Panther wrestling wins Regional

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The Miami Trace High School wrestling team has made school history by winning a Regional championship in the dual team tournament.

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, the Panthers hosted the Regional semifinals and finals matches at Miami Trace Middle School.

The Panthers first took on the Logan Elm Braves and won a very close match, 39-35.

In the other Regional semifinal, Whitehall-Yearling defeated Upper Sandusky, 46-24.

In the finals, the Panthers beat the Rams, 39-30.

Miami Trace advances to the State dual team tournament which will be held Sunday, Feb. 12 at the legendary St. John Arena on the campus of The Ohio State University.

The Panthers are the No. 8 seed in Division II and have the challenge of facing right off the bat on the best programs in Ohio in the No. 1 seed St. Paris Graham Falcons.

Miami Trace and St. Paris Graham will wrestle at 11 a.m. on mat 3.

The winner of that match will face the winner of No. 5 Western Brown vs No. 4 Mentor Lake Catholic.

Moving down, to the bottom part of the Division II bracket, the No. 3 seed, Carrollton will meet No. 6 Ashland at 1:15 p.m. and the winner of that match will take on the winner of the match between No. 7 Peninsula Woodridge and No. 2 Wauseon.

In the Regional semifinals and finals, Miami Trace had four wrestlers go 2-0.

Bladeth Leamon (145), Jack Anders (170) and Jared Fenner (195) each had two pins.

Coby Hughes had two wins by decision at 132 pounds.

Storm Duffy (106), Dylan Murphy (138), Dereck Moore (152) and James Munro (160) each picked up one pin for the Panthers.

Colin Wolffe won a decision at heavyweight.

“The kids brought the intensity that we’ve been looking for them to bring,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Fondale said. “This was probably the most heart, the most intensity, the most emotion with which they wrestled the whole year.

“We talked to the kids about being the first team to go to St. John Arena,” Fondale said. “These State duals are relatively new. We talked to them about making history and they came and brought it. They did everything we asked them to do.

“We just have to keep that attitude and keep the ball rolling,” Fondale said. “We need to keep this up for the next several weeks.”

The SCOL tournament is Feb. 18 at Hillsboro High School, with the Sectional tournament Feb. 24 and 25 at Washington High School, then the District tournament March 3 and 4 and the State tournament March 9-11.

Semifinal 2

Miami Trace 39 – Logan Elm 35

106 Storm Duffy 9 (Miami Trace) pin Blake Holzschuh 9 (Logan Elm) 1:34 6

113 Chase Watts 12 (Logan Elm) forfeit (Miami Trace) Forfeit 6

120 Dylan Hartranft 9 (Logan Elm) pin Wes Gandee 11 (Miami Trace) 5:19 6

126 Peyton Bennett 9 (Logan Elm) forfeit (Miami Trace) Forfeit 6

132 Coby Hughes 11 (Miami Trace) dec. Isaac Bennett 11 (Logan Elm) Dec 5-2 3

138 Dylan Murphy 11 (Miami Trace) pin Blake Benner 10 (Logan Elm) 0:19 6

145 Bladeth Leamon 10 (Miami Trace) pin Cole Hartley 9 (Logan Elm) 0:29 6

152 Dereck Moore 12 (Miami Trace) forfeit (Logan Elm) Forfeit 6

160 Caleb Linton 11 (Logan Elm) dec. James Munro 10 (Miami Trace) md11-2 4

170 Jack Anders 11 (Miami Trace) pin Caleb Hartley 12 (Logan Elm) 4:36 6

182 Bowen McConahay 10 (Logan Elm) dec. Jacob Tinkler 11 (Miami Trace) Dec 4-3 3

195 Jared Fenner 12 (Miami Trace) pin Sam Miller 9 (Logan Elm) 1:35 6

220 Nick Vagnier 12 (Logan Elm) dec. Dalton Bartley 11 (Miami Trace) md14-3 4

285 Garrett Mitchel 12 (Logan Elm) pin Colin Wolffe 11 (Miami Trace) 2:35 6

Final

Miami Trace 39 – Whitehall-Yearling 30

106 Raashad Strickland 10 (Whitehall-Yearling) dec. Storm Duffy 9 (Miami Trace) Dec 8-4 3

113 Branham Kipruto 12 (Whitehall-Yearling) forfeit (Miami Trace) Forfeit 6

120 Daveon Jemmott 12 (Whitehall-Yearling) pin Wes Gandee 11 (Miami Trace) 1:28 6

126 Tyliq Stewart 12 (Whitehall-Yearling) forfeit (Miami Trace) Forfeit 6

132 Coby Hughes 11 (Miami Trace) dec. Tamagen Shiferaw 12 (Whitehall-Yearling) Dec 6-3 3

138 Dylan Murphy 11 (Miami Trace) dec. Luke Gibson 10 (Whitehall-Yearling) Dec 7-2 3

145 Bladeth Leamon 10 (Miami Trace) pin Jerimi Freeman 10 (Whitehall-Yearling) 1:47 6

152 Dereck Moore 12 (Miami Trace) pin Wing Yu 10 (Whitehall-Yearling) 1:01 6

160 James Munro 10 (Miami Trace) pin Justin Peck 11 (Whitehall-Yearling) 3:24 6

170 Jack Anders 11 (Miami Trace) pin Austin Nichols 12 (Whitehall-Yearling) 2:34 6

182 Josh Sandozal 12 (Whitehall-Yearling) dec. Jacob Tinkler 11 (Miami Trace) Dec 18-17 3

195 Jared Fenner 12 (Miami Trace) pin Andrew Dickens 9 (Whitehall-Yearling) 0:53 6

220 Assante Ndongo 11 (Whitehall-Yearling) pin Dalton Bartley 11 (Miami Trace) 2:10 6

285 Colin Wolffe 11 (Miami Trace) dec. Seymour Pierce 12 (Whitehall-Yearling) Dec 9-4 3

The Miami Trace wrestling team is pictured after winning a Division II Regional championship in the State Dual Team Tournament Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017 at the Miami Trace Middle School. The team competes at the State tournament at St. John Arena Sunday, Feb. 12 at 11 a.m.
http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/02/web1_Miami-Trace-wrestling-team-qualifies-to-State-pic-2-1-2017.jpgThe Miami Trace wrestling team is pictured after winning a Division II Regional championship in the State Dual Team Tournament Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017 at the Miami Trace Middle School. The team competes at the State tournament at St. John Arena Sunday, Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. Courtesy photo
Will compete at State Feb. 12

By Chris Hoppes

[email protected]

Reach Chris Hoppes at 740-335-3611, ext. 1104, or on Twitter @choppes1

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