Sites announced for wrestling tournaments

This year’s state wrestling tournament will take place at three different high schools, instead of Ohio State.

This year’s state wrestling tournament will take place at three different high schools, rather than on the campus of The Ohio State University.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association on Feb. 11 announced that the Division I state tournament will be held at Hilliard Darby High School, Division II will be at Marengo Highland High School and Division III will be held at Marion Harding High School.

The tournaments will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 1314.

In previous years, the tournament was spread over three days, included all three divisions at the same site — historically at St. John Arena or the Jerome Schottenstein Center on OSU’s campus.

Because of the novel coronavirus, that won’t be the case this year.

In a news release, the OHSAA said, “Due to COVID-19 restrictions, ... the Schottenstein Center at The Ohio State University is not able to host the wrestling state tournament.”

Therefore, the OHSAA located three high schools to host the tournament and divided the three divisions.

“We want to thank these three member schools for agreeing to host the wrestling state tournament...” said OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute. “The most important thing we are doing is giving our studentathletes a chance to compete. Our member schools and other tournament sites are to be commended for doing everything they can to provide these opportunities during the pandemic.”

Hilliard Darby is 10 miles west of Ohio State’s campus.

Marango Highland is 34 miles north of Ohio State, not far from Mount Vernon.

Marion Harding is 45 miles north of Ohio State.

Mayfield wrestling coach Dwight Fritz said he was “100 percent on board with what (the OHSAA) is doing. As long as we have a tournament, we don’t care where it is happening.”

Mayfield has two state qualifiers returning from last year’s state tournament — 106-pound Vinnie D’Alessandro and 113-pound Dom Gerome — which was canceled by the coronavirus.

“The kids lose the pageantry of the Schottenstein Center,” Fritz said of what wrestlers would experience under normal circumstances. “We know a lot of the kids who qualify and are wrestling in other divisions. But I’m just glad we’ve got a tournament. We are now all geared toward qualifying and getting down there to compete at the state level.”

Lake Catholic coach Scott Hivnor agreed with Fritz’s sentiment.

“We’ll wrestle in a barn if that’s what we have to do,”

Hivnor said.

Aside from location changes, the following provisions have also been announced by the OHSAA:

• The first day of competition will consist of two championship bracket rounds and two consolation bracket rounds, cutting each weight class from 16 down to eight for the second day of competition.

• As per request boy Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Dept. of Health, ticketing information will be distributed only to qualifying wrestlers through their school’s athletic director. There will be no public ticket sales. Capacity is capped at 15 percent of the capacity or 300 people, whichever is smaller, unless the venue has received a variance to accommodate more spectators.

• The district tournaments can have live or delayed video coverage by schools (no fee), the host sites (no fee) and media (fees apply). Live video of the state tournament will be available on the NFHS Network. Tape-delayed video is available for media (fees apply).

Fritz, whose

Mayfield

squad will wrestle in the Western Reserve Conference tournament this weekend, indicated this year’s state tournament is similar to something everyone in the sport it used to.

“It’s really just a 16-man, double-elimination tournament at a high school gym,” he said. “The difference is it’s with the toughest dudes in the state.”

In addition to the changes to wrestling, the OHSAA announced:

• The state hockey tournament will be held March 13-14 at the OhioHealth Ice Haus in Columbus, which is connected to Nationwide Arena.

• The state swimming and diving tournament will remain at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton Feb. 24-27.

• The state bowling tournament will remain at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl Feb. 26-27 and March 5-6

• The state gymnastics tournament will remain at Hilliard Bradley High School March 5-6.

• In the coming days, sites for regional and state basketball tournaments will be announced.

“I’m just glad we’ve got a tournament. We are now all geared toward qualifying and getting down there to compete at the state level.” — Mayfield wrestling coach Dwight Fritz

TIM PHILLIS — FOR THE NEWS-HERALD NDCL assistant coach Nik Wheatley talks with 113-pounder Josh Spangler during a Feb. 3match.