Trevor Hicks will be making his second consecutive appearance at the State wrestling tournament after winning the District title at heavyweight Saturday at Wilmington High School.
Three other Blue Lions also competed at the District meet this past Friday and Saturday.
Junior Zane Nelson placed fifth at 145 pounds to become an alternate to State. If one of the top four placers from the Wilmington District are unable to compete, Nelson will be able to realize his dream of competing at State.
Junior Chris Conger placed sixth at 152 pounds and junior Levi Clay competed at 120 pounds.
As a team, the Blue Lions placed 10th out of 49 teams at the District. Washington scored 51 points.
Clinton-Massie placed ninth with 53.5 points.
Miami Trace was fourth with 66 points and Graham Local again dominated with 10 District champions and a total of 321.5 team points.
Hillsboro was 14th with 41 points, Wilmington was 20th with 34 points, Unioto was 221st with 33 points and McClain was 35th with 9.5 points.
Circleville was third with 96 points and Western Brown was a distant second with 164 points.
“This was the first season Levi has been able to make it through the whole year,” Washington head coach Louis Reid said. “He hasn’t been able to wrestle a full season since eighth grade due to various injuries.”
Clay went 2-2 to finish his season with a record of 35-10.
“We’re really proud of him,” Reid said. “He was two matches away from placing. He wrestled really well.
“He lost his first match (by pin to Isaiah Worthman of Chaminade-Julienne),” Reid said. “Then he bounced back in the consolations winning two matches that put him to where he needed one more win to place and two wins away from State placement.”
Clay won an 8-5 decision over Talon Webb of Ross in his first consolation match and then he won a 4-3 decision against Cody Tracey of Monroe.
In the third consolation round, Clay was pinned by Dustin Robbins of Reading in 2:54.
“He wrestled really well, really smart,” Reid said. “He won over 30 matches and that’s really good for having not wrestled a full season in three years. His hard work really paid off.”
Junior Chris Conger went 3-3 at the District, placing sixth.
“Chris bounced back after losing his first match to win three consolation matches,” Reid said. “He lost a close 2-0 match (to Jesse Younce of Carroll in the consolation semifinals). He just has some little things we need to work on. There were other opportunities we had to win.
“He lost his fifth and sixth place match, he got pinned,” Reid said. “He just got caught in that match (pinned by Dylan Knotts of Indian Lake in 4:52). He improved, so, I’m really proud of him.”
Conger began the District with a 6-2 loss to Yima Nyamor of Wyoming.
In his first round consolation match, Conger earned a major decision, 14-4 win over Quincy Brown of Middletown Madison.
In the second consolation round, Conger defeated Hunter Johns of Chaminade-Julienne, 9-3. He followed that with a 3-2 win over Caleb Linton of Logan Elm. Conger finishes the season with a record of 39-14.
Zane Nelson went 4-2, placing fifth at 145 pounds.
“Four of the top 15 145-pound wrestlers in the State were at our District,” Reid said. “He had one of them right off the get-go.”
Nelson lost to begin the District to Trenton Scott of Franklin, 7-3.
After that, Nelson won three consolation round matches.
Nelson pinned Jacob Goldsmith of Greenville in 51 seconds. Nelson picked up a win by default over Gavin Clark of New Richmond in the second consolation round. He followed that with a 4-1 win over Nicholas Machuca of Chaminade-Julienne.
Nelson lost in the consolation semifinals, 8-3 to Alex Kowai of Fenwick.
He concluded his District run with a 13-6 decision over Damion Williams of Urbana.
“That was a nice win to become a State-alternate,” Reid said. Nelson has a record of 48-8.
Trevor Hicks became Washington’s first District champion since Riley Shaw in 2012.
Hicks went 4-0 to improve his season record to an outstanding 50-2.
“It was definitely a really great experience,” Hicks said. “Especially going out there and winning the District. The first time we’ve won a District title since Riley Shaw. Especially seeing all the support that I had from friends and family, sitting in a section going nuts every time I won. It was definitely a great experience.
“My semifinals match was supposed to be tough,” Hicks said. “But Chasteen from Ross, he had something wrong with his shoulder. We were about 30 seconds into the match when his shoulder popped out.
“Ever since last year, the last match I had, there’s definitely a goal to get back to State,” Hicks said. “I have a much better feeling about things than I had last year. I’ll still be nervous, like always, but I’ll definitely have a much better feel. I’m not going to freak out seeing (the huge crowds). I definitely want to get on the podium.”
“He pinned his way through,” Reid said. “He did win by injury default in the semifinals. He looked really dominating. He wasn’t out on the mats very long in any of his matches.” Hicks wrestled a total time of 2:48.
He began the District with a pin of Andrew Proffitt of Taylor in 1:03.
In the quarterfinals, Hicks pinned Michael Patterson of Fenwick in 1:02.
Following a default by Karson Chasteen of Ross in the semifinals, Hicks pinned Lane Cluff of Hillsboro in 43 seconds.
“This makes three weeks in a row we’ve wrestled (Cluff),” Reid said. “At league, at Sectionals and now at District finals.
“Trevor has a really good draw for the State tournament,” Reid said. Hicks’ first opponent will be senior Aaron Smoot-Baker of Columbus Beechcroft, coming in with a record of 23-6. He placed fourth at the District at Heath.
“I feel that’s a winnable match and we’ll take it one match at a time,” Reid said. “If he wins Thursday, he won’t have to wrestle again until Friday morning.” Division II wrestling begins Thursday at 4:10 p.m. at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.
“Hopefully, Trevor can make it on the podium (the State recognizes the top 8 in each weight class),” Reid said. “Hopefully Zane gets in as an alternate.”
