District runnerup NC leads six LCL wrestlers to state in Division III
CADIZ ― On a weekend when the Licking County League sent six wrestlers to the Division III state tournament, Newark Catholic put just six athletes on the mats at Harrison Central High School.
Call them small but mighty, call it quality over quantity, pull out whatever cliche you want. It would likely fit the Green Wave, who sent half of those wrestlers to state, including a pair of district champions, and surprisingly brought home the runnerup trophy. NC totaled 91 points, second to only powerhouse Barnesville’s 203 out of the 50 teams scoring, as the Shamrocks had five champs and a second-place finish. Northridge, which sent two to the state, tied for 11th with 51 points and Utica, which had one qualifier, tied for 20th with 33.
“We’re up against Barnesville, which has kids that wrestle the year around, and we’re all two and three-sport athletes,” said NC coach Jake Nelson. “But I told our coaches before this weekend, that we could get top three, if everything fell just right.”
“Our room is really tight. With the low numbers, we build a lot of communication and work together,” said senior Griffin Halenar, who pinned his way to the heavyweight title in just three minutes, 20 seconds against his four opponents. “First-ever district trophy for Newark Catholic wrestling as a team. It’s pretty amazing. I knew we were a stacked team, but did not think it would happen,” said junior Brian Luft, whose only loss came in the 132-pound finals to projected state champ Dakota King of Barnesville, who piled up an incredible 75 points in winning his final three matches by technical fall.
Senior Brendan Sheehan worked his way to the 165-pound title and classmate Rugby Meza placed fifth at 150 as a state alternate for the Green Wave. Northridge senior Michael Fister (third at 138) and sophomore Trevon Angus (fourth at 132) also punched their tickets to Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center for next weekend, as did Utica senior Clayton Smith (third at 144), a returning All-Ohioan.
Sheehan (44-2) has handed Westfall junior Gage Bolt (36-2) his only two losses: in the sectional finals (9-5) and 7-6 on Saturday in the district title match, when he jumped to a 7-2 lead and held on for the victory. “In the end, I still had the best position, even though it ended up being pretty funky,” Sheehan said. “He’s pretty talented as a junior.”
To get to the finals, he had to rally past Johnny McFarland of Martins Ferry 8-7 in the semifinals. After sitting out his sophomore year, Sheehan now has back-to-back state appearances. “I did not think this was possible,” he admitted. “I have the best coaches in the world, and guys like Meza and Luft pushing me in practice.”
Despite sitting out over a month with injury, Luft (19-3) earned his third consecutive state berth. He did it by taking a quick 2-0 lead against three-time state qualifier Jesse Maple (41-4) of Ridgewood in the semifinals, and holding on to win by the same score.
“It’s been a lot of conditioning, a lot of help from a lot of people,” Luft said. “I’m tough on top, and I knew I was better than him on my feet.”
Halenar was a fourth-place district placer and state qualifier at 190 last year for Bishop Hartley in Division II. He’s found his niche as a heavyweight, despite standing about 5-foot-6 and checking in at around 240 pounds. His opponent in the finals, Harrison Central sophomore Landen Thomas (37-3) towered above him, but Halenar pinned him in 1:02. He had previous falls of eight seconds, 1:58 and 12 seconds.
“Most people would not expect it, after gaining 40 or 50 pounds,” Halenar said. “As soon as someone makes a mistake, I just go hard and go after it.”
It was a no pain, no gain type of day for the LCL at Harrison Central.
Utica’s Smith (44-3), who placed fourth in the state as a junior, dropped a tough 3-1 decision to Barnesville’s Logan Tague (44-10) in the semifinals. But he bounced back to beat Liberty Union’s Mason Crouse (39-11) by 11-5, then gutted out a 2-1, sudden death overtime decision against Tuscarawas Valley’s T.J. Wilson (41-8) in the third-place match.
“It seems like I’m always wrestling back after a loss, so I know what it takes,” Smith said. “The Utica community gives me tremendous support and helps me get through those tough matches. I could have done a couple of things differently against the Barnesville kid, but it’s a match that will help me in the state. Every match is going to be tough, and I can’t worry about who it’s against or what their ranking is. I just have to let it fly.”
Northridge’s Fister (40-9) also rebounded, but nearly didn’t get the chance. Not only was he pinned in the semifinals by eventual champion Skyler King of Barnesville (47-5). But he dislocated his right big toe and nearly had to go to the hospital. “The trainers tried to pop back in it and couldn’t do it, but then, my dad was finally able to,” Fister said.
He wrestled in pain and limped off the mat, but not before tech falling Elgin’s Colton Long 17-6 to stay alive, then…
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