FIRST ROUND

COLUMBUS — At the state level, no match comes easy. But Legacy Christian wrestlers certainly did their best to make it look like it was for them.

The Knights six qualifiers all won their first round matches on Friday as competition got underway for Division III.

“We talked all week about two scenarios,” LCA head coach Michael Sizemore said. “The first was to come in here and get six dubs and then be done for the day. Go back, chill out, relax and recoup a little bit. And then tomorrow we’ll try and do it all over again.”

Two pins and two major decisions helped LCA get 1.5-point lead in the team competition with 19.5 points after day one (Editor’s note: LCA dropped to second-place following the conclusion of the first set of consolation round matches by half of a point).

While two-time reigning champion Dillon Campbell made quick work of his first round opponent, Sizemore said freshman Nathan Attisano competing at 120 pounds stood out among the results for his team.

Sizemore said gaining a major decision wasn’t a result he expected from someone taking to the mat at the Schottenstein Center for the first time.

“I could tell he was kind of tense walking down from the bullpen,” he said. “He said, ‘coach I’m a bit nervous,’ and I told him that’s okay. I would have been worried if he wasn’t.”

Greeneview had mixed early results between its two senior qualifiers.

Ashtan Hendricks recovered from an early deficit to gain the upperhand and eventually pin Owen Miller of Oak Harbor.

“We were nervous going into that match as we didn’t know a lot about the [opponent],” assistant coach Jon Wallace said. “A lot of times that’s a good thing not knowing and going in fresh.”

Hawkeye Hickman at heavyweight fought back after trailing through the first period to be tied heading to the third, but was unable to get out from an underneath position to fall 6-5 against Landen Thomas of Harrison Central.

“I thought I was pretty good and mentally prepared,” Hickman said. “I could have done better.”

DIVISION II

Coming on the mat was something first-time Bellbrook qualifiers Landen Weiss and Vincent Hummel both weren’t expecting.

Hummel described taking the mat as a level of nervousness he didn’t think would happen as a senior.

“It’s a higher level of wrestling that I’m just not used to, to be honest,” Weiss, a junior, said.

Weiss competing at 157 had a couple of headbutts during his match he needed to recover from in a high scoring 14-10 defeat. Hummel was pinned 41 seconds into his match at 165. Both will have to return for the evening session.

“I think they were very well prepared, it’s just we got nerves being here for the first time,” Bellbrook head coach Bobby Kosins said. “But they’ll both be fine and we won’t have those nerves next time. They know what to expect now.”

Jimmy Bechter of Carroll advanced to the second round with a 16-4 major decision win. Bechter’s match was tied 4-4 at the end of the opening period before four points were awarded after the buzzer. He didn’t allow anything more the remainder of the match to move on.

DIVISION I

All three Beavercreek wrestlers lost their opening match.

Freshman Jeremy Sibrel at 106 trailed for most of his contest before being pinned midway through the third period.

Senior Hunter Martin had a tight match at 150 with neither wrestler able to score. Tyler Derricks of Powell Olentangy Liberty got the deciding points in overtime in a 3-1 victory.

Tyler Hicks, a senior making his second state appearance, led 2-0 after the first period but got stretched late in the second. A late takedown had him suffer a 6-4 defeat.

They will all take part in the first consolation round later on Friday.

GIRLS

Within minutes of one another, all three Greeneview wrestlers won their first matches via pin.

Gwen Matt got things started by officially being the first Greene County female to win a match at an OHSAA-sanctioned girls state wrestling tournament when she pinned her opponent after a scoreless first period.

Karlie Harlow, competing for the fourth time at a state event, felt like she was in trouble early in her match after nearly being pinned before picking up her effort.

“I realized that could have been the end of it and from there it motivated me to go harder,” Harlow said.

She evened her match at 6-6 in the second period before getting a pin just before the horn to advance.

Eve Matt’s match began seconds after Harlow’s pin, meaning coaching members rushing from one end of the floor to the other. They needed to in order to catch any of the action as Eve got the pin in one second over a minute.

