| GREENON TAKES 5TH PLACE IN CBC MAD RIVER DIVISION........... |
The Greenon Knights wrestling team competed in the CBC League wrestling tournament last weekend knowing they were legitimate contenders for at least two individual CBC Championships, as Junior Kevin Christensen (28-0) went into the meet as the #2 seed in the 130 lb weight class and Freshman Garrett Lay (21-3) entered the tournament as the # 3 seed in the 103 lb weight class. Unfortunately for the Knights, when the CBC tournament concluded late Saturday night a disappointed Greenon wrestling team found itself without any individual champions as the both Kevin and Garret came away with 3rd place finishes. In spite of this disappointment, the team still managed to come away from the meet with a record breaking performance as Junior Kevin Christensen, after suffering an upset loss to Indian Lake's Jared Klofta in the semi-final round, bounced back from his only defeat of the season with a vengeance as he dominated Miami East's Levi Smith in the consolation finals as he won by pin to take third place in his weight class. While the win did not give him the first place finish he was hoping for prior to the tournament, it was still a significant moment as it enabled enabled him to break what is believed to be the Greenon record of 109 career wins as it improved his career record to 110-15.
Freshman Garrett Lay also wrestled well for Greenon as he placed third for Greenon in a tough bracket where the top 4 finishers had a combined record of 108-27. Garrett started off the tournament by pinning Adam Whitt of Indian Lake, and then he was matched up against Senior Steve Sexton from Springfield Shawnee. Steve, who was a state alternate last year and is 29-6 for the season, defeated Garrett by a score of 11-5. That loss placed Garrett in the consolation finals against Heath Allen from Ben Logan. Heath, who's record for the season is now 32-7, and Garrett battled to an exciting 0-0 tie entering the third period. About halfway into the final period Garrett was able to escape for a 1-0 lead, and with less then 30 seconds left in the match when Heath Allen went for a takedown that could have provided him with a 2-1 lead, Garrett was able to get behind him and grab the takedown for a 3-0 lead which he protected for the rest of the match for a hard fought 3rd place finish in his weight class. "It feels good to place, I'm happy to place" were the words from Garrett after the match. "When I was ahead 1-0 late in the match, I was thinking don't get taken down and then my opponent took a bad shot and I capitalized on it". As a freshman, this was the first CBC tournament experience for Garrett, so when he was asked if his older brother Jeremiah provided him any words of advice he replied "Jeremiah said wrestle smart and keep your feet back".
In addition to Kevin and Garrett's finish, Greenon's Nick Anthony and Matt Wolf managed to get a 6th place for the team. Graham High School, which is ranked # 1 in the state in Division II, dominated the tournament as predicted as they walked away with 9 individual champions and scored 309 points to easily outdistance runner-up Ben Logan, who scored 220.50 points. The Greenon team is now done with the regular season portion of their schedule and they will now move into the post season as the Sectional Tournament begins this weekend at Milton Union High School in West Milton. Two time state qualifier Kevin Christensen will bring a 30-1 record to the tournament with hopes of qualifying for the state tournament for a record third season. Freshman Garrett Lay, with an overall record of 24-3, is also expected to make some noise in the post season and when asked about his post season goals Garrett responded that he wanted to "Come out, wrestle hard, hopefully place and keep advancing towards the state tournament". Greenon also has a third wrestler, sophomore Casey Wells, who would have been seeded in the upcoming sectional tournament; however, Casey, who was a district qualifier for Greenon last season and started out this season with a 9-1 record, has been sidelined by a knee injury that will keep him out of action until next season.
Below are the individual results for all the Greenon Wrestlers:
Garrett Lay - 103 lb weight class (3rd Place) Match 1: Win by pin over Adam Whitt of Indian Lake in 3:27. Match 2: Lose by decision to Steve Sexton of Shawnee 11-5. Match 3: Win by decision over Heath Allen of Ben Logan 3-0.
Daniel Hurtt - 112 lb weight class (Did Not Place) Match 1: Lose by pin to Nate Harman of Indian Lake in 2:19. Match 2: Lose by pin to Mike Jones of Shawnee in 3:24.
Chris Paugh - 119 lb weight class (Did Not Place) Match 1: Lose by pin to Jeff Thompson of Northwestern in 0:45. Match 2: Lose by pin to Kurt Seely of Bellefontaine in 2:16.
Kevin Christensen - 130 lb weight class (3rd Place) Match 1: Win by tech fall over Josh Metz of Ben Logan 17-2. Match 2: Lose by pin to Jarod Klofta of Indian Lake in 3:22. Match 3: Win by pin over Levi Smith of Miami East in 3:42.
Zack Worley - 145 lb weight class (Did Not Place) Match 1: Lose by tech fall to Nathan Wren of Bellefontaine 17-1. Match 2: Lose by default to Karl Larew of Urbana.
Nick Anthony - 152 lb weight class (6th Place) Match 1: Lose by pin to Dustin Farrell of Tecumseh in 3:15. Match 2: Win by pin over Miles Goodridge of Northwestern in 2:37. Match 3: Lose by pin to Aaron Hampton of Tipp City in 1:32.
Adam Lawrence - 171 lb weight class (Did Not Place) Match 1: Lose by pin to Will Thomore of Shawnee in 0:18. Match 2: Lose by pin to Robert Schmid of Indian Lake in 1:43.
Matt Wolf - 275 lb weight class (6th Place) Match 1: Lose by pin to Tyler Wolf of Urbana in 3:38. Match 2: Win by default over Steve Shoots of Bellefontaine Match 3: Lose by pin to Ben Nelson of Miami East
| THIRD PLACE - Kevin Christensen |
| THIRD PLACE - Garrett Lay |
| SIXTH PLACE - Nick Anthony |
| SIXTH PLACE - Matt Wolf |
CBC LEAGUE MEET RESULTS
|
PLACE |
TEAM NAME |
POINTS |
|
1ST |
Graham |
309 |
|
2ND |
Ben Logan |
222.50 |
|
3RD |
Indian Lake |
192.50 |
|
4TH |
Miami East |
151.50 |
|
5TH |
Shawnee |
131.50 |
|
6TH |
Tipp City |
106 |
|
7TH |
Tecumseh |
103.50 |
|
8TH |
Northwestern |
101 |
|
9TH |
Urbana |
98 |
|
10TH |
Bellefontaine |
85.50 |
|
11TH |
Greenon |
65.50 |
|
12TH |
Kenton Ridge |
54 |