WILMINGTON — With three wrestlers in the championship semifinal round, there are six Clinton County wrestlers still in contention in the upper weights at the Division II Southwest District Wrestling Championship at Wilmington’s Rodger O. Borror Middle School gym.
Blanchester’s Gage Huston and Colt Conover along with Clinton-Massie’s Colton Doyle are unbeaten through two matches at districts.
Also, Joe Baughman and Lane Schulz of Massie and Wilmington’s Bret Brooks are still wrestling in the consolation bracket.
The tournament continues Saturday morning with the 106-145 pounders competing at 10 a.m. Clinton County wrestlers who will go at this time are Carson Hibbs and Thane McCoy of Wilmington, Grant Moorman and Braden Rolf of Clinton-Massie, and Jacob Hamm and Nick Musselman of Blanchester.
The 152-285 weight classes will begin at 4 p.m.
The OHSAA Division II State Wrestling Championship will be held March 13-14 at Marengo’s Highland High School.
Huston, Blanchester’s 160-pounder, hammered Zach Osborne of Franklin 14-5 then pinned Ethan Guglielmi of Granville in 2:11.
Huston will face Antwaun Burns of London in the semifinal round with a berth to the state tournament on the line.
Conover, competing at 170 pounds, posted a pair of pins en route to the semifinal round. He went the distance before pinning Pryce Watson of Alder in 5:36. Conover then ended his match with Trent Kelly of Bellefontaine in 3:00.
Conover gets unbeaten Dylan Newsome of Columbus Bishop Hartley in the semifinal round. The winner goes to state.
Doyle made quick work of Cole Grigsby of Bethel-Tate with a pin in 47 seconds. He then decisioned Evan Hager of Springfield Northwestern 9-4 in the quarterfinals.
Doyle is scheduled to meet Dillon Davidson of Taylor in the semifinals. With a win, Doyle goes to state.
At 152 pounds, Wilmington’s Alex Hudson and Blanchester’s Adam Frump lost their first matches.
Hudson was pinned by Carson Greiner of Jon Alder by pin (3:54) while Frump was pinned by Trace Braun of Graham by pin (1:00).
In the consolation bracket, Frump pinned Jacob Graf of Badin in 2:37 then was pinned by Nathan Bryan of Wyoming in 49 seconds.
Hudson decisioned Daniel Caldwell 5-0 before losing to Landon Speers of Franklin 10-7.
At 160, Thad Stuckey of Wilmington blitzed Adam Taylor Taylor 20-2 then was decisioned by Antwaun Burns of London 22-7.
In his consolation match, Stuckey lost a heartbreaker 7-6 to Kole Wickline of Bloom-Carroll.
Wilmington’s Gage Davis at 170 was pinned by Trent Kelly of Bellefontaine in 2:47. Davis pined Watson of Alder by pin in 2:55 before losing to Robert Taylor Hebron Lakewood 8-0.
At 182, Brayden Smith of Wilmington was pinned by Jared Hancock of Wyoming in 41 seconds. Smith’s season ended in the consolation bracket when he lost by pin to Nick Youell of Columbus Bishop Watterson in 4:25.
Also at 182, Jacob Lanham of Blanchester was pinned by Jude Hess of Ross in 2:51. Lanham then decisioned Sam Jones of Buckeye Valley 5-2 but lost to Hager by pin in 2:56.
In the 195 pound weight class, Cody Kidd of BHS was pinned by Colton Hultgren of Milton-Union in 5:00. He was then put out of the tournament when he was decisioned by Will Weinberg of Buckeye Valley 6-1.
Joe Baughman of Clinton-Massie pinned Josh Steiner of Bellefontaine in 1:31 then lost to Antonio Burns of London 8-6.
In the consolation bracket, Baughman pinned Jimmy Larue of Licking Valley in 4:47.
PJ McKnight was pinned by Keith Kinner of Valley View in 1:16. He then was pinned by Brady Stokes of Taylor in 2:00.
Lane Schulz of Massie opened with a pin of Brandon Hunter of Hamilton Township (3:54) at 285 pounds. He then was pinned by Nolan Neves of Graham in 69 seconds. He moved on with a pin of Derek Caswell of Watterson by pin in 1:27.
Bret Brooks lost a tough one to Keegan Jacks of Hebron Lakewood, 2-1, at 285. He remained alive in the tournament with a 7-3 win over Collin Shelton of Batavia.
