Three youth wrestlers place at state tournament

Photo

Canfield's Dominic Cooper (right) fights for position in the district championship semifinals. Cooper won the match 6-3.

The Canfield Wrestling Club placed three wrestlers and finished seventh in the team standings during the Ohio Youth Wrestling Association (OYWA) State Championships last weekend in Akron.

David Crawford and Dominic Cooper each finished second and Daniel Kapalko took fourth to lead Canfield’s contingent of eight wrestlers.

Crawford started the tournament with a 12-0 technical fall, then pinned his next two opponents to reach the championship. In the finals, he lost 6-1 to two-time runner-up Joey Baughman from Wadsworth.

Cooper won matches 4-0, 10-3 and 6-3 to earn a spot in the championship. There, he faced Claymont’s Hunter Hershberger and lost by fall.

Kapalko recorded two pins before getting pinned in the semifinals. Another pin in the consolation bracket got him into the third-place match where he lost to Perry’s Zach Blackiston.

Other Cards competing (with record) were Alec Herman (1-2), Andy Garr (2-2), Anthony D’Alesio (1-2) and Angelo Petracci (1-2). Nathan Whitehead had earned a spot in the state meet, but caught the flu the night before and was unable to compete.

Wadsworth won the youth meet with 198 points. Canfield finished seventh with 66.5, Alliance was 11th and West Branch took 23rd.

On the eastern side of the state in Steubenville, five Canfield wrestlers qualified for the Grade School OAC State meet to be held at the Covelli Center March 17-18.

Ethan Fletcher won five matches to win an individual championship. Taarek Maalouf finished second, Aiden Burcsak and Hunter Helminiak each took third and Michael O’Horo was fourth.