MIKE BROWN: Mahoning County had a strong showing at the state wrestling tournament
Regarding high school wrestling, northeast Ohio always dominates at the state tournament level.
And that, indeed, was held at this year’s tourney, held recently at Ohio State University’s Value City Arena.
At the combined boys’ and girls’ state tournaments, area wrestlers from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties all earned placements.
Mahoning County had four individual state placers
Mahoning County, in particular, had a solid showing with four individual state placers.
Leading the Mahoning County parade of placers was South Range, which had two wrestlers reach the podium.
The Raiders’ Tyson Seesholtz (51-3) earned third place in Division III, 150-pound class after recording a 15-4 major decision triumph over Milan Edison’s Kohen Horvath in the finals.
Meanwhile, South Range’s 215-pounder Chris Colucci (43-3) placed fourth in the state.
In addition, South Range head coach Dave Markulin was honored by the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association as the Division III state coach of the year for the previous (2021-2022) season when he guided the Raiders to the State Dual Meet championship.
Also from Mahoning County, Canfield standout Tyler Scharrer (30-7) finished sixth in the Division II 126-pound class.
Trumbull County had two state placers
From Trumbull County in the boys’ division, Howland’s Adam Heckman (45-6) earned fourth place at 126 pounds.
In the girls’ competition from Trumbull County, Warren Champion’s Olive Karam (36-4) finished third in the Division III 140-pound class with a 2:08 pin of Sophia Taylor of Centerville.
Columbiana County had a strong showing
From Columbiana County in the boys class, United Local’s Dallas McCracken (48-8) finished as a state runner-up at 285 pounds and Beaver Local’s Bobby Buchheit (41-6) grabbed a seventh-place finish in the Division II 120-pound class.
In the girls’ competition from Columbiana County, United Local’s Dakota McCracken (35-5) finished third following a 14-second pin of Kate Fenton from Lakota West.
Her United teammate, Auston Brown (43-5) finished fourth in the state in the 125-pound class.
East Liverpool’s Makyah Newlun (23-1) placed third in the D2 155-pound class following an 8-0 major decision over Isabella Adams of Chippewa.
Lakewood St. Edward, Harrison win state titles
Lakewood St. Edward won the D1 boys’ team title with 195 points, while Perrysburg was second with 152 points. In Division II, the Graham Local Falcons won the team crown with 157 points, out-pointing the second-place Columbus St. Francis DeSales Stallions, who were second with 120.5 points. Legacy Christian was the small school state champ with 115.5 points, while the Milan Edison Chargers were second with 82 points.
In the combined (Division I through Division III) girls’ team race, Harrison won the team title with 97 points, outdistancing second-place Olentangy Orange, which had 69 points. Locally, United finished in the top 10 with 41 points and East Liverpool was 36th with 21 points.
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