WILMINGTON — Clinton-Massie and Wilmington wrestlers will be among teams participating Friday and Saturday at Wilmington’s Rodger O. Borror Middle School during the Division II Southwest District wrestling tournament.
Legendary high school wrestling program St. Paris Graham will be one of those teams — the final step prior to the state wrestling tournament.
The top four individuals in each weight class at Wilmington will advance to the state tournament.
Meanwhile, Blanchester and East Clinton wrestlers will compete in the Division III Southwest District tournament at Troy’s Hobart Arena on Friday and Saturday.
At Wilmington, parking is available after 1:30 p.m. The public will be admitted to the gym at that time. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
On Saturday, doors open at 9 a.m. with wrestling set to begin at 10 a.m. The fifth-place matches are set to begin at approximately 3 p.m. with the final matches set to start 20 minutes after the conclusion of the fifth-place matches.
Admission is $12 for Friday, $22 for all sessions, $6 for the Saturday morning session and $7 for the Saturday afternoon final session.
At Troy, the doors are open to the public at 2 p.m. on Friday with wrestling set to commence at 3 p.m.
On Saturday, doors open at 9 a.m. with wrestling starting at 10 a.m. Wrestling will continue through the championship semifinals and consolation semifinals.
At approximately 2:45 p.m. the arena and building will be cleared. Public may return at approximately 3:30 p.m. for the top six matches in each weight class.
Admission is $12 for Friday, $6 for the Saturday morning sessions, $7 for Saturday’s final session and $22 for an all-session pass.
A total of 19 county wrestlers will be competing in district tournaments at both sites. They are Blanchester’s Johnny Schirmer, Clayton Schirmer, Ramiro Torres, Steven Latchford and Christian Stubbs; Clinton-Massie’s Matt Asher, Bryson Mills, Robbie Frederick, Ross Lennon and Sam Brothers at 220 pounds; East Clinton’s Wyatt Riddle, Brayden Esposito and John Cline; and Wilmington’s Cameron Smart, Sam Eastes, Dominic Davidson, Isaac Allen, Brady Bergefurd and Conner Barton.
At Wilmington are the Graham Falcons, who won the Division I state team tournament a few weeks back and will now compete in the individual portion as a Division II school.
Clinton-Massie’s Asher at 126 pounds is a sectional champion. Other champs at 126 are Caleb Brooks (33-2) of Circleville, Gavyn Grim (41-7) of Urbana and Nick Moore (29-4) of Graham.
At 160, Wilmington’s Isaac Allen takes a 35-7 mark into his bracket. Ethan Miller (34-4) of Fairfield Union, Seth Hodapp (24-17) of Eaton and Ryan Thomas (37-1) of Graham are sectional champs at 160.
At 285, Wilmington’s Barton is 30-8 and won the Batavia Sectional title. Other sectional champs at 285 are Seth Bowman (26-10) of Eaton, Lane Cluff (42-3) of Hillsboro and Khrizdon Van Hoose (17-12) of Graham.
At 145 pounds, Zach Dunn is unbeaten at 23-0. Rocky Jordan of Graham is 34-0 in the 170-pound weight class. Stone Day of Valley View is 31-0 at 195 pounds.
At Troy, East Clinton’s Riddle looks to take the next step from his runnerup finish in 106 with a state title. At 14-1 Riddle has the top record in his class. Olivia Shore (33-8) of Miami East, Luke Stroud (27-6) of Mechanicsburg and Tristen McKee (33-4) of Parkway are the other sectional champions at 106.
Latchford is one of four sectional champs in the 182-pound weight class. At 27-14 Latchford is joined by Damon Beatty (31-7) of Troy Christian, Connor Dixon (41-2) of Indian Lake and Daniel Beemer (33-0) of Ottawa-Glandorf as No. 1 seeds.
Other than Beemer at 182 pounds, unbeaten wrestlers at Troy include Tommy Hoskins of Legacy Christian who is 12-0 in the 126-pound weight class. Joey Caprella of Lima Central Catholic is 36-0 at 145. Williamsburg’s Brian Stears is 28-0.
While not unbeaten, Alex Isbrandt of Miami East has a 50-1 record at 138 pounds.
