Which 6 Cincinnati wrestlers will vie for an OHSAA state championship?
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COLUMBUS – Nothing is guaranteed for any wrestler at any tournament, especially a major one like the Ohio High School Athletic Association state tournament.
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A top seed is not guaranteed an easy matchup in round one.
A senior is not guaranteed a placement in his or her final go.
And a returning state champion is not guaranteed another first-place finish.
Of the three returning state champions from Cincinnati last season, St. Xavier junior Kane Shawger stands alone in getting back to the state finals. Lakota East's Camryn Gresham and Lakota West's Kelsey King both fell in their semifinal matches after winning titles a year ago.
St. Xavier junior Kane Shawger reaches 150-pound final
A year after winning the Division I 138-pound state championship, St. Xavier's Kane Shawger punched his ticket to the 150-pound finals with a pair of pinfalls and a 16-0 tech fall in the semifinals.
Shawger, with a 48-2 record entering the championship round, has had to face everyone's best all season as the top wrestler in his class.
"All year I felt that target on my back," Shawger said. "I knew it's hard to become No. 1, but it's hardest once you're No. 1 to stay No. 1."
Shawger will wrestle Ashland junior Guardian Miller in the finals. Having already experienced the final day at state with a championship match to come, Shawger is ready to defend and finish as a state championship again.
"I like to say if there are veterans in this state tournament, I'm probably right there with them," Shawger said. "I've been to the state finals before. I have won state. I got third my freshman year.
"It definitely brings that confidence out in you. I feel like I go out there and wrestle freely. It's nothing new."
Little Miami's Vera, Oak Hills' Polking advance to the state final
In the 115-pound state semifinal, Lakota East junior Camryn Gresham lost 7-2 to Barnesville freshman Ladyn Hines. Later in the 130-pound bracket, Lakota West senior Kelsey King was pinned by Massillon Perry's Carolyn Geckler.
That's two state champions knocked out of the championship bracket, but two Cincinnati freshmen can still take over.
Little Miami's Kaylee Vera, who beat Gresham in the district finals, reached the 115-pound finals, thanks to a 10-2 win in the semis. At 130 pounds, Oak Hills' Eleanor Polking had a 7-3 decision to reach the championship match.
Gresham and King will both wrestle in the consolation finals in the opening session on March 15. A win sends them to the third-place match while a loss would put them in the fifth-place bout. Both will reach the podium for the third time in their careers.
Loveland's Elizabeth Madison nears state final redemption
If any wrestler at the OHSAA tournament is an example of nothing guaranteed, it is Loveland senior Elizabeth Madison.
Madison won OHSAA state championships at 170 pounds as a freshman and sophomore and was in the finals again last year trying to go 3-for-3 in state finals. Instead, against Findlay's Kate Simmons, Madison got taken down and pinned in 82 seconds.
"Looking back on it, every wrestler is going to have a bad day," Madison said. "Everybody's going to have a bad match. You're not going to win every match you have.
"Unfortunately that was my state finals last year where I let everything else going on that I couldn't control, I let that get to me. I needed to keep it together."
Madison entered last postseason with an abbreviated regular season due to a knee injury. This year, she sports a new surgical scar on elbow. Having to wrestle another year off of an injury, Madison said she wanted to do it better this time.
Whatever Madison adjusted has worked so far. She'll take the parade of champions march for the fourth time on March 15 and she'll have a zero in her loss column for the year.
Her opponent, Austin Fitch sophomore Reghan Koch, has also not dropped a match this season. Koch, who placed seventh at 155 pounds last year, will be in her first finals.
"After the parade and everything, it's a lot to take in," Madison said. "Especially if you're coming in as a first year like my opponent is. It's is a lot to take in and I feel I'll have a little bit of an edge since I know that's coming."
La Salle's Wooldridge, Moeller's Jackson also in finals
Good luck finding a state tournament as dominant as the one La Salle senior Colin Wooldridge has had so far.
Wooldridge, an Ohio University commit who was a state runner-up a year ago and a fifth-place finisher in 2024, has cruised through the Division II 175-pound bracket.
In the opening round, Wooldridge needed less than two periods to get a 21-3 tech fall victory. His next two matches were even shorter, pinning his opponent in 1:03 in the quarterfinals and in 1:25 in the semifinals.
Waiting on Wooldridge in the finals will be Benjamin Logan's Ethan Carpenter, who had a pair of decisions before a 22-2 tech fall in the semifinals.
