COLUMBUS — Galion wrestling has their newest state placer in sophomore Landon Campbell. Campbell battled his way to a sixth-place finish in the 190 pound division. Campbell finished his sophomore campaign with an overall record of 44-5.
Campbell won his first match, before losing his second match to the 190 pound state champion. Senior Dylan Fishback of Aurora captured a state championship an undefeated season.
“So far in his 2 seasons Landon is 90-11 he is off to an excellent start to his high school career and should be competing for a state title the next two seasons. Landon is a special athlete,” said head wrestling coach Brent Tyrrell. “I believe he will finish his high school career as a three sport All-Ohio student athlete.
Galion’s Campbell battled back to win two straight consolation match to ensure he would be a state placer. Madison Comprehensive’s Hunter Hutcheson defeated Campbell 8-4 in the fifth-place match, he would finish in fourth with another win.
“These great athletes don’t come along very often and are a lot of fun to work with. I look forward to watching him compete over the next couple years. He will definitely leave his mark on our school program,” said Tyrrell.
Fellow sophomore Alex Griffith competedat the Division II State Wrestling Tournament in Columbus as well. Griffith lost his first match by a near 2-1 outcome. The sophomore then picked up a consolation win, before dropping his final match. Galion’s heavyweight wrestler did not place, but made it to the state tournament for a second straight year.
In another great season he became a 2x state qualifier with a 37-9 record which is a great accomplishment in a career and he still has 2 seasons left with us. He didn’t quite accomplish his goal this season which was to get on the podium at state but still had a great year. Alex has made steady progress over the past two seasons and will continue to work this off-season to reach his goal of being a state champion during his high school career. He has big plans this off-season and I know he will put in the work.
“It was another great season, he became a 2x state qualifier with a 37-9 record which is a great accomplishment in a career and he still has 2 seasons left with us. He (Griffith) didn’t quite accomplish his goal this season, which was to get on the podium at state but still had a great year,” Tyrrell said.
Nolan Neves of Graham Local won the 285 pound state championship.
“Alex has made steady progress over the past two seasons and will continue to work this off-season to reach his goal of being a state champion during his high school career. He has big plans this off-season and I know he will put in the work.”
Galion sophomore Aydan Reyes was a state alternate at 132 pounds.
“An excellent season that ended with a record of 36-10. He ended up MOAC runner-up, sectional runner-up, and then district 5th place which made him a state alternate,” said Tyrrell. “In the consolation semi-final he missed qualifying for the state tournament by one point in the last second of his final match of the year. Reyes is ready to break through he is going to put in the work in the off-season and will be ready to make plenty of noise next season.”
Galion wrestling program will graduate four seniors from this team, each one will have a continued impact.
“We lose four great senior leaders to graduation Sam Wegesin, Caden Roberts, Mitchell Young and Larrissa Franks. These four wrestlers will be missed but I know they will continue to help our program in the future,” Tyrrell spoke.
From this year’s lineup the Tigers have three freshman, five sophomores and four juniors that will return next year. The future is very bright.
“A MOAC champ from 2021 Kooper McCab,e who missed the season due to injury, will be back next season for a senior season run. We also have a good group of backups that are looking to improve and compete to get in our line up over the next few years,” Tyrrell said. “We also have a really good 8th grade class coming in that will make an instant impact on our program starting next season. Galion wrestling has a bright future with a heck of a lot of really good wrestlers coming through the high school and middle school programs right now and we have a really good youth feeder program cranking out good wrestlers from pre-kindergarten through 6th grade.”
