Northmor continued their excellent wrestling season by earning a district championship at Coshocton over the weekend and qualifying a school-record seven wrestlers into this week’s Division III state meet.
The Knights finished with 168 points to outscore second-place Ridgewood, who finished with 118.5. In the process, they claimed two district champions and three runners-up, as well as a pair of third-place finishers and one sixth-place wrestler.
Junior Conan Becker, looking to improve upon last year’s fifth-place finish at the state meet, earned one of those district titles by going 4-0 at the 138-pound weight class. He earned two pins and one decision in his first three matches before closing the tournament with a 10-1 decision over Newark Catholic’s Billy Luft in a rematch of the previous week’s sectional finals.
At 145 pounds, Conor Becker also took first place in his weight class. After pinning his first three opponents, the freshman edged Jonas Proffitt by a 9-7 margin to also stand at the top of the podium.
At 132 pounds, junior Aaron Kitts claimed two technical falls and a pin before falling by a 17-11 decision to Damir Pereira in the finals to place second. Two seniors also are making their first trips to the state meet as competitors.
Matthew Ross claimed two pins and a narrow 4-2 win over Brylan Clouse of Barnesville before falling by pin in the finals at 152 pounds. At 195, Nathan Price followed the same route, winning two matches by pin and taking a 6-4 decision over Jarrett Palmer of West Muskingum before being pinned in the championship match.
At 120 pounds, Jakob Neer won his first two matches by pin, but lost in the semifinals. He would rebound to claim two straight 7-4 decisions to finish third. Mason Burger also won his first matches at 182 pounds, but was edged 5-4 in the semifinals. However, the senior closed strongly, winning two decisions to take third.
At 126 pounds, Gavin Ramos won his first two matches, but was topped in his final three to finish sixth. D.J. Christo went 1-2 at 220 pounds and Manny Heilman competed at 106 pounds to also wrestle at districts for the Knights.
Also in the Coshocton meet, Cardington’s Taiylor Hubley wrestled at 106 pounds, but didn’t tally any team points in the meet.
Highland Scots
Highland’s Zach Baker will return to the Division II state meet this year, as the Scot senior claimed the 220-pound championship at last weekend’s district meet at Heath.
Baker picked up pins in his first two matches, but had to go the full six minutes to edge his opponents in the semis and finals. In the semis, he got a 3-2 win over Drone Moore of Steubenville. Then, he defeated Tommy Moore of Cambridge 5-4 in the finals to take first in his class.
Teammate Christian Miller also wrestled in districts. Competing at 113 pounds, he went 1-2. Highland finished in a tie for 17th as a team with 29 points.
Mount Gilead Indians
Mount Gilead placed 41st at the Division III district meet hosted by Troy with seven points.
While no Indians earned places, a few of them claimed wins in the weekend tournament. Nate Weaver was 1-2 at 126 pounds, as were Jullian Anderson at 195 and Kaleb Fisher at 285.
Also, Zack McCallen (138), Brandon Strickland (145), Dominick Sullivan (152) and Tracy Lilly (170) competed in the meet.
