MARION — The Galion High School wrestling team collected runnerup hardware following a stellar performance at the 50th Marion Harding Wrestling Classic.
Led by sophomore Landon Campbell, five Tigers were place winners in the tournament. Campbell finished as the champion of the 190-pound weight class. Senior Sam Wegesin was the runnerup in the 150-pound division. Sophomore Aydan Reyes placed third in the 138-pound weight class. Sophomore Alex Griffith was fourth in the 285-pound weight class. Junior Kiddren Clark finished fifth in the 120-pound weight class.
“We had another great couple days of wrestling,” Galion head coach Brent Tyrrell said. “Our team got in the Marion Classic at the last minute after our tournament in Medina got canceled, but that didn’t affect our guys. They came out and performed very well. It was a full team effort and finished as runner up in a tough 40 team tournament. We ended up with five place winners. We are very proud of all the boys effort and we need to continue to get better to reach our goals.”
Campbell went 5-0 in the Marion Harding tournament to claim his weight class title. He opened the tournament with pinfall win in 1:34 against Noah Wilbur from Westerville South. After being awarded a forfeit victory in the second round, Campbell then scored a technical fall (15-0) against Jace Schaefer from St. Mary’s Memorial. He then finished out the tournament with pinfall victories against Zane Hitchcock of Mechanicsburg (2:38) and then in the finals against Davion Browning of Lima Senior (2:54). Campbell improved to 16-0 this season after rolling through the Marion Harding tournament field.
Wegesin compiled a 5-1 record at the Marion Harding tournament on his way to a second-place finish at 150 pounds. He recorded pinfall victories against Trystan Norbeck of Lima Shawnee (1:01) and Griffin Royse of Thomas Worthington in the first two rounds of the tournament. Wegesin then scored decisions against Caylan LeMaster of Centerburg (7-6) and Kaiden Luikart of Elgin (10-5) to reach the finals. Mitchell Younger of Bishop Watterson handed Wegesin his only loss of the day in the finals via a major decision, 15-2. Wegesin now has a 15-1 record this season.
Reyes collected his third-place hardware after putting together a 6-1 record in the tournament. He recorded pinfall wins against Simon Kulina of Thomas Worthington (:47) and Owen Perry of New Albany (2:22) before losing to Hunter Vogus of Monroeville (fall, :39). Reyes then won four consecutive matches to close out the tournament: Mahdi Numan of Dublin Scioto (decision, 4-3), Keaton Sudduth of Van Wert (fall, 2:21), Matt Durbin of Lakewood St. Edward (fall, 4:30), and Marcus Cortez of Northmor (major decision, 10-0). Reyes’ record is now 15-2 this season.
Griffith posted a 4-2 record in the tournament. He won his first three matches against Devan Eldridge of Upper Sandusky (fall), Champ Keysor of Lima Shawnee (fall, :29), and Tyler O’Reilly of Westerville South (decision, 6-4). Griffith lost to Owen Box of Liberty Center via a pinfall (:43) in the semifinals. He battled back into the third-place match with a 3-0 decision against Troy Regovich of Lakewood St. Edward. In the third-place match, Griffith and O’Reilly met for the second time with O’Reilly scoring a 3-2 win. Griffith is now 14-2 this season.
Clark posted a 4-2 record on his way to finishing fifth in the 120-pound weight class. He defeated Hayden Kidney of Mapleton in the opening round (fall, :32), but lost to Wyatt Nemetz of Sandusky Perkins in the next round (fall, 2:40). Clark posted wins against Quinn Kakhonen of Dublin Scioto (fall, 1:18) and Drew Matthews of Liberty Center (fall, 1:19) to move into contention for third place, but lost to Zach LaPlante of Toledo Christian (fall, 2:20). Clark closed out his action in the tournament defeating Haedyn Parmen of Northridge in the fifth-place match (fall, 4:55). Clark’s record is now 12-5 this season.
Cortez was the top placer for Northmor, finishing in fourth place at 138 pounds. He compiled a 5-2 record in the tournament. The senior is now 12-6 on the season.
Northmor freshman Cowin Becker finished in fifth place at 113 pounds. He compiled a record of 4-2 at the Marion Harding tournament. His record for the season is now 15-2.
St. Mary’s Memorial emerged as the winner of the team championship with 182.5 points. Galion finished with 156.5 points. Lakewood St. Edward placed third with 154.5 points. Mechanicsburg was fifth in the team standings with 145 points and fellow Mid Ohio Athletic Conference member Pleasant rounded out the top five teams with 131 points.
Highland from the MOAC placed sixth with 111.5 points. The rest of the top 10 featured Sandusky Perkins (105 points), Liberty Center (100 points), Avon (96 points), and Monroeville (92.5 points).
Host Marion Harding finished in 15th place (83 points). Northmor placed 23rd (52 points). Mount Gilead tied for 30th place with Mifflin (38 points).
Next up for Galion is the J.C. Gorman Invitational this Friday and Saturday at Mansfield Senior High School.
