TROY — In a rugged Division III district, National Trail’s Peyton Lane and Preble Shawnee’s Tyler Stevenson emerged as the only county wrestlers to earn berths to the OHSAA state wrestling tournament.
Lane, a state qualifier last year, punched his ticket to Columbus by winning the 138-pound division at the Troy Division III District Tournament on Saturday, March 2, while Stevenson will be making his first trip to state after placing third in the 285-pound class.
Tri-County North’s Wyatt Hutchins will be an alternate at 285 after placing fifth.
Lane improved to 31-5 on the season with four wins. He began the tournament with a pin of Coleman Hauck of Triad in 3 minutes, 24 seconds. In the second round, Lane received a forfeit from Jackson Hugentobler of Madeira. In his semifinal bout, Lane scored a 6-2 decision over Evan Davis of Greenon. In the final, Lane defeated Austin Awan of Troy Christian 7-2.
Stevenson, now 11-2, won his first two matches by pin to reach the semifinal. In his first match, the junior pinned Christopher Goheen of River Valley in 2:22. In the quarterfinals, he recorded a pin over Michael Aldrich of Spencerville in 1:26. In the semis, he lost a 5-1 decision to Brennan Davis of Allen East. In the consolation semis to determine a state qualifier, he pinned Brandon Moon of Wellston in 38 seconds. In the macth for third, he defeated Arcanum’s Jayden Heltsley 11-7.
Hutchins, who finished fifth, had to battle his way back into contention after losing his first match 9-5 to Moon. He won three straight to reach the consolation semifinals. He pinned Jacob Graham in 1:52 in the first consolation match. In the second round of the consolation bracket, He pinned Michael Aldrich of Spencerville in 2:20. In the third round, he scored a 5-2 win over Jayce Glenn of Bethel-Tate. In the match to determine a trip to state, he lost to Heltsley by pin in 2:01. In the match for fifth, the TCN senior pinned Moon in 2:13. His 26-10 on the season.
National Trail freshman Caleb Reynolds (6-8) finished his season going 0-2 at 120-pounds at the district. He lost in the first round to Trey Sander of Bethel-Tate by pin in 1:30. In the consolation round, he lost by pin in 1:48 to Caleb Langhals of Columbus Grove.
Also at 120 pounds, Preble Shawnee junior Rylan Roberts (17-12) concluded his season with a pair of losses. He fell in the first round to Drake Carmean of Allen East by pin in 2:05 and lost to Joseph Burns of River Valley by fall in 2:12.
At 160, Preble Shawnee sophomore Triston Engle (22-13) lost both of his matches. In the opening round, he was pinned by Wyatt Stabler of Wayne Trace in 1:47. In the consolation round, he lost to Colt Conover of Blanchester by pin in 1:44.
At 170, Dylan Curtin (13-18) had his season end with a pair of losses. The senior from Tri-County North lost ot No. 1 seed Devin Oligee of Middletown Madison in the first round by pin in 21 seconds. In the consolation round, Curtin lost to David Pride of Clermont Northeastern by fall in 50 seconds.
At 182 pounds, National Trail senior Jesse Biser went 1-2. He won his first round match 7-2 over Timothy Smith of North College Hill. In the quarterfinals, Biser lost a 4-0 decision to Jarret Winner of Miami East. In the consolation round, he lost 3-1 to Chase Martin of Delphos St. John’s to end his season with a 21-11 record.
At 195 pounds, Twin Valley South junior Dillon Howard, who was a district alternate, made his way into the field of 16. He dropped his first match by pin to Garrett Neth of Allen East in 1:22. Howard won his first consolation match by pin in 4:17 over Noah Wise of Cincinnati Country Day. In the second round of the consolation rounds, he lost to Luke Williams of Brookville by pin in 1:49. Howard ends the season 19-24.
At 220, North’s Clayton Finney placed sixth. In his first match he pinned Nate Sudhoff of Northeastern in 2:33. In the quarterfinals, Finney upset James Peters of Blanchester, 4-2. In his semifinal match, Finney suffered an 8-4 loss to Trent Vonderwell of Delphos St. John’s. In the match to determine a trip to state, Finney lost to Dylan Sargent of Columbus Grove, 8-5. In the fifth place match, Finney lost a 9-3 decision to Brenden Dalton opf Miami East. He finished his senior season with a 37-7 record.
The 82nd state tournament will be held Thursday-Saturday, March 7-9, at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. Wrestling will begin at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
