Findlay's Oliver, Bollenbacher among area state qualifiers

WRESTLING GIRLS REGIONAL MARYSVILLE -- Findlay will be sending a pair of girls to the state tournament next week in Columbus. Trojans' 190-pounder Lanie Oliver, who has been the state-runner up in each of the last two seasons, was regional runner-up at Marysville Sunday. Her teammate, 145-pounder Julia Bollenbacher, placed third to advance. The top four finishers in each weight class move on to state. Fostoria's Ariana Espinoza-Snowden was a regional runner-up at 155 pounds, while Carey's Abbie Bushong placed third to advance. Elise Fredritz -- also of Carey -- took fourth at 145. Other area regional players included Arcadia's 110 pounder Charlize Distel, who took fifth and will be a state alternate, and Elmwood's Lylah Green, who took sixth in the weight class. Findlay's Rylee Touhaliski (115) finished fifth and will be a state alternate. Her teammate, Kate Simmons was fifth at 170. BOYS DIVISION I PERRYSBURG – Findlay's Austin Sertell rebounded from an early loss to win three straight matches, reach the consolation finals and qualify for the 2024 state wrestling meet with a fourth place finish in the Division I district championships held at Perrysburg High School on Saturday. Sertell earned a clutch 4-3 win over 20th-ranked Gabe Borrer of Grafton Midview in the consolation semifinals. He then fell to No. 10-ranked Shane Saito of Perrysburg, but secured one of the four automatic bids to this week's state in Columbus by placing among the top four in his weight class. Sertell, 29-16 on the season and ranked 17th in his division by BOROFANOHIO.net, pinned Westlake's Omar Wahdan in his opening match, but then was beaten 15-0 by No. 11-ranked Josh Jordan of Uniontown Lake. Sertell then pinned Oregon Clay's Carter Whaley (1:37) of Broderick Barth of Fremont Ross (3:24) before beating Borror in the consolation semifinals. Keegan Klotz also staged an impressive comeback for Findlay. The Trojans' 175-pounder lost his opening match, but won three straight – two by pin – before dropping a 9-2 decision to No. 5-ranked Will Vucetic of Chardon. Klotz placed sixth and ended his season with a 36-13 record. Kaliber Brubaker (27-16, 113), Madison Smith (25-20, 120) and Cohen Shannon (34-19, 150) all went 1-2 in their district matches. Will Johnston (17-27, 132) and Logan Trinko (23-18, 285) were 0-2. D-II AT NORWALK NORWALK – Fostoria's James Simms avenged an opening loss in the tournament but it came too late to earn the 150-pounder a bid to the Division II state tournament. Simms dropped a 9-6 decision to Wauseon's Kahle Albright in the opening round of the Division II district wrestling meet at Norwalk. Simms dominated his next three matches, winning two by pin and the other by a 17-6 major decision. After a tough overtime loss to Braxden Martin of Sandusky Perkins, Simms faced Albright once again and pinned his Wauseon opponent in the match for fifth and sixth place. The top four placers in each weight class advance to the state meet at the Schottenstein Center on the Ohio State campus, but Simms could advance as an alternate if one of the four wrestlers placing ahead of him is unable to compete. Fostoria's Matthew Balderama (144) went 2-2 in the district meet, while Barrett Hernandez (113) was 1-2. Upper Sandusky's Abraham Baldwin (120) and Ethan Lewis (150) also went 1-2 in their matches. D-III AT ROSSFORD ROSSFORD – Elmwood's Thomas Tyson scored tech fall wins over two opponents and solid decisions over two others in winning the 150-pound weight class title of the Division III district wrestling meet at Rossford. Tyson posted a 16-1 tech fall over Swanton's Mazin Rukieh in the first round, decisioned Woodmore's Brant Deal in the quarterfinals and beat Delta's Parker Cone 17-0 in the semifinals. Tyson then improved his record to 39-7, won the district title and punched his ticket to this week's Division III state meet in Columbus