St. Paris Graham dominates

March 8, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Record-setting St. Paris Graham dominated Division II, Lakewood St. Edward took its 13th big-school title in a row and Troy Christian captured its third straight Division III crown Saturday at the State Wrestling Tournament in Value City Arena.

Graham had 2821‚Ñ2 points to shatter the state mark (of 229 set by St. Edward in 2007), taking its ninth consecutive title and 11th overall.

St. Edward, with two individual winners, outpointed Massillon Perry 1111‚Ñ2-91 for its 25th title. The previous dozen championships were won by an average of 90 points, including beating Perry by 571‚Ñ2 last year.

Troy Christian beat Monroeville 113-112, with Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy third with 1031‚Ñ2.

Graham had nine qualifiers vying for titles and seven won to surpass the record six of Cleveland West in 1951. Max Thomusseit, the Falcons’ final wrestler at 189 pounds, defeated Nick Mills of Huntington Valley University School 4-1 for the record.

Also winning for Graham was 135-pounder David Taylor, who completed a second straight undefeated season to become the 17th wrestler to win four individual state titles by pinning Manuel Citron of Alliance at 2:39. He is the school’s fifth four-time winner.

Later, St. Edward’s Collin Palmer (140 pounds) defeated Tommy Sasfy of Reynoldsburg 3-1 to also earn a fourth championship, the same number as his brother, Lance Palmer, won for St. Edward from 2003-06.

There were 14 repeat champs, including three-time winners junior Logan Stieber of Monroeville at 125 and Troy Christian senior Zach Toal (160). Stieber finished 35-0 and was among 10 unbeaten wrestlers entering the finals; nine won.

Toal was part of the drama in Division III as five points separated the top three teams through eight of the 14 matches. He defeated Cuyahoga Valley’s Alex Utley to give the Eagles their final points and improve his record to 48-0.