After winning his seventh-place match in the Division I state wrestling tournament at Ohio State, Westerville North High School junior Santino DiSabato quickly focused his attention on next season.

He would like to return to state and place even higher.

DiSabato defeated Cincinnati LaSalle's Anthony Milano 3-1 on March 2, avenging a 3-2 loss to Milano in a championship preliminary match on the first day of competition Feb. 28.

"I'm definitely chasing that title next year," said DiSabato, who competed at 113 pounds. "Nothing will stop me. I'm going to train like a madman. That's what I did this year, (but) just came up short. I have one more season. I'll be ready to go."

DiSabato went 3-2 at state and finished 39-9.

"It was definitely a good experience for Santino," coach David Grant said. "To get down here and participate in the state tournament is a good experience and to come here and place as an underclassman, you know what your goal is for the next year. This is going to motivate him a little bit to come back and set his goals higher and get after it."

North's three other state qualifiers all went 0-2. Junior Nick Durieux finished 36-10 at 132, junior Andy Struttmann was 35-13 at 220 and sophomore Jacob Hinz was 37-10 at 152.

"They're not happy," Grant said. "Their goal was to place here. A couple of them had a really good shot of placing had they done better and they know it. They're not happy with themselves, but the greatest thing is we have next year to come back and fix that."

The Warriors tied Kettering Fairmont, Parma and Sidney for 58th (5 points) behind champion Lakewood St. Edward (117) as 89 teams scored.

In the Division I state team tournament, second-seeded North forfeited its second-round match Jan. 30 against third-seeded Hilliard Bradley in Region 5-B because of several illnesses on the team.

The Warriors defeated seventh-seeded Whetstone 72-6 in a first-round match Jan. 23 at home.

St. Edward also won the state team title.

North was third (89.5) at district Feb. 22 and 23 at Hilliard Darby behind Marysville (163) and Hilliard Davidson (107) as 35 teams scored.

The Warriors were second (211.5) in the 10-team sectional Feb. 16 at Marysville behind the host Monarchs (265.5).

North was third in the OCC-Cardinal Division at 5-2, behind Darby (7-0) and Bradley (6-1) and ahead of Worthington Kilbourne (4-3), Dublin Jerome (3-4), Westerville South (2-5), Dublin Scioto (1-6) and Westerville Central (0-7).

Other district qualifiers were seniors Shane Coulter at 182 (29-6), Jeremiah Ferguson at 145 (18-15) and Nick Perrotti at 170 (18-11), sophomores Nic Kramer at 195 (28-12) and Gage Archer at heavyweight (23-8) and freshmen Mike Kline at 126 (21-13) and Todd Cumer at 120 (16-17).

South qualified four to district

South had four wrestlers qualify for district and finished 31st (7) in the tournament.

Junior Caleb Llaneza was 1-2 at 145 to finish 41-8, junior Evan Trainer was 1-2 at 160 to finish 32-14 and junior Adam Thesing was 1-2 at 220 to finish 26-18.

Sophomore Evan Pivetz was 0-2 at 126.

The Wildcats were sixth (103) in the 10-team sectional Feb. 16 at Pickerington North behind champion Darby (212.5).

Competing in Region 5-B of the state team tournament, sixth-seeded South lost to Bradley 63-9 in the first round Jan. 23 at Westerville North.

Other key wrestlers who can return are junior Mike Thesing at 170 (21-21), sophomores Korey Boggs at 120 and Grant Trainer at 152 and freshmen Zach Wachalec at 195 (10-7) and Jacob Chrisman at heavyweight.

Central's season ends at district

Central qualified two wrestlers for district, where the Warhawks finished 33rd (3).

Senior Alex Krasovec accounted for Central's points, as he was 1-2 at 152 to finish 33-13.

Junior Isayah Walker was 0-2 at heavyweight and finished 25-17.

The Warhawks were ninth (36) in the Pickerington North sectional.

Competing in Region 5-A of the state team tournament, seventh-seeded Central lost to host and second-seeded Delaware 59-10 in the first round Jan. 23.

"The team was very young and inexperienced this year. However, they grew leaps and bounds," coach Bob Fresch said. "If they lift and wrestle in the offseason, they will catch up with other teams in a hurry."