COLUMBUS — The Miami Trace Panthers competed in the Sixth Annual State Wrestling Dual Team Tournament at St. John Arena in Columbus Sunday, Feb. 11.
It was the second year in a row the Panthers have qualified to the event.
Last season, Miami Trace was a No. 8 seed and faced No. 1 seed St. Paris Graham.
This year, the Panthers were again a No. 8 seed and again standing before them was the No. 1 seed. This year, Graham is Division I in wrestling, so the No. 1 seed went to Wauseon. The Indians hail from Fulton County (one county west of Toledo).
The Panthers lost to Wauseon, 72-3.
Senior Jacob Tinkler picked up the Panthers’ one match win, an 8-1 decision over sophomore Wyatt Lane at 170 pounds.
The Panthers had wrestlers in the 13 of the 14 weight classes.
Heavyweight Grant DeBruin was sidelined with an injury sustained just the day before in the Frontier Athletic Conference finals.
Wauseon won eight of the 13 matches by pin.
Sophomore Storm Duffy (120) lost to senior Alex Slattman by technical fall.
At 138 pounds, Wauseon sophomore Jarrett Bischoff took a tech fall over sophomore Dawsom Wallace.
Senior Sandro Ramirez won a tech fall over junior James Munro at 160.
Senior Dalton Bartley of Miami Trace had a close match at 220 pounds against sophomore Samuel Sosa.
It took extra time for Sosa to take a 4-3 decision.
Wauseon went on to defeated Canfield, 38-33 and then Lake Catholic, 48-12 to win the State Division II team title.
“Jacob wrestled more aggressively in that match than he had been in the last couple of weeks,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Fondale said. “He went out and got after it.
“Wauseon is well-coached,” Fondale said. “They have a lot of good kids, a lot of returning wrestlers.
“This is two years in a row that we’ve qualified to this tournament,” Fondale said. “We have a lot of guys returning next year. We will keep working. The work you put in during the off-season is how you close the gap against these good teams. We’ll take it head-on next year and try and make this a tradition.”
Next up for the Panthers is the Division II Sectional at Washington High School Friday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 24 at 10 a.m.
The top four placers in each weight class will move on to the District tournament that begins Friday, March 2 at 3 p.m. at Wilmington High School.
Wrestlers who place in the top four at Districts qualify to the State tournament that kicks off Thursday, March 8 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.
Wauseon 72 – Miami Trace 3
106 Damon Molina 9 (Wauseon) pin Titus Lehr 9 (Miami Trace) 0:13 6
113 Gavin Ritter 11 (Wauseon) pin Graham Carson 9 (Miami Trace) 1:30 6
120 Alex Slattman 12 (Wauseon) dec. Storm Duffy 10 (Miami Trace) tf 16-0 5
126 Nolan Ray 10 (Wauseon) pin Mcale Callahan 9 (Miami Trace) 4:15 6
132 Hunter Yackee 12 (Wauseon) pin Wes Gandee 12 (Miami Trace) 1:21 6
138 Jarrett Bischoff 10 (Wauseon) dec. Dawson Wallace 10 (Miami Trace) tf 15-0 5
145 Mauricio Barajas 12 (Wauseon) pin Jaymon Flaugher 12 (Miami Trace) 1:15 6
152 Gage Grunden 12 (Wauseon) pin Dylan Arnold 11 (Miami Trace) 0:28 6
160 Sandro Ramirez 12 (Wauseon) dec. James Munro 11 (Miami Trace) tf 18-3 5
170 Jacob Tinkler 12 (Miami Trace) dec. Wyatt Lane 10 (Wauseon) Dec 8-1 3
182 Trent Davis 11 (Wauseon) pin Jack Anders 12 (Miami Trace) 4:31 6
195 Aaron Harris 11 (Wauseon) pin David Tyndall 10 (Miami Trace) 0:57 6
220 Samuel Sosa 10 (Wauseon) dec. Dalton Bartley 12 (Miami Trace) Dec 4-3 TB 3
285 Alex Sosa 12 (Wauseon) forfeit (Miami Trace) Forfeit 6