34 area wrestlers advance

Howland and West Branch are each sending 10 to the district match.

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

BELOIT — For 34 area wrestlers that competed at the Division II sectional tournament this weekend, the season will go on for at least one more week.

That’s how many locals finished in the top four of their respective weight classes at the West Branch sectional and earned the opportunity to compete at next week’s district tournament at Akron Firestone.

Among the area contingent are seven individual sectional champions, who have set themselves up for excellent first-round matchups at districts.

Leading the charge to Firestone were Howland and West Branch with 10 qualifiers each. Hubbard will be represented by eight wrestlers and Salem will take four. Liberty and Poland will each send one competitor.

With 10 qualifiers and three champions, Howland overtook West Branch for the sectional team championship — the Tigers’ first sectional title since they won the Division I Fitch sectional in 2006. Kyle Leek (125), Greg Ryan (135) and John Grech (171) won championships to key Howland’s win.

But the key were contributions from the other wrestlers in the lineup, who pulled through the consolation bracket to take third and fourth.

“We got some big wins from kids who lost last night [Friday] and fought back through to place,” Howland coach Brian Earich said. “We had some young kids really step up for us. Brad Battison lost, but then came back and got fourth at 119. And some others did great.”

One example of Howland’s team effort were the performances of junior Adam Crosby (189) and freshman Bryce Tricker (160). Crosby wrestled in his first sectional tournament and entered with a 5-14 record, but qualified for districts by taking fourth. Tricker lost his opening match, but won three times in the consolations to finish fifth.

“We all wrestled real well today,” Earich said. “We even had Adam [Rubesich] hurt his shoulder, then come back to wrestle in the consolations with one arm and win to get to the match for third and fourth.”

The Tigers scored 209.5 team points and held off first-day leader West Branch (186) and third-place Marlington (183). Hubbard (151.5) and Southeast (111.5) round out the top five in the team standings.

In addition to Howland’s three champions, Hubbard’s Robbie Lias (189), West Branch’s J.P. Hoopes (112), Poland’s Ben Pearce (145) and Salem’s Joe Hamilton (160) each won titles.

For Hamilton, it’s taken four long years for him to finally win a sectional title and he was thrilled that all the hard work finally paid off.

“I worked four years for this,” said Hamilton, who finished second at sectional in 2007 and fifth in 2005. “Taking second last year really motivated me a lot this year and I’ve just put everything I have into this. My coaches have really pushed me hard this year.

“A lot of people believed in me and this is really a big accomplishment; it means the world to me. Next week, I just have to wrestle hard for six minutes every match and hopefully I’ll give everyone at Firestone a match. I’m going to be out there to win.”

Wrestling at Firestone begins Friday and continues Saturday. The top four in each weight class will advance to the state tournament the following week in Columbus.