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Discussion Topic: Early Division 3 State Forecast: 103 pounds
Dan Cosimi added to this discussion on December 25, 2007
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Upon coming into the high school ranks,
Hunter Stieber (Monroeville)
immediately inflicted his will on any and all opponents and inserted himself as the heir to his brother's throne atop this weight class. In his first varsity appearance he won the nation's toughest tournament, the Ironman, and after winning a Cadet freestyle national championship last summer, makes a great case for himself to be ranked as the #1 wrestler in the nation at 103 pounds. Like his brother before him, Stieber will have no trouble walking through this weight class. The true battle here is for second place (no small consolation prize).
The powerhouse district is at Maple Heights led by state qualifier
Jarrod Strine (Jeromesville Hillsdale)
who returns to this class as a senior. He wrestles very high scoring bouts, posting scores of 16-15, 23-20, and 16-10 in district competition and won a match in Columbus with a 14-11 score. Entertaining matches with a lot of points are great for the spectators but it also means he's putting himself in quite a bit of danger. Also returning are
Joe Bailes (Mogadore)
the Rootstown sectional champion last year en route to a sixth place finish in the district, and
Tyler Thompson (Brookfield)
who was on the losing end of that 43-point bout with Strine. Those three will be heavily tested by a group of young phenoms.
Seth Powers (Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy)
, a freshman who just placed fifth at North Canton Hoover, might be the best of the bunch. Yet another Firebird freshman comes into this weight class ready to place as
Cody Tschantz (Bedford St. Peter Chanel)
defeated sophomore
Alex Dronzek (Beachwood)
1-0 for third at Solon.
Vinny Pizzuto (North Jackson Jackson-Milton)
finished fifth there and was a runner-up to Stieber at Elyria Catholic.
Tim Triskett (Cleveland Villa Angela St. Joseph)
was the champion at the Division 3 Classic but with a district this loaded, he'll have to pull off a few big upsets to qualify for Columbus.
Heath appears to be the next best district. Sophomore
Tyler Reed (Waterford)
was a junior high state placer but was severely undersized last year and couldn't make it to Columbus. Now that he's grown into the weight, he'll be state-bound. Freshman sensation
Dominique Barlow (Heath)
was fourth at the junior high state tournament at 96 pounds last year. I've not seen many results from him yet but I have a feeling he'll be wrestling on Saturday at the state tournament. I met
Tyler Reichle (West Jefferson)
this summer at Brian Keck's camp at Baldwin-Wallace and I could tell he had a big season ahead of him at 103 pounds. He'll battle with fellow freshman
Perry Reynolds (Marion Pleasant)
from that powerhouse squad of Spartans as they are the two favorites for the final spots going to Columbus.
There will be a two-man battle at the Kettering Fairmont district. Returning state qualifier
Chris Yeary (Reading)
, a senior who won a match in Columbus last year, will face-off with sophomore
Jordan Hancock (Troy Christian)
. Yeary was third here a year ago, losing only to Goldberg in the semifinals, meanwhile Hancock was stuck behind state placer Cody Libengood last year and did not break into the varsity lineup. I'm having trouble finding results to fill out the qualifiers at this district but a leading candidate could be
Aaron Merschman (Delphos St. John)
, brother of Brian who was a state placer at this weight class last year after finishing fourth in this district.
Ryan Johnston (Bluffton)
was runner-up at the Allen County Invitational and, if my results are correct,
Cody Hall (Camden Preble Shawnee)
won with all pins at Franklin. I'm not sure how those wins translate to Division 3 state-level competition, though.
Stieber will buzzsaw through the Owens Community College district.
Oscar Aranjo (Delta)
, who had a great run to make the district finals a year ago, returns to this weight class as a senior. He went two and out at state but lost in overtime to state placer Merschman.
Anthony Elchert (Arcadia)
, a surprise state qualifier as a freshman last year, returns and is a favorite to make it again.
D.J. Ferguson (Montpelier)
had a very good year last year winning the Division 3 Classic before going 2-2 at the district tournament. This year he again made the finals of the Division 3 Classic but lost 5-3 to Triskett. The top challenger to this quartet appears to be freshman
Nick Goebel (Bloomdale Elmwood)
. He lost only 9-4 to Elchert at Arcadia and majored Gerschultz 11-3. Past him,
Brandon Bettinger (Metamora Evergreen)
,
Adam Klavinger (Genoa)
,
Davis Reid (Hicksville)
,
Dylan Moore (Defiance Ayersville)
, and
Garrett Gerschultz (Hamler Patrick Henry)
seem to all be relatively close to one another and they make up a good chunk of the rest of the district field.
Ranking this weight class is very difficult because there are very few head-to-head results. Here is what I have so far...
103
1. Hunter Stieber - 9 - Monroeville
2. Oscar Aranjo - 12 - Delta
3. Jarrod Strine - 12 - Jeromesville Hillsdale
4. Chris Yeary - 12 - Reading
5. Anthony Elchert - 10 - Arcadia
6. Jordan Hancock - 10 - Troy Christian
7. Tyler Reed - 10 - Waterford
8. Josh Bailes - 11 - Mogadore
9. Dominique Barlow - 9 - Heath
10. Seth Powers - 9 - Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy
11. Cody Tschantz - 9 - Bedford St. Peter Chanel
12. Alex Dronzek - 10 - Beachwood
13. Vinny Pizzuto - 9 - North Jackson Jackson-Milton
14. Tyler Thompson - 10 - Brookfield
15. Tyler Reichle - 9 - West Jefferson
16. Perry Reynolds - 9 - Marion Pleasant
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Discussion Topic: Early Division 3 State Forecast: 103 pounds
Robert Seibert added to this discussion on December 25, 2007
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Nice work, Dan! Can't wait to see the rest.
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