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Panthers make it six in a row

Monday, 18 February 2008

CHILLICOTHE — The Miami Trace Panthers entered the Southeast Ohio Division II Sectional wrestling tournament as prohibitive favorites to capture another title. Winners of the recent Miami Trace/McDonald’s Invitational and the South Central Ohio League wrestling tournament in dominating fashion, the Panthers continue to develop outstanding competitors that are primed for the mental and physical rigors of the end of the season tournaments.

“We are at peak right now,” stated Panther head coach Dave Dietrick. “We have been in some real battles all season. It has carried over well with wins at our own tournament, the league and the Sectional Tournament. Our mindset is to keep working together. We have a short week. We need to work out the soreness and maintain good weight management.”

The Sectional Tournament began Friday evening with the Panthers winning 19 of their 23 matches contested to take the early lead over Sheridan and New Lexington in the 18-team event. The winning ways resumed on Saturday morning as seven Miami Trace grapplers won their semi finals match to advance to the finals and earn automatic qualification to the Division II District Tournament at Goshen High School, which begins this Friday.

Miami Trace’s Cody Snyder, above right, wrestles Joey Drew of Jackson Saturday morning at the 2008 Sectional tournament at Chillicothe High School.

Miami Trace junior Jacob Garringer, at right, is about to pull down Justin Brown of Jackson at 119 pounds in the 2008 Sectional tournament, championship semifinal round Saturday at Chillicothe High School.

Two other Panther wrestlers made it through the consolation rounds to also earn qualification. In all, nine Miami Trace wrestlers will compete at the District Tournament hoping to gain qualification to the Ohio State Wrestling Championships held at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.

Coach Dave Dietrick was very pleased with the results of his team this weekend.

“I am very proud of our kids. It was an overall solid team effort. This Sectional was tougher than in years past. It was tight from start to finish. We felt it would be a three team race with us, Sheridan and New Lexington. Sheridan had a great Saturday morning and took the lead for a while but we had a very successful semi final round and built a 30-point lead and held on for the win.”

Winning weight class championships for the Panthers were 119-pound junior Jacob Garringer, 189-pound freshman, Travis McIntosh and 145-pound senior, Dustin Fraley. It was the first such title for the two veteran wrestlers who have earned a total of seven District and five State qualifications between them in their highly-successful interscholastic careers. McIntosh is establishing himself as not only the top underclassman wrestler in Southeast Ohio but as one of the premier upperweights in the area regardless of age.

Garringer roared through the 119-pound class with all pins until the finals when he defeated Nate Hupp of Marietta by major decision, 13-4. He set up his finals match with a pin over Justin Brown of Jackson in 5:14. This marks Garringer’s third trip to the District Tournament. He placed second in 2007 at the District, losing in the finals to eventual State runner-up, Zach Niebert of Graham. The two are paired away from each other this year at the District and could conceivably meet once again for a District title. Garringer has a 31-7 record on the season.

Dustin Fraley continues his mastery of area wrestlers. The senior sports a 42-2 record on the season. He won over 50 matches in 2007 becoming the first Panther wrestler to do so. He has moved up in weight classes throughout his career from 103 pounds as a freshman to 145 pounds in this, his final high school season. Fraley pinned his first two opponents at the Sectional and then earned a technical fall in the semi finals over Warren’s Andrew Dunfee by a 17-2 score.

Fraley’s finals match against Lewis McCance of Sheridan ended at the 1:22 mark of the first period when the referee signaled the fall. The win will bracket him away from Graham’s two-time State Champion, Ben Jordan, at the District. Jordan is one of the two wrestlers who have defeated the Panther standout this season.

Travis McIntosh earned a second seed behind Sheridan’s Andrew Carpenter entering the tournament. Both won their respective weight classes at the Miami Trace/McDonald’s Invitational. Carpenter made the drop from 215 pounds in order to compete at the lighter 189-pound class. McIntosh started out of the gates well on Friday, winning both of his matches by fall against opponents from Logan Elm and Athens.

On Saturday morning, McIntosh kept up his winning ways with yet another match by pin, this time against Clint Cannon of New Lexington in 1:30. That set up the finals match against Carpenter to decide the weight class title. It was all McIntosh as the freshman kept on the attack building a lead early and fighting off a late throw attempt by Carpenter to win by pin with just four seconds remaining in the six minute match. The Panther wrestler is also paired away from one of the Graham juggernaut wrestlers, Max Thomusseit, one of the top-ranked 189-pound Division II wrestlers in the State. McIntosh enters the District with 38 wins on the season and just eight losses.

Cody Neff (112), Jon Reeser (125), Jordan Fraley (135), and Josey Neff (140) all competed in the finals on Saturday evening but lost in their bid to win a Sectional title.

Cody Neff, a sophomore, faced undefeated Alex Minnard of Fairfield Union in the 112 finals. It took three overtime periods to decide the eventual winner, but Minnard held on to win a close 4-3 bout. It is Neff’s second trip to the District. He was second there in 2007 earning qualification to the State Tournament. He placed seventh at the State at 103 pounds. He is 28-8 on the season.

Jon Reeser will make his third trip to the District Tournament. Wins by pin (2) and a technical fall over Hassan Nash of Athens in the semi finals set the stage for his match against the Sheridan wrestler. The senior Panther wrestler was pinned in the finals by Sheridan’s Levi Barnett in 3:12. Reeser qualified to the 2007 State Tournament and is a three-time SCOL Champion. Reeser will take a 26-8 record to the District.

