GALION — River Valley won its eighth conference championship in nine years Saturday during the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference wrestling tournament at Galion High School.
Galion crowned no champions, but had eight placers, including three runners-up. The Tigers were seventh in the team standings. Ontario was second with 216 points, followed by 3. Shelby- 189.5; 4. Pleasant- 183; 5. Harding- 143.5; 6. Clear Fork- 136.5; 7. GALION- 122 and 8. Buckeye Valley- 85.5..
In the 126-pound weight class, Devin McCarthy would claim runner-up status after beginning his day at 3-0. First up for McCarthy was a win via 1:29 pinfall over River Valley’s CJ Stirm. In his second match, it would be a 5:25 pinfall victory over Jaziah Stover of Ontario before a 3-1 decision victory over Koby Carr-Piere of Harding wrapped pool wrestling. In the semi-finals, McCarthy marched to a shutout, major decision victory over Clear Fork’s Chase McCune before being defeated in the championship match via a 15-5 major decision by Pleasant’s Carter Chase.
Galion’s second runner-up finish came from freshman Sam Wegesin at 145-pounds. Wegesin defeated Buckeye Valley’s Jacom Smothers; 5-3 before dropping his pool match with Liam Ginter of Shelby via a 12-10 decision. However, the young Wegesin would bounce back with a 37 second pinfall victory over Pleasant’s Ethan Harter to wrap the pool play. In his semi-finals contest, Wegesin defeated Clear Fork’s Brady Au; 4-1 to advance to the finals against Ethan Turnbaugh of Ontario. Turnbaugh would pin Wegesin in 2:30 to claim the title for the Warriors.
Senior Noah Grochowalski claimed the Tigers’ final runner-up finish in the 195-pound weight class. Grochowalski began the day with a 10 second pinfall victory over Harding’s Madalynn Hoy before receiving a second-match bye. In the final match of pool play, Grochowalski pinned Pleasant’s Brad Lee in just 1:49 to head into the semi-finals at 2-0. Nolan Stahl of Shelby proved to be no match for the senior as Grochowalski won, via pinfall, in 3:59 to advance to the championship match. Unfortunately, Mitchell Miracle of River Valley pinned the Galion leader in 2:29 to claim the title.
Galion’s other senior, Brenden Ganshorn, would earn the Tigers’ only third-place finish, in the 138-pound weight class. Ganshorn would go 2-1 in the pool portion of the tourney and would lose his semi-finals match against Mason Sparks of Harding via major decision; 16-6. In his third-place match, Ganshorn defeated Pleasant’s Wyatt Wells via a 1:36 pinfall.
Max Fisher picked up fourth-place points for Galion in the 170-pound weight class after going 1-1 in pool competition. In the semifinals, he was defeated 5-2 by Pleasant’s Gavin Baisden before falling to River Valley’s Devin Cummins via 3:29 pinfall in their third-place matchup.
In the 106-pound weight class, John Evans picked up a fifth-place finish after going 0-2 in pool play and receiving a bye in his fourth match. Evans was defeated by Ontario’s Owen Hall via a 15-5 major decision to finish in fifth overall.
Galion had two, sixth-place finishers on the day in Corbin Justice (152) and Caden Roberts (220).
Justice went 0-2 in pool competition before defeating Zander Galyk via a 1:06 pinfall. In his fifth match of the day, Justice fell to Clear Fork’s Matt Marzetti via 1:34 pinfall. Roberts also finished pool play at 0-2 and received a third-match bye. In match four, Roberts won via forfeit from the Colts’ Landon Smith. River Valley’s Dalton Slavens defeated Roberts via ultimate tie-breaker; 4-3 to claim fifth place and give the Galion wrestler sixth.
Also in action on Saturday were Kolton Tyrrell (120) and Mike Marks (182). Tyrrell would go on to finish the day at 0-4 while Marks did the same in his weight class.
