Brookville junior Trenton Brooks (top) won the 285-pound Divsion III district title on Saturday, March 1 at Troy’s Hobart Arena. Brooks, along with teammates Hayden Jones and Luke Dolan all qualfied for the state tournament to be held Friday-Sunday, March 8-10 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
Preble Shawnee’s Nolan Earles (top) finished fourth at the Division III district tournament at 126 pounds to qualify for the state tournament. Earles will be joined by teammate Riley Stevenson (175) at the state tournament.
TROY — The competition proved to be tough Saturday at the boys Division III district wrestling tournament at Hobart Arena.
Six local wrestlers placed in the tournament with five qualifying for state outright and one as an alternate. The top four placers in each weight class qualified for state with fifth place earning a berth as an alternate.
In the team standings Brookville placed 5th with 88.5 points. Preble Shawnee placed 21st with 34 points and National Trail placed 33rd with 13 points in a field of 55 teams.
Taking 1st place at 106 pounds was Hayden Jones (Jr., Brookville, 44-3 overall) who won by a fall in 1:41 against sophomore Blake Opichka (36-8) of Madeira.
Jones will face freshman Chance Wuhr (29-15) of Lake Catholic in the first round at state.
Placing 1st at 150 pounds was Luke Dolan (Sr., Brookville, 54-2) with a 6-4 decision over senior Brayden Brown (33-3) of Legacy Christian. Dolan placed 5th at 150 in last year’s state tournament.
Dolan will face senior Reginald Banies (27-7) of Trinity in the first round of state competition.
Also placing 1st at 285 pounds was Trenton Brooks (Jr., Brookville, 36-6) who won by a fall in 5:07 over sophomore Isaiah Brady (26-12) of Carlisle.
Brooks will open state competition against sophomore Brycen Dunlap (41-13) of Monroeville.
Placing 4th at 126 pounds was Nolan Earles (Jr., Preble Shawnee, 36-9) who lost a close 5-4 decision to junior C.J. Graham (48-6) of Fairland.
Earles is scheduled to face junior Abe Hermes (49-5) of Milan Edison in the first round at state.
Also placing 4th at 175 pounds was Riley Stevenson (Sr., Preble Shawnee, 40-5) who lost by a 5-0 decision to sophomore Rod Owens (40-5) of Kettering Archbishop Alter.
Stevens will face senior Gavin Richards (37-7) of Nelsonville-York in the opening round at state.
Placing 5th at 285 pounds was James Baker (Jr., National Trail, 29-13) who won by a fall in 3:38 over senior Troy Milligan (31-15) of Coldwater.
If another wrestler is unable to compete at 285 at state, Baker will step in as an alternate.
The state wrestling tournament starts at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 8 and continues through Sunday with a 9:30 a.m. start time.
Reach Ron Nunnari at (937) 684-9124 or email [email protected].