Greater Catholic League-South rival Noah Jackson will also be in the championship round, wrestling in the 157-pound bracket in Division I.
Jackson pinned his opening opponent before 6-2 and 4-1 decisions to reach the finals where he'll see Brecksville-Broadview Heights' Drew Moro. Jackson placed sixth in the same class last season.
Who were the Greater Cincinnati OHSAA wrestling state qualifiers?
Division I
106 ‒ Blackburn Savage (Moeller), Greyson Boner (Harrison); 113 ‒ Ashton Scott (Moeller), Jayden Knowles (Hamilton), Darian Jones (Aiken); 120 ‒ Demarco Kates (Colerain), Colin Broxterman (Elder), Easton Ballinger (Edgewood), Tyler Swaney (Springboro); 126 ‒ Connor Niehaus (Harrison), Jonathan Fritinger (Moeller), Vinny Soloria (St. Xavier); 132 ‒ Caleb Curry (Elder), Kevin Huang (Lakota East); 138 ‒ Jack Bratton (Springboro), Gael Ramirez (Moeller), Marshall Emerson (Kings), Joe Schnurstein (Anderson); 144 ‒ Marshall Morency (Anderson), Brody Palm (Harrison), Sam Like (Little Miami); 150 ‒ Kane Shawger (St. Xavier), Kameron Bedel (Elder), Eli Guerra (Lebanon); 157 ‒ Noah Jackson (Moeller), Owen Dennis (Harrison), Cole Henson (Springboro); 165 ‒ Khary McCall Jr. (Springboro), Carter Canaan (Edgewood); 175 ‒ Landen Messer (Moeller), Nick Werbrich (Harrison), Max Weimer (Springboro); 190 ‒ Noah Sandlin (Springboro), Cameron Fiasco (Lakota West), Rocco Pusateri (St. Xavier); 215 ‒ Grant Dallio (Harrison), Sub Hignite (Elder), Christian Wagers (Lebanon); 285 ‒ Caden Orr (Moeller), Jaiden Davis (Middletown), Bryan Oh (Mason).
Division II
106 ‒ Carson Wissinger (Clinton-Massie); 113 ‒ Ethan Lewis (Roger Bacon); 120 ‒ Declan Hutt (La Salle); 126 ‒ Alijah Mohanna (La Salle); 132 ‒ Dom Marengo (La Salle); 138 ‒ Josiah Puller (Wilmington); 144 ‒ Max Monahan (McNicholas); 150 ‒ Solomon Snyder (McNIcholas); 157 ‒ Malachi Jackson (Reading); 175 ‒ Colin Wooldridge (La Salle), Gage Croley (Goshen); 285 ‒ Clayton Smith (Western Brown).
Division III
120 ‒ Jaxon Vining (Clermont Northeastern); 144 ‒ Ryan Hager (Williamsburg); 157 ‒ Brady Volz (Finneytown); 165 ‒ Chris Davidson (Madeira); 285 ‒ Jett Manley (Waynesville).
Girls
100 ‒ Laylla Sears (Blanchester), Madelynn Rennis (Batavia), Teegan Herrington (Badin), Lamyah Owensby (Middletown); 105 ‒ Caiden Baird (Harrison), Ariana Hale (Middletown); 110 ‒ Leah Willen (Harrison), Charley Jones (New Richmond); 115 ‒ Kaylee Vera (Little Miami), Camryn Gresham (Lakota East), My'Shawanna Tinsley (Finneytown); 120 ‒ Caroline Davis (Ross), P.J. Broadus (Lebanon); 125 ‒ Liberty Johnson (Clermont Northeastern), Olivia Olive (Harrison); 130 ‒ Eleanor Polking (Oak Hills), Kelsey King (Lakota West), Makirah Hall (Lakota East); 135 ‒ Haylynn Littleton (Harrison), Madelyn Simmerman (Little Miami), Brooklyn Hover (Lakota West); 140 ‒ Kimora Carpenter (Princeton), Chanelle Trammell (Lebanon), Lillian Lampe (Norwood); 145 ‒ Veronica Decaluwe (Harrison); 155 ‒ Natalie Carlisle (Lebanon), Corinna Sowah (Lakota East), Isabelle Barkley (Oak Hills); 170 ‒ Elizabeth Madison (Loveland), Rylee Dearwester (Harrison), Lillian Grogan (Fairfield), Taryn Naill (Lebanon).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Six Cincinnati wrestlers advance to OHSAA state tournament finals