with a 7-4 finals win over Mohawk's Evan England. Elmwood's Peyton Schafer was 4-2 in district matches, including a 6-4 decision over Lakota's Cody Biddle in the 138-pound match for fifth and sixth place. Lee Woods placed fifth and Shawn Woolf sixth for Liberty-Benton. Woods overcame a close 6-2 second round loss to Liberty Center's Drew Matthews with three straight wins, including a sudden victory decision over state-ranked Vince Barton of Lake in the first round of consolation. In the match for fifth and sixth place, Woods (42-11) scored a 3-1 decision over state-ranked Nate Tipton of Genoa. Woolf went 2-3 in placing sixth at 215. Zach Ponx was 1-2 at 126 and Trevor Weyer 1-2 at 150. Jack Rumschlag (144) and Will Granger (285) were 0-2 in their district matches. Bluffton's Kyle Basil rebounded from an opening loss to go 3-3 and place sixth at 190. Wyatt Knauss (113), Brandon Cross (120) and Mason Shank (215) went 1-2 for the Pirates and Jett Blackburn (144) and Evan Grothause were 0-2. Carey's Jordan Hertel (150) and Mason Rickle (157) placed sixth for the Blue Devils. Both went 3-3 in their district matches, with Hertel finishing his season with a 40-13 record and Rickle going 38-17. Carey's Dawson Birchnaugh (175) and Brody Thiel (113) went 1-2 in the district meet, while Emery Littleton (106), Kayden Burgei (138) and Reid Blenkenmeyer (190) were 0-2. Wyatt Crow (190) was 1-2 and Isaac Nelson 0-2 for Hopewell-Loudon. McComb's Brody Gallagher (120) went 1-2 in district matches while 157-pounder Wilson Grubb, 29-4 and ranked 20th in the state, had to forfeit his second-round match due to an injury. Van Buren's Ryan Gifford (285) was 1-2 and Brooks Hill (126) 0-2 in the meet. Ottawa-Glandorf's Austin Haley (215) and Riverdale's Kydin Reed (165) also posted 0-2 records. D-III AT TROY TROY – Columbus Grove's Kyle Lathrop was third and Loudon Auchmuty fourth at the Division III district wrestling tournament held at Troy. Lathrop lost in the winners bracket semifinals, but bounced back to beat Convoy Crestview's Ayden Martin 11-3 and then Parkway's Landon Younker 3-0 in the match for third and fourth place. He'll take a 33-4 record into the state meet. Auchmuty (11-8) rebounded from a first-round loss, winning four straight matches before an 8-1 loss to Fairland's Will Callicoat in the consolation final. Grove's Logan Mershman (157) and Ada's Clayton McClain (150) will be alternates in their eight divisions after both placed fifth in the district. (14-sub head) Spiceland 13th GENEVA — Findlay's Jeremiah Spiceland cleared 13-feet and placed 13th among 27 pole vaulters on Saturday in the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches state indoor track meet held at the Spire Institute in Geneva. In the boys Division II meet, also in Geneva, McComb's Nick Bormuth registered a 62-1 to finish fifth in the weight throw, while teammate Elijah Gibbs threw 49-7 for 15th place. The pair also competed in the shot put. Gibbs tossed 50-9 3/4 for 12th, while Bormuth threw 46-3 3/4 for 20th. Meanwhile, Ottawa-Glandorf's Ty Rosengarten finished ninth in the 1,600 (4:29.75). Liberty-Benton's Gabe St. Amour finished 12th in the 3,200 (9:48.75), while teammate Stefan Kolan cleared 13th to place 17th in the pole vault. O-G's 4x400 team took 15th, while Elmwood's Micah Oliver cleared 6-2 in the pole vault to place eighth. On the girls side, Liberty-Benton's Katie Collert cleared 5.0 for 15th in the high jump; the Eagles Jocelyn Barfell cleared 9-6 for 21st in the pole vault. (14-sub head) O-G places 12th COLUMBUS – Ottawa-Glandorf, making its first-ever appearance in the state bowling tournament, placed 12th overall with a 2,715-600—3,315 total in the Division II boys competition on Friday. Aiden Ruhe led O-G with a 257-177-192—626 series. Justin Yaeger (551), Carson Yaeger (544) and Bryson Compher completed the Titans rotation for the three-game set. ReplyForward Attendee panel closed