All three will return to action on Saturday, but Harlow said she wouldn’t mind if she could have continued on during the same session.

“I don’t like the waiting game,” she said. “It’s way easier when I can wrestle it all at the same time. I’m excited though and I’m ready for tomorrow and a whole new day.”

Xenia’s Vanessa Rechterman fell behind 5-0 in her match at 155 to 5-4, but couldn’t recover from a takedown by Madison Jeffers of Tri-County North, who came into the match undefeated against other girls this season, and was pinned at the 3:23 mark of the match.

June Pyles-Treser of Carroll was pinned 45 seconds into her match at 110 and will also need to enter the wrestle-back portion in the evening.

CONSOLATION ROUND

Cohen Hickman ended up with the name “Hawkeye” because it was something his grandpa was called. It nearly became his actual name from his parents, but there aren’t many people who call him Cohen.

Hickman’s second match of the day was a performance to make his grandfather proud of the name when he earned his first victory at a state tournament match in D-III.

He pinned Brock Bushong of Carey early in the third period after going up by an 8-1 score.

“It’s a little relief I’m going to the next day,” Hickman said.

Not pleased with his first match, Hickman got an early takedown on Bushong and led 2-0 after the first period. After a struggle to escape from the bottom position led to a defeat in the round of 16, Hickman quickly got out in nine seconds to start the second and controlled the match from that point on.

It was a boost in confidence for Hickman, who said he is making sure between matches he thinks about what every match means as a senior.

“I need to go perform every match like it’s my last from here on out,” he said. “It’s what’s going through my mind. Just keep going.”

Bellbrook’s Weiss and Hummel both had their tournaments end in D-II with defeats by decision.

Weiss fell behind 5-1 and couldn’t get points in a 7-1 defeat, while Hummel was tied at zero after one before he was unable to keep up and lost by major decision.

Tyler Hicks of Beavercreek made state for a third time this year in D-I. But it’s only his second time competing after losing the 2020 to COVID-19 cancellation and first time at the Schottenstein Center after the 2021 event was temporarily moved elsewhere.

The initial nerves didn’t help in his first loss of the day, but they did assist him in getting his mindset focused afterward and it showed with an improved performance.

“Kind of needed to let go and focus on the things I can control,” Hicks said. “That always leads to me being successful. Moving my hands, moving my feet to get into attacks, those are all things under my control and nobody can stop me from doing.”

Hicks had multiple takedowns and a near fall in shutting out Olentangy Orange’s Idell Ferguson 10-0.

Along with him, teammates Hunter Martin also moved on after a 15-8 decision, but Jeremy Sibrel lost 6-3 to end his tournament.

Both Martin and Sibrel are first-time qualifiers, and Hicks made sure to pass along his experience to help prepare them both.

“They just need to let it all hang out there,” Hicks said. “Since Jeremy is a freshman, not many people expected him to do too much so it was about going out and having fun. For both of them it’s just giving it your all because there’s really no pressure on those guys.”

Vanessa Rechterman went two-and-out after she was pinned at the 3:46 mark and trailing 8-0 in her last match. Carroll’s June Pyles-Treser also was pinned and eliminated.

Here is the listing of how first round and consolation matches fared for Greene County athletes:

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION III

113 — Eli Campbell (Jr.), Legacy Christian (33-3) def. Tanner Allen (Jr.), Alexander (35-10), pin 5:04

120 — Nathan Attisano (Fr.), Legacy Christian (35-10) def. Riley Rowan (Jr.), Perry (16-2), md. 14-4

126 — Dillon Campbell (Jr.), Legacy Christian (42-2) def. Hines Ford (Fr.), Barnesville (37-11), pin 1:29

138 — Brayden Brown (Jr.), Legacy Christian (33-6) def. Grant Dowell (Sr.), Bucyrus (50-5), md. 23-8

