical fall win against C.J. Graham of Fairland at 126 pounds, and Brayden Brown won a third-place match 3-0 over T.J. Wilson of Tuscarawas Valley.
The Knights finished third in the Division III team standings behind Milan Edison and Barnesville.
Sizemore credited Campbell for creating a standard the rest of the team strove to follow.
“He is not a voice-full leader, but he is an example leader,” he said, recalling a conversation the two had last year.
“I said, ‘Here’s what I need you to do: I need you from this point forward until you graduate to outwork or try to outwork everybody in the room. And if you do that, the next thing you know, maybe we get two guys acting like Dillon with a work ethic that is second to none, or maybe three or maybe four or maybe everybody.’”
“I said but if you do that, you will definitely leave your mark more so than just being a great wrestler on this team, and he has done that. He has done that every practice.”
Campbell was not the only local state champion this year.
In Division I, Matt Kowalski of Springboro defeated Jarrel Miller 6-1 at 190 pounds, helping the Panthers to a 10th-place finish in the team standings.
In Division II, three boys from Graham claimed state championships, and the Falcons won their 25th team championship, including the last 23 in a row.
At 138 pounds, Hayden Hughes outpointed James Lindsay of Columbus Watterson 5-3.
Brogan Tucker topped Cael Gilmore of Highland 8-3 at 144 pounds, and Gunner Cramblett pinned Steven Duffy of Woodridge 55 seconds into the 175-pound final.
Also wrestling in the finals was Graham’s Bryce Kohler, who lost 5-1 to Michael Boyle of Watterson at 165.
In the girls state tournament, Eaton finished in a tie for 14th while Northmont tied for 16th.
Lacie Knick of Northmont won the 125-pound state championship by pinning Lily Hendricks of Greeneview at 3:14, and Emma Hanrahan of Tippecanoe pinned Evan Shank of Napoleon in 2:43 at 130 pounds.
Kira Cole of Miami East was a runner-up at 135 pounds, Carline Klawon of Eaton finished second at 145 pounds, and Brooke Jenkins of Fairborn lost in the 235pound final.
Liberie Nigh of Urbana won a third-place match over Ella Thomas of Poland Seminary while Rita Carey of Brookville pinned Sophia Taylor of Centerville at 2:55 in the 140-pound third-place match.
Graham’s 25 team state championships are second in the state, trailing the 37 won by Lakewood St. Edward, which won the Division I title for the ninth straight year.
Graham can claim nine of Ohio’s four-time state champions — Jim Jordan, Jeff Jordan, C.P. Schlatter, Dustin Schlatter, David Taylor, Bo Jordan, Micah Jordan, Alex Marinelli and Mitch Moore.
Two more wrestled at Dayton Christian — Jacob Danishek and David Carr — while Mechanicsburg produced another in Kaleb Romero.