BLANCHESTER — Preble Shawnee is sending four wrestlers to the district meet, after placing fourth overall at the Division III Sectional Tournament at Blanchester High School on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19-20.
The Arrows came home with one champion, as Kolton Dillion (182) won a close 6-4 matchup in the first place round. He got to the finals by pinning Skyler Straszeim from Twin Valley South in 1:17 during the semifinal round.
Cameron Neal (106) also competed in the finals for Shawnee, falling 0-9 to take second overall in his weight class. Neal earned three pins on the day as well.
In the third place round, Alex Steele (285) pinned his Southeastern opponent with three seconds left in the first period. Tanner Claybaker (170) wasn’t as fortunate, getting pinned by his Dayton Christian foe to earn a fourth place finish. Both wrestlers earned a trip to sectionals by reaching that round, however.
Four other wrestlers – Kage Worley (113), Steven Carter (126), Travis Tatum (132), and Tanner Crabtree (195) – all ended the weekend with a sixth place finish.
“The weekend was definitely filled with some ups and downs. We started out Friday with losing a great senior in Kole Monebrake to a knee injury. He was the one-seed and should have been a sectional champ. We have been plagued with injuries all season and it was hard to bounce back from that,” said Shawnee head coach Jason Follick.
Despite sending four wrestlers into the district meet, Follick also acknowledged the showing was well short of the team’s expectations.
“It was by far way short of our goal at the beginning of the year and even short of our goal going into the weekend. We plan to practice hard this week and see if we can get all four to the state tournament,” he said.
The qualifying Arrows will compete in the Division III District Tournament in Troy at Hobart Arena on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27. Matches begin Friday at 3 p.m.
