AMS’s Mackall wins wrestling state title

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Neighbors | Submitted.Austintown's Alex Mackall won his weight class to claim an OAC junior high state championship last weekend at the Covelli Centre. Here, he points to his family and friends in the stands after a victory.

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Neighbors | Submitted.Five Valley junior high wrestlers placed at the OAC state tournament last weekend. They are, from left, David Labra (Canfield), Anthony Audi (Poland), CJ Frost (Canfield), Mario Graziani (Boardman) and Alex Mackall (Austintown).

STAFF REPORT

“I think I’m ready for this,” said Alex Mackall, 14, an Austintown Middle School eighth-grader, as he jumped in place while anxiously awaiting his match for the state championship in his 108-pound weight class at the Covelli Centre on Sunday evening.

He was indeed.

Alex won his match and was the only local student to win a state title in the weekend’s Ohio Youth Wrestling State Championships, presented by the Ohio Athletic Committee, an event that drew sellout crowds Saturday.

Although a student in Austintown, the new champion represented the North Akron Wrestling Club, his traveling team.

More than 800 junior high students throughout Ohio descended on the Covelli Centre to compete for state titles in 18 weight classes. The top eight finishers in each weight class advanced to Sunday evening’s finals.

The final competitors were introduced in a setting befitting major college championship games as they emerged through a smoke-filled entrance to the song “Final Countdown” and the cheers of families and friends.

Other Valley wrestlers placing at the tournament were Seth Hogue (Brookfield), second, 84; Matthew Cardello (Poland), fourth, 78; Mario Graziani (Boardman), fourth, 114, Matt Steer (West Branch), seventh, 120; and Anthony Audi (Poland), sixth, 138; David Labra (Canfield), fifth, 146; and CJ Frost (Canfield), sixth, 126.

This has become one of the premier wrestling events in the state and country, featuring some of the best wrestlers from Ohio and the United States. The list of former Junior High state champions reads like the ‘who’s who’ in USA Wrestling, including four-time high school state champions David Taylor (Penn State), Logan and Hunter Steiber (Ohio State) and more.

This weekend, more than 1,200 wrestlers for all over Ohio will come to Youngstown to compete in the OAC Grade School State Tournament. This will be wrestlers sixth grade and under. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. today and concludes with the finals tomorrow evening.