Commissioners recognize Stout for wrestling title | News, Sports, Jobs

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Board of Commissioners recognized Caden Stout on Wednesday for earning the victory as St. Clairsville High School’s first state wrestling champion.

On March 13, Stout, a senior at St. Clairsville High School, took the top spot at the Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center, winning the 150-pound weight class in Division 2 with an 8-7 decision. He ended his season with a record of 49-4 and finished his high school career as the school’s all-time leader and was a team MVP in 2020 and 2022.

The commissioners also congratulated Joel Sansone as head coach, and assistant coaches Bobby Richmond and Dillon Nolte.

In answer to questions from the commissioners, Stout said he competed against 16 wrestlers in his weight group. Sansone said there are 370 schools in the division.

“Ohio is a big state, and to end up as the state champion is very, very impressive,” Commissioner Josh Meyer said. “To go up there and win was a pretty cool thing.”

“It was fun,” Stout said, adding his final win was close. “It was about as close as can be.”

Sansone said he was proud of Stout.

“He had a commanding lead for a while and it got closer as it went on, but one thing Caden never does is stop wrestling. He went out there and did what he had to do,”Sansone said. “We always said he was capable of beating anybody and the sky’s the limit. It was just a matter of him going out and executing, and that’s what he did. The second half of the year he really turned it on and went out and was ready to beat anybody who got on the mat with him.”

Sansone will be stepping down from coaching wrestling in St. Clairsville and will become a strength and conditioning coach at John Marshall High School in Glen Dale.

Stout intends to continue wrestling when he attends college. He plans on studying accounting.