BLANCHESTER — Nine Clinton County wrestlers advanced to the semifinals Friday night in the Division III sectional wrestling tournament at Blanchester High School.

The host Wildcats have six wrestlers in the semifinals. Johnny Schirmer, Clayton Schirmer, Colt Conover, Ramiro Torres, Steven Latchford and Christian Stubbs all advanced to within one win of the district wrestling tournament.

For East Clinton, the defending state runner-up at 106 pounds Wyatt Riddle had no trouble in his first bout to advance to the semifinals. He’ll be joined by teammates Brayden Esposito and John Cline.

Four other Blanchester wrestlers remain alive in the consolation third round. Gage Berwanger, Andrew Frump, Kadin Berwanger and Gage Huston all still have a shot to qualify.

East Clinton’s Josh Cline also remains alive in the third round of consolations. All five in the third round of consolations will need to win their first two bouts on Saturday to advance to the Division III district meet, held next weekend in Troy.

Blanchester’s solid first-day performance has the Wildcats second in the team standings after day one. Blanchester has 72.5 points, trailing only Bethel-Tate (101 points). East Clinton is tied for ninth out of 25 schools with 27 points.

Wrestling resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday at Blanchester High School with the championship semifinals and consolation third round wrestled concurrently. Finals will begin 45 minutes after the completion of the consolation semifinals.

Complete results from day one can be found on baumspage.com.