Jordan Fraley will make his second consecutive trip to the District Tournament. The Panther sophomore is having a great late-season surge. He won the SCOL with a pin in the finals and was given a second seed at the Sectional behind Sheridan’s returning fourth place finisher at the 2007 State Tournament, Andrew Gaskins. Fraley earned his way to the finals by winning a close 6-5 decision over Mason Hunnick of Hillsboro and then achieving a pin over Rusty Oehlers of Fairfield Union in 1:10. He won again in the semi finals by defeating Dylan Moeglin of New Lexington, 5-4. It was a win that coach Dietrick described as “huge” in the success of the Panthers’ bid at another Sectional title. Gaskins would end his streak with a major decision 13-0 victory. Fraley will enter the District with a 15-7 record.

Josey Neff reached a third Sectional finals match of his career. He won in 2006 and in 2007. This year, the senior wrestler faced Shane Gifford of Logan Elm. Gifford’s only loss on the season came at the Miami Trace/McDonald’s Invitational when Dustin Fraley defeated him by injury default. Gifford seems to be able to win the “big” matches against Trace. He lost twice last year to the Panthers’ Matt Cunningham during the season only to upset him at the State to earn placement at the prestigious event. A hard-fought 5-4 win went in favor of Gifford over the eldest of the Neff brothers. Josey Neff will attempt to make his third trip to the State Championships this weekend at the District as the top four place-winners in the 16-man bracket all advance. Neff is now 30-6.

Keaton Webb (103) and Tommy Armstrong both had excellent tournaments and earned qualification to the District. Webb, a freshman, got rolling with a pin in the first round against Cameron Hines of Washington C.H. in 1:36. A second round technical fall 16-0 win established a rematch with Nick Greenlee of Circleville who defeated Webb in the finals of the Miami Trace/McDonald’s tournament. Greenlee would earn yet another victory over the young Panther, this time by major decision, 10-0. Webb rebounded in the consolation rounds winning his final two bouts to advance on to the District. Webb is now 25-11.

Tommy Armstrong earned his third District qualification. Moving all the way up from 125 pounds in 2007 when he won a Sectional title, the junior 152-pound wrestler pounded his way to the semi finals where he met up with Fayette County rival, Blaine Bailey of Washington. Bailey would win the bout 5-3. Armstrong needed a win in the consolation round to keep his hopes alive. He would get that win with a 10-5 decision over Mike Shields of Marietta. He would lose his consolation finals match to Mike Smith of Fairfield Union by 6-3 score to finish in fourth place to earn District qualification.

Tyler Fraley won a pair of matches at 215 pounds with a 7-3 decision over Athens and a major decision over Caleb Cooper of McClain by 13-3 score. The Miami Trace freshman lost in the quarter finals against Danny Demick of Chillicothe and again to Luke Conkle of Logan Elm to be eliminated.

Wes Keaton, a sophomore 171 pound wrestler and Cody Snyder, a 160 pound freshman, both competed for the Panthers but did not place. Keaton lost to Winston Mickle in the consolations to be eliminated. Snyder lost in overtime in the consolations to end his season.

The Miami Trace wrestling program continues to display consistency at a high level. Having won the SCOL for the past five years and now, with a sixth consecutive Sectional title to their credit, they would truly enjoy continuation of one more streak…a third consecutive Division II District Runner Up finish to Graham.

Tournament Notes:

Exceptional Alex - Fairfield Union’s Alex Minnard exits the Sectional with a perfect 39-0 record. The 2007 third place finisher at the State Tournament at 103 pounds has two very impressive decision wins over outstanding Miami Trace wrestlers this season. He defeated Jacob Garringer at a dual meet in December and then outlasted Cody Neff in the Sectional finals. He will have to defeat the number one ranked 112 pound wrestler in the country at the Distict, David Taylor of Graham, to keep his undefeated streak alive.

Sneak Attack - The Sheridan Generals have an excellent wrestling program. They have a tremendous propensity to get better all season long and achieve peak performance at just the right time when the Sectional, District and State Tournaments come about. They finished in second place to Miami Trace at both the Miami Trace/McDonald’s Invitational and the Division II Sectional. They were just 21 points behind at the Sectional. They lost by 60 at the MT/McD. Tournament. Watch out for them at the District to compete well for a team runner-up spot.

ONN Reporting - The Ohio News Network was in attendance on Friday evening doing a feature story on Dustin Carter of Hillsboro. Carter, a senior, qualified for his first District at 103 pounds by winning the Sectional. He is 35-1 on the season. That is remarkable enough to improve so dramatically in a year’s time. More remarkable yet, is his ability to overcome a physical disability of having greatly shortened arms and legs, which were lost due to an early childhood illness. He is a special athlete and an inspiration to all who get an opportunity to see him compete.

Bragging Rights - There are several league affiliations represented at the Division II Southeast Ohio Sectional Wrestling Tournament. Whose league is the best? It is a very close call. Is it the South Central Ohio League, the Mid-State League, the Muskingum Valley League or the South East Ohio Athletic League? With all due respect to those concerned, give the nod to the locals from the SCOL. A first and fifth place finish is hard to argue as Miami Trace and Hillsboro fared very well at the event. The MVL had the second and third place finishers with Sheridan and New Lexington. The deciding factor? SCOL mates Clinton-Massie captured a Division III Sectional title while Madison Plains was fourth in a Central Ohio Sectional this past weekend. Circleville, Logan Elm and Fairfield Union represented the Mid-State League well. They also have Teays Valley, second in a Central Ohio Division I Sectional, and Hamilton Township, third at the London Division II Sectional. It is a very close call and one to provide a good arguement.

1. Miami Trace 215.00

2. Sheridan 194.50

3. New Lexington 147.00

4. Circleville 131.50

5. Hillsboro 126.00

6. Logan Elm 112.00

7. Fairfield Union 96.00

8. Vinton County 84.00

9. Chillicothe 80.00

10. Athens 79.00

11. Marietta 63.50

12. Washington 62.50