Canfield wrestlers advance to districts

The wrestling season will continue for three Canfield varsity wrestlers after they qualified for this weekend’s Division II district tournament at Alliance.

Korey Frost (113 pounds), Shawn Williams (138) and Curtis Burns (220) each placed in the top four of their respective weight classes during last weekend’s sectional tournament at West Branch High School.

“I’m proud of our team’s effort,” said Canfield coach Dean Conley. “What a tough sectional we were in last week. We had some of our kids wrestle really well, but just fell a few points short.

“Right now, we’re focusing on our district qualifiers and trying to get them to Columbus. The rest of the team already started lifting for next year the day after sectionals. We like our kids and the direction that our program is heading right now. From youth to middle school to high school, it really is a true wrestling program and we think our future is bright.”

Frost won all three of his matches at the sectional, including a 16-0 technical fall in the quarterfinals and a pin in the semis. In the finals, he earned a 7-4 decision over Crestwood’s Conner Nemec to win a sectional title and move on to districts.

Williams took a tougher road to districts after losing his first match 13-1 to Field’s Zach Ladich. He rallied in the consolation bracket with an 8-1 win over Southeast’s Halsey Canfield, a pin of Louisville’s Dane Dugan and a default victory over Crestwood’s Nick Fejedelen. He was pinned in the third-place match by Ladich.

Burns won his first two matches by pin to advance to championship semifinals. He pinned Crestwood’s Doug Battiest in 3:40 and Poland’s Jason Velasquez in :39. After a loss in the semis, he pinned Field’s Stephen Woodward in 3:24 to secure a district spot. For good measure, he pinned Howland’s Andrew Rolfe to finish third.

Five other Canfield wrestlers finished fifth in their weight classes to earn district alternate spots. They included Anthony Spencer (120), Jake Dunbar (126), John Poullas (152), Stan Soucha (170) and Sam Conner (195).

The team finished fifth overall out of 12 teams with 124 points. Howland (255.5) won the sectional team title, while West Branch (218) was runner-up.