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Paul Vernon/ThisWeek

Dalton Tullius of Canal Winchester tries to gain control of Apple Creek Waynedale’s Dakota Stanley in a match at 145 pounds during a meet earlier this season. The Indians will compete in a Division I sectional for the first time on Saturday, Feb. 18, at Watkins Memorial after being in Division II the past nine seasons. Buy This Photo

The Canal Winchester High School wrestling team may face a deeper pool of talent than it has in past years when it competes in a Division I sectional tournament on Saturday, Feb. 18, at Watkins Memorial.

Regardless, coach Trent Brooks, whose team competed in Division II the last nine seasons, believes the higher level of competition won’t prevent his more experienced wrestlers from qualifying for the district tournament Feb. 24 and 25 at Hilliard Darby.

The top four finishers in each weight class at sectional advance to district.

“This is our first year in Division I and I know that we won’t compete for the team title this year, because the bigger schools have bigger classes of students and more depth to pull from,” Brooks said. “But with Division I moving to four sectionals this season, that should help us out because there will be only 10 teams in each sectional. It’s still going to be a big transition to move up to Division I, but we’ve wrestled a lot of Division I teams throughout the season and I feel like we’re going to be up for the challenge and we’ll still get a lot of kids through.”

Joining the Indians and host Watkins Memorial in the sectional are Dublin Scioto, Hilliard Bradley, Lancaster, Pickerington North, Reynoldsburg, Westerville Central, Westerville South and Whetstone.

Last season, Canal Winchester finished second (209) in the 13-team Division II sectional at Licking Heights behind Licking Valley (222.5).

The Indians have five district qualifiers from a year ago in seniors Joe Boswell (132 pounds), Royce Calloway (152) and Dalton Tullius (160), junior Max Lacey (220) and sophomore Emmanuel Barnes (120).

Last year at sectional, Barnes went 2-1 and placed second at 103, Boswell went 4-0 to place first at 130, Calloway went 2-2 and placed fourth at 152, Tullius went 2-1 and placed third at 135 and Lacey went 3-1 and placed third at 215.

According to Brooks, senior Ben Craig (106), junior Zach Snyder (145), sophomore Max Baker (138) and freshman Nick Hammond (126) also have a good chance of qualifying for district.

“All of those guys should do fine,” Brooks said. “We’ve got five district qualifiers back, and we’ve got some new guys who are coming on strong. We want to keep wrestling hard-nosed and keep the pressure on our opponents. What you’ve done to this point in the season doesn’t matter anymore. It’s whoever gets hot who will place and move on.”

The Indians wrapped up their regular season Feb. 9 with a pair of MSL-Buckeye Division duals. They lost to Teays Valley 46-15 and lost to Hamilton Township on criteria, as the teams tied at 32 but the Rangers won eight of the 14 weight classes.

Canal Winchester finished fourth in the league at 4-3, behind Amanda-Clearcreek (7-0), Teays Valley (6-1) and Hamilton Township (5-2).

“We had too many holes in our lineup to be a good dual-match team,” Brooks said. “All year long, we had kids trying to gain weight so they could fill in and wrestle up a weight class for us in duals.”

•The boys swimming and diving team scored 33 points and finished 10th of the 12 squads that competed in a Division I sectional meet Feb. 11, behind host and champion Upper Arlington (397.5).

Sam Decker won both the 50-yard freestyle (21.61 seconds) and 100 free (47.32) to automatically qualify for the district meet, which will be held Friday, Feb. 17, and Saturday, Feb. 18, at Ohio State.

“We knew no one was going to beat Sam,” coach Julie Pastor said. “He didn’t swim his best times, but he didn’t have anyone pushing him in either event.”

The top two placers in each swimming event and top three divers at district automatically advance to the state meet, which runs Feb. 23-25 at Branin Natatorium in Canton. In addition, 16 at-large state berths will be awarded for each swimming event based on times statewide.

Last year, the Indians finished fifth (132) in the Division II district meet behind champion Granville (256), as Decker won the 50 free in a district-record 20.55 and won the 100 free in 46.81.

“We already are making plans for Sam going to state,” Pastor said. “That’s how confident we are in him.”

•The girls swimming and diving team scored 31 points and placed ninth of the 12 squads that competed in the Division I sectional meet Feb. 11, behind host and champion Upper Arlington (446).

Hanna Klatt, Kasey Pastor, Devon Shull and Lexie Meade finished seventh in the 200 free relay in 1:52.23 and ninth in the 200 medley relay in 2:04.2. Pastor also placed ninth in the 200 individual medley (2:22.27) and 11th in the 100 butterfly (1:03.49), and Meade placed 10th (26.47) in the 50 free.

The district meet will be held Saturday, Feb. 18, at Ohio State.

The top two placers in each swimming event and top four divers at district automatically advance to state. In addition, 16 at-large state berths will be awarded for each swimming event based on times statewide.

Last year, the Indians didn’t score at district.

“Most of our girls dropped their times,” coach Pastor said. “Our 200 free relay was ranked 12th coming in and improved to seventh. Kasey’s been finishing the 100 fly in 1:07 all season, so she had a big drop, too.”