WILMINGTON — Wilmington had a pair of wrestlers advance to the semifinal round at the Division II Southwest District Wrestling Championship at Wilmington’s Rodger O. Borror Middle School gym.
Carson Hibbs and Thane McCoy are both one victory from the state tournament after the first day of competition at the district.
Wrestling on Thursday was for weight classes 106 through 145. On Friday, wrestlers at 152 through 285 will begin with two championship and two consolation rounds.
On Saturday, the lower weights will return to the Borror gym at 10 a.m. The upper weights are scheduled to begin 4 p.m. Saturday.
The OHSAA Division II State Wrestling Championship will be held March 13-14 at Marengo’s Highland High School.
At 120, Hibbs was a winner by pin in 3:55 over Nate Wall of Norwood. He then moved on to meet Drayk Kallenberger of Greenville and pulled off a bit of an upset with an 8-2 decision. Kallenberger was a champion out of the Graham sectional.
In the semifinals on Saturday, Hibbs is slated to wrestle Owen Eagan of Columbus St. Francis DeSales. The winner earns a berth to the state wrestling tournament.
McCoy overpowered Trent Riley of Bethel-Tate by pin in 3:37 at 132 pounds. In the second round, McCoy pinned Ky Emmerson of Caledonia River Valley in 3:47, another slight upset as Emmerson was champion of the Licking Valley District.
McCoy will face Nick Hart of Graham in the semifinal round on Saturday. A win there and McCoy qualifies for state.
At 126, Grant Moorman of Clinton-Massie battled Eli Trbovish of Jon Alder and came out on top 5-1, moving on to face SBAAC rival Nathan Kulbe of Batavia. Moorman lost a heartbreaker 3-1 and dropped to the consolation bracket.
He began his road back with a pin of Austin Parker (Ross) in 1:35. He gets Zack Lopez of Columbus DeSales in his first match Saturday.
At 145, Blanchester’s Gage Berwanger was a 10-4 winner over Owen Crabtree of Jon Alder. It was the 100th win over Berwanger’s BHS career. However, Berwanger was disqualified in his next match against Owen Hewitt of Eaton. He then forfeited to Braden Rolf of Clinton-Massie.
Several other wrestlers were defeated in their first match of district competition.
Hunter Smith, the BHS 106-pounder, was pinned in 1:17 by Jon Alder’s Xavier Pierce. Smith then faced Gavin Deem of Milton-Union in the consolation round and bounced back with a pin in 1:17. Facing Timothy Woods of Franklin, Smith had his season end by pin in 1:46.
Jacob Hamm of Blanchester was decisioned 9-8 by Jaiden Earls of Ross in the first round at 120 pounds. In the consolation round, Hamm pinned Logan Littrell of Eaton in 2:31. In the second consolation round, Hamm picked up a 7-2 decision over Parker Finney of Oakwood.
Aidan Begley of Blanchester was pinned in 45 seconds by Graham’s Nolan Gessler at 126. In the consolation opener, Begley was decisioned 3-0 by Adams Stephens of Franklin.
Carson Curless of BHS was pinned in 25 seconds by unbeaten Tyler Woods of Franklin. Curless met Brayden Deem of Eaton in the consolation bracket and was decisioned 13-4.
Nick Musselman at 138 was pinned by Oliver Byerly of Jon Alder in 2:36 and moved to the consolation bracket. Against Joseph Tri-Rudolf of Badin, the BHS wrestler rebounded with a pin in 2:04. He made it two wins in the consolation bracket by taking Adam Cross down in 4:19.
At 145, Braden Rolf of Clinton-Massie was pinned in 2:38 by Alek Martin of Graham. In the consolation bracket, Rolf won a hard-fought 8-7 match with Anthony Wright of Western Brown. Rolf then advanced in the tournament with a second round consolation win by forfeit over Berwanger of Blanchester.
