Highland state wrestling qualifiers won’t have to travel very far. Highland High School was announced as the site for the Division II state wrestling tournament, the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced in release on Thursday, Feb. 11.
The state tournament, usually held at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center, will be spread over three sites this season because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Division I state tournament will be at Hilliard Darby High School and Division III will be at Marion Harding High School, with all three divisions running March 13-14.
Darby is also the site of the Division I district tournament March 6-7.
The OHSAA announced in the same release that state hockey tournament will be at OhioHealth Ice Haus in Columbus March 13-14, with adjacent Nationwide Arena, usually the host, unavailable.
“We want to thank these three member schools for agreeing to host the wrestling state tournament along with everyone associated with the Ice Haus, Nationwide Arena and the Blue Jackets for their work to host the ice hockey state tournament,” OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said in the release. “The most important thing we are doing is giving our student-athletes a chance to compete. Our member schools and other tournament sites are to be commended for doing everything they can to provide these opportunities during the pandemic.”
Mount Vernon competes in Division I and Cardington-Lincoln, Centerburg, Fredericktown, Mount Gilead, Northmor and Utica are in Division III for wrestling. There are no area schools participating in ice hockey.
As far as other tournaments, it was previously announced swimming will take place at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton Feb. 24-27, the bowling tournament will be at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl Feb. 26-27 and the gymnastics tournament is at Hilliard Bradley High School March 5-6 – all regular locations for the respective state tournaments.
The OHSAA said it plans to announce regional and state tournament sites for boys and girls basketball “in the coming days.” At the district level, semifinal and final games, which have normally been at neutral sites, will take place at the better seed’s site this season.
The release also asked that only family members be in attendance as indoor capacity is limited to 15 percent or 300 people, whichever is smaller unless the venue has received a variance.
WRESTLING
Six wrestlers went undefeated to help Mount Vernon notch a pair of victories at Dublin Jerome on Thursday, Feb. 11. The Yellow Jackets defeated Darby 45-34 and the host Celtics 66-18 to finish off their dual schedule.
Brock Blankenhorn (106 pounds) highlighted Mount Vernon’s effort with a pinfall victory over Panther Carter Slubowski in the first period.
Dylan Hartman (113), Colton Spurgeon (120), Rylan Firebaugh (126), Isaac Burrell (138) and Gabe Harmon (220) all won two matchups on the night for Mount Vernon, which also picked up a win 51-27 victory over New Albany the night before.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Cardington wrapped up its first undefeated season with a 63-36 win at North Union on Thursday, Feb. 11.
Karsyn Edwards hit three 3-pointers and scored 17 points, Beth Hardwick had 16 points and Mikayla Linkous added 12 points to lead the Pirates (20-0), who took out all the drama with a 26-3 opening quarter.
Taran Moran had 11 points and Abbey Price added 10 points to lead the Wildcats (10-10).
Wooster 69, Mount Vernon 45
Madison Kurtz buried five 3s and scored 23 points to pace Wooster in a 69-45 victory over Mount Vernon in Ohio Cardinal Conference play on Thursday, Feb. 16.
Nora Levy scored 16 points and Eily Badertscher and Tori Pettorini added 11 points apiece lead the Generals (7-11, 6-6), who jumped out to a 22-9 lead after one quarter and added on from there.
Lexi Shaffer scored 12 points to lead the Yellow Jackets (5-9, 4-6).
