Wrestling
Orange advances eight to district
Zach Hall (right) of Orange captured a Division I sectional title at 220 pounds and was among eight Pioneers who advanced to the district tournament Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, at Hilliard Darby. Buy This Photo
Olentangy Orange High School wrestling coach Brian Nicola still believed his team was the strongest in the program’s four-year history even after the Pioneers didn’t win the OCC-Capital Division title.
The fourth-year coach felt vindicated when his squad scored 168.5 points to place fourth in a 10-team Division I sectional Feb. 18 at Central Crossing behind Dublin Coffman (196.5), Upper Arlington (174.5) and Worthington Kilbourne (174).
The top four placers in each weight class advanced to the district tournament Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, at Hilliard Darby.
A program-record eight Pioneers moved on.
“This has been our best season, even a little bit better than two years ago when we won the league,” Nicola said. “We had (six) district qualifiers in (2010), but this is the first time we’ve had more than that get through, and the postseason tournaments are a big part of how we judge our season.”
Senior Zach Hall went 3-0 at 220 pounds to qualify for district for the first time. He pinned St. Charles’ Joel Kirk in 46 seconds, pinned UA’s Cameron Gardner in 1:45 and beat Kilbourne’s Alex Meehan by injury default in a final.
At district, the top four placers in each weight class will advance to the state tournament March 1-3 at Ohio State.
Last year, Orange tied Logan for 28th (19) at district behind champion Liberty (128.5).
“It feels great to take first here because it’s what I’ve been working for all season,” Hall said. “When I run the butcher, I usually get the pin, and both of my matches were pretty easy here. At district, I’m going to keep doing what I know and try my best not to make mistakes.”
Placing second were Connor Borton (3-1 at 113) and Dan Dawson (2-1 at 145).
Dawson pinned Westland’s Romero White in 1:44 and pinned Coffman’s Jake Cline in 3:18 before losing to Central Crossing’s Dez Hauber 14-5 in a final.
Dawson was a district qualifier last year.
“This was a good tournament for me, overall,” he said. “I’m a little upset with how I wrestled in the final because I wasn’t mentally prepared and I had doubts. I think the experience of having wrestled at district before will help me this week. My goal is to put everything I have into my training, get my head in the right place and just wrestle my style of match.”
•Olentangy finished first (249.5) in a 10-team Division I sectional Feb. 18 at Pickerington Central ahead of runner-up Teays Valley (214.5).
The Braves won Division II sectional titles in 2010 and 2011.
“It’s nice to win as a team, but the important part is we got 13 guys through to district,” coach Matt Hammons said. “This was a tough sectional and some of our guys could place just as high or even higher at district.”
Trevor Fiorucci went 3-0 to place first at 126 and capture his fourth sectional title. He pinned Zanesville’s Creed Milner in 2:52 in a final.
Alex Stinemetz went 3-0 to place first at 220 and win his third sectional title. He pinned Westerville North’s Tyler Tavenner in 3:25 in a final.
Nate Hall also went 3-0 to place first at 170, beating North’s Conner Kline 7-0 in the final.
After missing the team bus in the morning, Tyler Barlow managed to make it on his own to Central, where he went 2-2 and placed fourth at 182 to qualify for district for the first time.
Barlow beat Liberty’s Matt Cubberly 5-4 in his opening match.
“Tyler’s a great example of someone who has dealt with adversity and worked his way through it,” Hammons said. “He went 1-29 for the freshman team and had a rough go of it as a sophomore. He quit the team over Christmas break, but his mother helped talk him back into wrestling and then he missed the bus for sectional, and he still found a way to make it to district.”
The Braves are trying to win their first Division I district title after winning Division II district championships the past two seasons.
Last year, Olentangy scored 158.5 points to win the district at Columbus East ahead of runner-up Uhrichsville Claymont (139) as seven Braves qualified for state.
“That’s the goal,” Hammons said. “Marysville is the favorite after beating us in a dual (38-21 on Jan. 26), but we’re going to give it our best shot.”
•Liberty finished fourth (189) in the Division I sectional at Pickerington Central.
“This was a tough sectional, but we almost did as well as we could do,” coach Mark Marinelli said. “We had only one or two bad matches.”
Roy Daniels went 4-0 and placed first at 160 by pinning Olentangy’s Ryan Brady in the final.
Three Patriots went 3-0 to win their weight classes in Luke Fleming (heavyweight), Giuseppe Penzone (120) and Jake Ryan (138).
In their finals, Fleming beating Olentangy’s Bryan Young 9-5, Penzone beat Olentangy’s Ryan Lucas 11-2 and Ryan defeated Gahanna’s Kasee McDougle by forfeit.
“Most of our guys wrestled really well and it was nice to have four champions,” Marinelli said. “If those four come ready to wrestle, I will be shocked if any of them don’t make it to (the state tournament). If they don’t, anything could happen.”
