First Posted: 3/4/2015
LIMA — It’s all about getting to the “Schott.”
To compete at the state wrestling tournament at the Jerome Schottenstein Center at Ohio State is the dream of every Ohio high school wrestler.
Last weekend, many area wrestlers completed the first step in their quest for Columbus.
The top four placers in each of the 14 weight classes of their respective sectional tournaments advanced to this weekend’s district tournaments.
Now, the goal for each district qualifier is to “survive” and finish in the top four spots in order to earn a trip to the state tournament, which runs March 12-14.
On Friday and Saturday, area district qualifiers will compete at their respective district tournaments.
The majority of the area Division III wrestlers will compete at Troy’s Hobart Arena, while just a few of the area district qualifiers will make the trip to Fostoria. Mansfield Senior will be the sight for the local Division II grapplers.
One of the keys to being successful at the district tournament is to get a good seed.
At last weekend’s sectional tournaments, there were many area wrestlers who notched titles and No. 1 seeds.
For Lima Central Catholic junior Hunter Lucas, getting back to the state tournament is not the ultimate goal. Lucas wants to improve on last year’s performance, when he finished fourth in the 106-pound weight class in Division II, while attending Shawnee.
Lucas (21-1) knows the importance of going into district competition with the No. 1 seed. At the D-III sectional at LCC this past weekend, Lucas won the title at 113 pounds.
“A No. 1 seed is good, going into districts,” Lucas said. “We got a pretty tough district. The No. 2 ranked kid (Tommy Hoskins, Dayton Christian) is there, so it will be pretty tough.”
LCC senior Jack Huffman realizes the importance of getting a No. 1 seed for districts. Huffman (41-6), won the sectional title at LCC in the 182-pound weight class.
“It’s huge. …Just having a No. 1 seed opposed to 2, 3 or 4, sets you up so much better in the bracket,” Huffman said.
Last season, Huffman placed seventh at the state tournament in the 195-pound weight class. This year, Huffman decided to drop down a weight class.
“It (dropping weight) hasn’t been a problem,” Huffman said. “Once we got the weight down before CITs (Catholic Invitational Tournament), it wasn’t difficult. We wanted to give ourselves an option. We do that every year. It wasn’t until (the week of sectionals) we finally decided to go 182.”
This season, Huffman passed Tristan Boyd as the all-time wins leader at LCC. After the sectional tournament, Huffman now has 152 career wins. Boyd (1996-99) ended his lustrous career at LCC with 146 wins.
Wes Buettner of Delphos St. John’s will be vying for a return trip to the D-III state tournament. Buettner (40-3) won the sectional title at 195 pounds at LCC. Buettner was a state-qualifier last year in the 170-pound weight class.
“I know I have a pretty solid district,” Buettner said. “There’s a couple good kids in there. So, coming in with a No.1 seed puts me in a pretty good spot. I’m hoping to do well there.”
Ada senior Austin Windle had to recover from an early-season operation to make it back to this year’s district tournament.
Windle (16-0) won the sectional title in the 170-pound weight class at LCC. Last season, Windle placed seventh at the state tournament at 160 pounds.
Allen East’s Schuyler Caprella won the D-III sectional title at 126 pounds at LCC. Caprella knocked off previously-unbeaten Ruger Goeltzenleuchter from Wayne Trace in the championship match.
Caprella (34-5) is feeling a little more confident of his chances, now that he heads into the district tournament as a No. 1 seed.
“There are so many studs in this weight class. So, to wrestle a kid who got fourth in another sectional is huge. It should make it easier to place and to get down to state,” Caprella said.
Other local wrestlers winning titles at LCC and getting No. 1 seeds were Allen East’s Brandon Soules (152); Bluffton’s Blake Sampson (285); Delphos St. John’s Brett Vonderwell (160); LCC’s Kobe Cunningham (106) and Collin Hennon (132).
Others to follow
In Division II, Elida’s Blaine Hunter (113) is looking to improve on last season’s eighth-place finish at the state tournament. This past weekend, Hunter (30-3) finished second in the 113-pound weight class at the D-II sectional at Oak Harbor. Many experts feel that Oak Harbor could possibly be the toughest D-II sectional in the state.
Hunter is joined by teammates Austin Selvaggio (fourth, 106), Gabe Makin (third, 138) and Noah Meeker (second, 220).
Wapakoneta had a total of six district qualifiers, coming out of Oak Harbor. Both Tyler Copeland (132) and Heath Newman (170) will move on to districts with No. 1 seeds. Teammates Brad Beemer (fourth, 113), Dallas Ambos (third, 145), Dylan Plaugher (fourth, 152) and Landon Hall (third, 132) will also compete at Mansfield Senior.
Shawnee’s Derek Kuhlman notched an impressive second-place finish at Oak Harbor. Teammates Bailey Young (fourth, 220) and Donald Hughes (third, 285) also advanced to districts.
Nate Stonehill (fourth, 145) and Isaac Ingram (fourth, 160) are the two Bath wrestlers advancing to districts.
Kenton had two wrestlers come out of sectionals with No. 1 seeds. Both C.J. Cook (160) and Dylan Castle (182) won titles in their respective weight classes. Teammate Tobias Mendoza finished fourth at 136 pounds.
