WILMINGTON, TROY — Owen Hewitt will be adding his name to the wall in the Eaton wrestling room, which is a tradition for Eagles grapplers who qualify to the state tournament.
The senior 145-pounder punched his ticket to state by placing third at the Division II Southwest District tournament held at Wilmington High School on March 4-6.
Eleven other county wrestlers, representing Eaton, National Trail and Preble Shawnee, had their seasons come to an end at the district tournaments.
The state tournament will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 13-14 at Marengo Highland High School in the Columbus area.
Session one, which features wrestlers from 106 to 145 pounds, will begin at 10 a.m.
Hewitt, who was projected to finish fifth, opened the tournament with a pin of Levi Morgan of Waynesville in one minute, two seconds on Thursday.
In his second match, Hewitt won by disqualification over Gage Berwanger of Blanchester. Hewitt was leading the match 7-2 in the second period at the time of Berwanger’s disqualification.
Hewitt then fell to league rival Alex Pitsch of Monroe, 8-5, in the semifinals to fall into the consolation bracket.
Needing one more win to qualify for state, Hewitt pinned Michael Moerch of Springfield Northwestern in 1:29. Hewitt capped off the district with an 8-4 win over Braden Rolf of Clinton-Massie.
Seven other Eagles joined Hewitt at the district tournament.
Sophomore Lucas Abner finished his season 18-11 after dropping both of his matches at 106 pounds.
Logan Littrell, a sophomore, went 0-2 to complete his season with a 15-11 record at 120 pounds.
Freshman Brayden Deem went 1-2 at 138 pounds. Deem lost his first match, then won his first round consolation bout, before falling in the second round of the consolation bracket. He finished the season 21-10.
Sophomore Danny Caldwell finished the season 14-12 after dropping both of his matches at 152.
Senior Sage Bowman’s season ended with a 21-10 record after falling in both of his matches at 182 pounds.
Junior Matt Michael went 2-2, reaching the consolation quarterfinals. Michael ends the season with a 21-11 record at 195 pounds.
At 220, sophomore Zac Shaffer went 0-2 to finish the year 11-6.
In the Division III district at Troy, National Trail and Preble Shawnee each had two wrestlers compete.
National Trail junior Caleb Reynolds entered the tournament with a 17-1 record at 126 pounds. He went 2-2, winning his first match by pin in 54 seconds. He ends the season with a 19-3 record. ‘
Ethan Wilson, a junior, went 1-2 at 182 pounds to complete his season with a 7-6 record.
Preble Shawnee’s Brayden Doran went 2-2 to end his season with a 36-6 record at 138 pounds.
Triston Engle opened the tournament with a win at 195 pound, but dropped his second match and finished the tournament with a 2-2 record. He finished the season with a 29-10 mark.