DAVID CRAWFORD CANFIELD, WRESTLING

April 2, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

Winter Athletes of the Year

All of the top high school athletes in basketball, swimming/diving, wrestling, and bowling.

Canfield boasts an elite wrestling program, which sent six wrestlers to the state tournament in Columbus.

Three of those were finalists, but David Crawford was the lone Cardinal to come home with a state championship, winning the Division II 170-pound title. He did so in dramatic fashion, beating New Lexington’s Dmitri Williams 3-1 in overtime.

“It’s sunk in a little bit more now. It’s awesome,” Crawford said.

The junior won the first championship of his career after falling short in the semifinals twice. The moment the gravity of where he was came in during a match he wasn’t participating in. The Division I through III finals are wrestled simultaneously. As Crawford was in battle, Mechanicsburg’s Kaleb Romero won his fourth-consecutive D-III title, sending the arena into a frenzy.

“For most of the match, it was easy to block out the noise. The amount of people making noise when [Romero] won his fourth title was immense, you couldn’t hear anything,” Crawford said.

Canfield tries to bring normalcy to the state tournament. The team stays in a hotel further away from the arena to give the sense that it’s a regular road trip. Crawford takes after his sparring partner, Georgio Poullas (160) for the state match mentality, remaining as calm and composed as possible. The pair were ranked No. 1 in the state, with Crawford going 40-5 on the year. The losses were more memorable than the victories.

“When you want to be the best, you don’t want any losses,” Crawford said. “When you get a lot of wins, you don’t remember them as much.”

Next year, Crawford will try to become the first Canfield wrestler to win two state titles.

“I’m going to have to train twice as hard to win two,” Crawford said.

—Brian Dzenis