138 — Ashtan Hendricks (Sr.), Greeneview (45-4) def. Owen Miller (Sr.), Oak Harbor (41-8), pin 2:59

144 — Boede Campbell (Sr.), Legacy Christian (23-5) def. Kaden Russell (So.), Dalton (35-11), dec. 6-2

157 — Ethan Cooper (Sr.), Legacy Christian (36-7) def. Justin Fox (Sr.), Atwater Waterloo (42-3), dec. 14-7

285 — Landen Thomas (So.), Harrison Central (37-3) def. Hawkeye Hickman (Sr.), Greeneview (34-5), dec. 6-5

DIVISION II

157 — Anthony Lahoski (Sr.), Peninsula Woodridge (47-6) def. Landen Weiss (Jr.), Bellbrook (37-10), dec. 14-10

165 — Hunter Rose (Sr.), New Lexington (48-6) def. Vincent Hummel (Sr.), Bellbrook (37-10), pin :41

215 — Jimmy Bechter (So.), Carroll (40-2) def. Kyle Magyar (Sr.), Perkins (41-5), md. 16-4

DIVISION I

106 — Rylan Seacrist (Fr.), Brecksville (37-6) def. Jeremy Sibrel (Fr.), Beavercreek (33-18), pin 4:16

150 — Tyler Derricks (Jr.), Powell Olentangy Liberty (34-8) def. Hunter Martin (Sr.), Beavercreek (37-10), dec. 3-1 (OT)

165 — Caleb Ridgley (Sr.), Macedonia Nordonia (34-7) def. Tyler Hicks (Sr.), Beavercreek (40-6), dec. 6-4

GIRLS

110 — Lexi Beadle (Jr.), Boardman (32-2) def. June Pyles-Treser (Fr.), Carroll (32-10), pin :45

135 — Gwen Matt (So.), Greeneview (29-4) def. Lilly Kinsel (Jr.), Harrison (25-9), pin 3:08

140 — Eve Matt (So.), Greeneview (34-2) def. Ava Kennedy (So.), Watterson (13-11), pin 1:01

155 — Madison Jeffers (So.), Tri-County North (4-0) def. Vanessa Rechterman (Jr.), Xenia (24-6), pin 3:23

235 — Karlie Harlow (Sr.), Greeneview (31-1) def. Ahleeah Abdullah (Sr.), Warrensville Heights (17-4), pin 3:54

CONSOLATION FIRST ROUND

DIVISION III

285 — Hawkeye Hickman (Sr.), Greeneview (34-6) def. Brock Bushong (Sr.), Carey (34-7), pin 4:16

DIVISION II

157 — Will Stanley (So.), Clyde (24-4) def. Landen Weiss (Jr.), Bellbrook (37-11), dec. 7-1

165 — Phoenix Porter (Sr.), Marlington (41-17) def. Vincent Hummel (Sr.), Bellbrook (37-11), md. 11-2

DIVISION I

106 — Brad Cerankosky (Jr.), Westlake (36-8) def. Jeremy Sibrel (Fr.), Beavercreek (33-19), dec. 6-3

150 — Hunter Martin (Sr.), Beavercreek (37-11) ef. Braeden Beck (Sr.), Mayfield Village Mayfield (42-8), dec. 15-8

165 — Tyler Hicks (Sr.), Beavercreek (40-6) def. Idell Ferguson (Sr.), Olentangy Orange (25-11), md. 10-0

GIRLS

110 — Meadow Gomez (So.), Holland Springfield (26-14) def. June Pyles-Treser (Fr.), Carroll (32-11), pin 3:24

155 — Jayda Patrick (Jr.), Alliance (32-10) def. Vanessa Rechterman (Jr.), Xenia (24-7), pin 3:46

D-III consolation round:
285 - Hawkeye Hickman (@greeneviewsport) gets a pin up 8-1 in the third period and advances to compete on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/NFU1GbEjgN

— Steven Wright (@Steven_Wright_) March 10, 2023

Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on Twitter @Steven_Wright_.