Canfield youth wrestlers place at OYWA state tourney

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Canfield Wrestling Club's 2013 OYWA state placers, from left, were Michael O’Horo, Nathan Whitehead, Nick Crawford and Carter Myers.

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Carter Myers (top) locks up a cradle on his opponent during the state tournament.

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Nathan Whitehead (right) locks arms with Tuslaw's Jake Loar Tuslaw in their match for third place.

For the second year in a row, the Canfield Wrestling Club finished in the top 10 at the Ohio Youth Wrestling Association (OYWA) state tournament.

Four Cardinals finished in the top six of their weight classes. Nathan Whitehead was third at 120 pounds, Michael O’Horo finished fourth at 110, Carter Myers (100) was fifth, as was Nick Crawford (105). This was the first trip to the state meet for all four placers.

All of Canfield’s state qualifiers won their first-round matches. Myers and O’Horo won their first two matches to advance to the championships semifinals, where they lost. Canfield’s other qualifiers had to fight back through the consolation bracket to earn a place on the podium. The boys wrestled between three to six matches in the one-day event. Qualifiers Alec Herman (52) and Tyler Stein (132) just missed placing.

“I was really impressed with how the boys did today. I knew they were good, but I wasn’t sure how we measured up against the rest of the state,” said coach Dave Crawford.

Carter Myers scored a late takedown in his fifth-place match to force overtime where he secured a 3-2 win.

“We work really hard at practice and Coach Fletcher is always telling us to never quit,” said Myers.

Whitehead, Myers, O’Horo and Stein will all be competing at the middle school level next season.