MARION — On Friday and Saturday, wrestlers from Galion High School were in action at the 45th Annual Marion Harding Wrestling Classic. Members of 34 high school wrestling teams were in attendance over the two-day tournament, with the championship being claimed by perennial powerhouse, Lakewood St. Edward Eagles who amassed 202.5 points.
As for the Galion Tigers, they would have four wrestlers earn podium spots in their respective weight classes as the Tigers finished 14th overall with 65 points.
The highest placing wrestler representing Galion would be senior Noah Grochowalski, wrestling in the 195-pound weight group. Grochowalski began his tournament run with a first-round bye and would defeat Central Crossing’s Max Webb in the second round via a 1:14 pinfall. In his next match, Noah advanced thanks to a 9-1 decision over Tyler Echler of Liberty Center. His next opponent, Deron Pulliam of Dublin Scioto, would eliminate Grochowalski from championship contention via a 4:30 pinfall. Noah would bounce back with a 4:00 pinfall of St. Mary’s Memorial’s Mason Saeler to move on to the third-place match against Nate Snyder of Lima Senior. Snyder would claim third place thanks to a 2-1 decision as Grochowalski claimed fourth in his weight class in the tournament.
Fellow senior, Brenden Ganshorn would start his tournament in the 145-pound weight class with a 1:14 pinfall victory of Highland’s Andy Baker. In round two, Ganshorn would be defeated after being pinned in 3:06 by Ethan Turnbaugh from Ontario. A third-round match bye moved Brenden on to a meeting with Colin Sink of Dublin Scioto, which Ganshorn pinned in 2:56. Against Ridgedale’s Josh Patterson, Ganshorn wrestled his way to a hard-fought, 5:37 pinfall win to keep placement hopes alive. Trent Fairburn of Sheridan was up next and Brenden won again via pinfall, this time in 4:17. Jeremy Tracy of Mapleton pinned Ganshorn in 50 seconds to send him to a fifth-place meeting against Eammon Sears of Bexley. Brenden defeated Sears handidly by a 17-5 Major Decision to claim fifth-place points for the Tigers.
At 126-pounds, Devin McCarthy lost in the second round after a first-round bye via a 17-4 Major Decision to Tom West of St. Edward. In his opening consolation round match, McCarthy pinned Ajae Sullivan of Thomas Worthington in 1:30 to move on to face Westerville South’s Zion Gitonga. Devin defeated Zion by an 8-3 decision and would then pin Sheridan’s Mason Adlesh in 48 seconds to keep his run going. It took McCarthy just 1:58 to pin Ontario’s Sully McKinley, leading to another meeting against West. West would once again best McCarthy, this time 7-1. In the fifth-place pairing, Devin lost via a 9-8 decision to Kody Goffin of Columbus St. Francis to earn sixth place in the 126-pound class.
The final Tiger wrestler to place at The Classic was 182-pound weight class representative, Max Fisher. Fisher began with a first-round bye before being pinned in 3:56 by Mount Vernon’s Bailey Cunningham. After another bye, Fisher pinned Triad’s Cameron Wilson in 1:37 to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Alex Sargent of Highland edged Fisher 7-5, sending Max to a seventh-place meeting against Mount Gilead’s Brandon Strickland. Strickland would pin Fisher in a time of 1:39 to claim seventh and award Fisher eighth-place points for his team.
