Kenton High School Coed Varsity Wrestling finishes 22nd place at Invitational @ Van Buren Local Schools

The Kenton High School wresters travelled north of Findlay this weekend to compete in the Van Buren Invitational.  The large two day tournament had over thirty teams participating; mostly from division three schools that included Allen East, Liberty-Benton, Columbus Grove, Riverdale and many other surrounding schools.  

Tinora High School dominated the field in many weight classes and placed first in the team scores with 238 points.  Lakota followed with 189.50 points for second and Allen East placed third with 144.50 points. Kenton placed twenty second with a score of 30 points.

Despite not being seeded; Junior, Anthony Hunt went 5-1 over the two day tournament, defeating both the fifth and third seed to place third at 150 lb weight class.  Hunt faced the fifth seed, Ethan Boomer of Lakota, in his first match where he was able to get three takedowns, a reversal and some near fall points to win by a 11-1 major decision. 

Hunt dropped a tough second match to the fourth seed, Austin Maize of Eastwood, by allowing just one escape point (1-0) taking him into the consolation bracket to face Austin Collert of Liberty Benton.  Collert was the first to attack and scored a takedown, but then chose the bottom position to start the second period where Hunt was able to turn Collert and record the pin at 1:36.  

In the consi quarters, Hunt took on Wyatt Watt of Columbus Grove.  Hunt initally got in on a double leg takedown, but the official called it an illegal slam and awarded a point to Watt.  Both wrestlers were brought to the center to restart where Hunt scored on a head inside single takedown and was able to keep Watt down to finish the first period up 2-1.  Watt deferred and Hunt chose to go nuetral to start the second period where he was able to score another takedown on a straight in single leg. This time, however, Watt was able to escape before the end of the period leaving the score 4-2 in Hunt’s favor going into the last period.  Watt chose to start in the bottom position and after a tough ride for most of the period, Hunt decided to cut Watt on a restart and was able to score another takedown and also gained two back points before Watt escaped at the end of the match with a final 8-4 decision.

Hunt then faced third seed, Jacob Pinks from Allen East in the consi-semis. He quickly scored the first takedown with an attempted slide by to a single leg, but was unable to turn Pinks.  Down 2-0, Pinks chose the bottom position to start the second and after some battling for position was able to earn an escape point.  However, before the end of the second, Hunt was able to score another takedown with a fireman dump and score three near fall points making it 7-1.  Hunt chose the bottom position for the third period where he was charged for stalling before Pinks cut him for one last desperate effort to take Hunt down. Hunt defended it and won 8-2 to advance to the consolation finals.

Connor Sterling of Elmwood defeated Austin Maize by injury default in the other consi-semis to face Hunt for third place.  The two wrestlers had very few attempts in the first period, but Hunt was able to pull off a slide-by to a single just as the time ran off to up in the match 2-0.  Sterling chose bottom to start the second and was able to quickly escape and later score a takedown from a headlock position with a short arm drag putting him on top 3-2.  After a restart and a hard mat return, Hunt was then able to pull off a reversal and keep Sterling down for the rest of the period.  Leading the match 4-3, Hunt chose to start the final period on the bottom. Sterling immediately cut him though, giving Hunt another point and starting on their feet. In a similar situation, Hunt, defending some desperate attacks by Sterling, was called twice for stalling before finishing the match with another takedown by passing the elbow on an attempted head and arm throw to finish the match 7-4.

JJ Manns and Matthew Handell were the only other Wildcats to record wins at the tournament.  Manns, wrestling at 157 lbs, defeated Kaileb Schube of Fostoria 7-2 in the consoliation brackets for his lone victory.  Handell went 2-2 for the tournament at 215 lbs.  Handell pinned Trenton Kirby of Fostoria, at 1:15 and Logan Pontious of Montpelier at 3:55 for his two victories.

The Wildcats hosts a tough St. Marys squad this Thursday at home before going to the Sally George Invitational this coming weekend. 

For Full Results of the Van Buren Tournamnet: https://thewrestlingtourney.com/