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Wrestlers finish season

By Staff | Feb 13, 2013

Austin Spencer

The Tyler Consolidated Silver Knight wrestlers finished up their regular season last week and will spend the week in practice for the upcoming Regionals this weekend.

The Knights recently received a fourth place finish in the OVAC dual meet championships in the class AAA division. The team fell to River by a score of 57-24 in the first match and were edged out by Barnesville, 39-36, in the third and fourth place round.

“Chase Cooper and Joe Henthorn were our only wrestlers to go undefeated on the night,” said head coach of the Knights, Chad Snider. “Both guys earned 12 points apiece for the team. The 2012-13 Knights are the first Tyler Consolidated wrestling team in our school history to have placed in the OVAC Dual Meet Championships.”

On Feb. 9 the team traveled to Grafton for another dual meet tournament, and had a few wins on the day, but not enough to finish as high as they had hoped. “We were missing a few athletes due to illness and ACTs,” Snider said. “We didn’t finish as high as we could have, had we had a full roster. Some individuals were able to improve their records though. Austin Spencer went undefeated securing five wins on the day. Bobby Dennis, Chase Cooper, William Chapman, and Josh Ruble were also able to win some matches for us throughout the day.”

“We are finally winding up our season and have the opportunity to compete in one of the toughest regions in the state for AA/A. What people don’t realize is that, in wrestling, two classes are grouped together, which makes it much more difficult to advance to the state tournament compared to other sports. This past year the groupings for each class were changed, dropping three Marion County schools from AAA into our region.”

“The top four wrestlers from the region will move on to the state meet. Unfortunately, many wrestlers who belong in the state tournament from this region will not go. When you look at the rankings and see five or six wrestlers from Region I ranked in the top 10 in the state, you know there will be some dogfights in Region 1.”

“I hope to see fans, alumni, and parents supporting our wrestlers on Saturday.”

The Region I tournament will begin at 3 p.m. in Fairmont at the Armory, and will continue through Saturday afternoon. Wrestlers must finish in the top four of their weight classes in order to qualify for a berth at the state tournament.