Three Dogs headed to state

PERRYSBURG TWP - Three Swanton wrestlers will be making the trip south to Columbus this week for the state wrestling tournament.

They are led by a pair who wrestled through the upper weight classes to win district titles. Derek Johnson and Mimmo Lytle will be returning to the state tournament after placing first at 215 and 285 pounds respectively.

Lytle, who placed eighth at state last season as a freshman, pinned his way to the title with matches lasting from 13 seconds to 3:10. He pinned Nino Majoy of Huron at 3:10 in the semifinal and Clint Endicott of Crestview at 2:46 in the final.

Johnson faced league foe Zane Krall of Liberty Center in the final. He came away with a 4-1 victory for the first Swanton title. He avenged a league championship loss to Matt Wells of Montpelier with a 7-5 semifinal victory.

Tom Leahey advanced to state the hard way after dropping his opening match to Tyler Rufenacht of Archbold 7-5. He fought all the way through the consolation bracket to top Garrick Montgomery of Crestview 16-11 in the consolation semifinal to secure his trip to Columbus. Leahey fell to Auston Hood of Buckeye Central 5-0 in the consolation final.

Brandon Fahrer was the highest finisher for Evergreen, placing fifth at 103 pounds. He is a state alternate.

The other three Swanton wrestlers at the district meet, Jacob McCoy, Chris Cook and Don Johnson, all lost their first two matches of the double elimination event, but there were some close contests. McCoy lost by two points in both of his matches.

The state wrestling tournament will be held Thursday through Saturday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University. Division III championship preliminaries get underway at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Team Scores

1. Monroeville 161.5; 2. Elmwood 116.5; 3. Edison 106.5; 4. Crestview 104; 5. Liberty Center 92; 6. Montpelier 78.5; 7. Archbold 73.5; 8. Swanton 65.5; 9. Clear Fork 62; 10. South Central 61; 12. Patrick Henry 52.5; 18. Delta 40.5; 22. Evergreen 29.

Championship Finals

103: Cam Michel(Edison) dec. Dexter Lee(Elmwood) 5-3; 112: Nick Goebel(Elmwood) dec. Cade Mansfield(Ayersville) 5-1; 119: Hunter Stieber(Monroeville) maj. dec. Wyatt Music(Crestview) 11-2; 125: Logan Stieber(Monroeville) tech. fall Cody Laney(Hicksville) 17-2; 130: Alex Lopez(Patrick Henry) dec. Kyle Burns(Edison) 3-2;135: Payton Oney(South Central) dec. Jordan Cowell(Archbold) 3-1; 140: Cam Tessari(Monroeville) maj. dec. Josh Goebel(Edgerton) 12-2; 145: Luke Boehm(Montpelier) dec. Tyler Baer(Elmwood) 5-2; 152: Anthony Ferber(South Central) dec. Jake Elling(Liberty Center) 7-5SV; 160: Kyle Gladieux(Cardinal Stritch) pin Dylan Howard(Edison) 1:11; 171: Chris Phillips(Monroeville) tech. fall Xavier Dye(Patrick Henry) 22-7; 189: Rich Ulmer(Galion) dec. Brandon Tantari(Lake) 7-4; 215: Derek Johnson(Swanton) dec. Zane Krall(Liberty Center) 4-1; 285: Mimmo Lytle(Swanton) pin Clint Endicott(Crestview) 2:46.

Third Place

103: Alex Guerra(St. Mary C.C.) dec. Alec Durbin(Crestview) 4-2; 112: Joe Dauch(St. Mary C.C.) maj. dec. D.J. Ferguson(Montpelier) 14-5; 119: Jared VanVleet(Edgerton) dec. Luke Kern(Liberty Center) 8-5; 125: Westley Lee(Elmwood) dec. Chris Delaney(Delta) 4-0; 130: Mitchell Emmitt(Elmwood) maj. dec. Taylor Amburgy(New London) 13-3; 135: Cal Clark(Monroeville) maj. dec. Damen Escobedo(Gibsonburg) 13-0; 140: Austin Maneese(Clear Fork) dec. Tyler Yant(Delta) 8-4tb; 145: Zach Niner(Liberty Center) dec. Jared Deatrick(Paulding) 7-2; 152: Matt King(Huron) dec. Nick Hall(Crestview) 4-2; 160: Auston Hood(Buckeye Central) dec. Tom Leahey(Swanton) 5-0; 171: Brandon O'Neill(Clear Fork) dec. Mitchell Gross(St. Paul) 5-1; 189: Josh Stockmaster(Buckeye Central) dec. Brent Wilken(Monroeville) 3-0; 215: Joe Whisler(Crestview) dec. Stephen Klotz(Lakota) 3-1; 285: Nino Majoy(Huron) dec. Bryan Eyerly(Ontario) 3-1;

Fifth Place

103: Brandon Fahrer(Evergreen) dec. Seth Colvin(Delta) 11-4;