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EspañolConneaut coach Keith Sherman said his team wrestled about the way he expected during the Division II district tournament Saturday at Kenston High School.
Six Spartans placed at the tournament, three of which earned a spot in this weekend’s Division III District Tournament, also at Kenston.
Wyatt Distel led the way by taking the 190-pound championship.
Wyant Dobran finished second at 150 and Ben Griswold took third at 285.
The Spartans also received sixth-place finishes from Trea Butler (106), Jacob Wells (120) and Hunter Bilbrey (132).
“I think we got the guys through that we expected to get through,” Sherman said. “We would have liked to have maybe gotten one more, but things didn’t go our way. Other than that, though, I thought we wrestled well.”
Distel won the title by recording two pins, then won a 4-1 decision over Kent Roosevelt’s Nick Kurtz.
In the championship bout, Distel escaped from Madison’s Josh White with 51 seconds remaining in the third period, and was able to stay neutral for a 4-3 win.
“Wyatt has been wrestling with a lot more confidence,” Sherman said. “He’s getting better all the time, and he continues to wrestle well.”
Dobran advanced to the championship mat by pinning Medina Buckeye’s Carter Hershkowitz. He then ran into 2025 state placer Chance Schlauch from Perry, and was pinned.
Against Hershkowitz, Dobran trailed in the match, which Sherman said is not unusual. But it’s also not unusual for him to come back to win.
“That’s just how he wrestles,” the coach said. “He always seems to be behind early. He works his way back into the match and he gets a lot of pins.”
Griswold was denied a trip to the championship mat by Madison’s Cam Mullen, who pulled out a 1-0 win, getting an escape in the second period, for the only point in the bout.
It was the second time Griswold lost to Mullin this season. A slip on the mat at the Chagrin Valley Conference Tournament cost him there.
“That’s a match that could have gone either way,” Sherman said. “He couldn’t get off the bottom, but we have confidence that match could have gone the other way.”
It will be the second time wrestling in a district tournament for Distel and Griswold, except last year, Conneaut was at Independence in Division III .
Dobran advanced, but only as an alternate.
Sherman did not take a wrester to Columbus last year, but had done so the two previous years.
He said his wrestlers will travel across the state line in preparation for what will be the biggest tournament of their wrestling careers.
The Pennsylvania State tournament is this weekend, and Sherman will have his wrestlers at Erie Cathedral Prep, working with wrestlers preparing for the Keystone State’s highest honors.
“We get a good work out with some good Pennsylvania wrestlers,” Sherman said. “Wrestling those kids, that they know are good, that really helps their confidence.”
Also at the Kenston sectional, Madison qualified five wrestlers, including a pair of sectional champions.
Chase White (215), and Jordan McCullough (113) both breezed through their brackets, getting first-period pins in every match.
Mullen recorded a pair of pins before falling to Perry’s Trent Taylor in the 285 championship match, to post second.
Josh White won back-to-back close matches before falling in another close to Distel to place second.
Vicente Navarro placed third at 150.
Dom Gephart was fifth at 144 for Madison.
Like Sherman, Madison coach Andrew Tomaso said his wrestlers did pretty much what he expected of them.
Tomaso said seeing Josh White go out and take second exceeded his expectations a bit.
“That was a nice surprise,” Tomaso said. “I thought he had a chance to go; I just didn’t expect him to be a runner-up and lose a close match at that.
Edgewood, which also copeted at Kenston, received a fourth-place finish from Carter Cline at 106.