Ohio Wrestling Site's projections for a mythical 2006 "Single Division" state wrestling tournament

There was a time (ending in the early 1970’s) where the Ohio state wrestling tournament featured only a single division of competition.  Multiple-time state champions were virtually unheard-of in that era, and in fact, no wrestler claimed four state titles.  Going back and looking at the results from recent years, it is astonishing how difficult the Ohio State Tournament would be to place at, much less win, if there were only one division as back then.  Many of the match-ups that would have taken place would have been an Ohio Wrestling fan’s dream.

The following is Ohio Wrestling Site’s projections for a mythical 2006 “Single
Division” state wrestling tournament.  The purpose is solely for fan interest and debate.  It should be noted that the entire season will be taken into account- rather than focusing solely on the state tournament results, which would require much less analysis.  Therefore, in many cases wrestlers may have had poor state tournaments and still received a high ranking, and vice-versa. 

103
1. David Taylor
2. Bo Touris
3. Steve Mitcheff
4. Kyle Gilchrest
5. Dan Genetin
6. Ben Sergent
7. Kyle Lang
8. Johnny Papesh
9. Pat Harrington
10. Dominic Cribari
11. Kyle Ciccarello
12. Zach Neibert
13. Nate Westfall
14. Jase Hall
15. Jimmy Householder
16. Jimmy Millar
17. Alex Weaver
18. Brian Smith
19. Jacob Garringer
20. Kyle Sutter

Never has a finer groups of 103’s been assembled in this state.  Consider:  Cadet National Freestyle Runner-ups Ben Sergent and Kyle Lang rank 6th and 7th in the state respectively.

David Taylor was clearly the class of this weight this year.  Only a loss to Sergent in the opening week of the season prevented him from posting an unbeaten season.  Taylor avenged that loss in dramatic fashion at the Ironman the following week, and then defeated 2x Junior National Champion/2x Cadet National Champion Boris Novachkov in the finals for good measure.  For his next feat he won the nation’s toughest tournament, the Beast of the East.  However, the David Taylor we saw compete early in the season was a “far cry” from the Taylor at the end of the year, as he finally started to grow into the weight class.  With all due respect to Touris and Mitcheff, there wasn’t a 103 in Ohio and precious few in the nation who would have been competitive with Taylor at the end of the season.  Facing perhaps as tough of a draw as any 103 ever has- he dismantled Cribari (technical fall in about three minutes), Papesh (fall), and the outstanding Gilchrest (9-3) in order to claim the first of what will almost certainly be four state titles.

There are, in my view, three good candidates for the #2 spot.  In the end, I went with Touris, who had a slightly better overall season than Mitcheff, though Mitcheff avenged his prior loss to him in the state semifinals.  Cadet National Greco-Roman Champion Touris dominated Alex Weaver three times and even technical falled state runner-up Danny Genetin.  A good case for the #2 spot could also be made for Gilchrest- who was unbeaten going into the state finals, including a 6-4 win over Kyle Lang.

112
1. Collin Palmer
2. Ryan Fields
3. Tim Peskar
4. Dennis Roche
5. Jeff Penny
6. Tyler Savage
7. Adam Tinnel
8. Troy Opfer
9. Seth Horner
10. Devin Klein
11. Jacob Vaughn
12. Travis Bernard
13. Andrew Dinda
14. Zach Toal
15. Brian Stephens
16. Pat Zamaria
17. Jon Gulley
18. Rudy Corpus
19. Aaron Reese
20. Justin McCoy

Like 103, the story here was a brilliant freshman- Collin Palmer of St. Edward’s.  Along with David Taylor, Palmer was considered one of the top two freshmen in the entire nation.  Wrestling a brutal schedule, Palmer suffered just one loss.  More impressive (astonishing, really) was that only two of Palmer’s 40 wins this year were not by either a pin, technical fall, or major decision.   Much more versatile than his older brother, 4x state champion Lance Palmer, Collin looks to be the dominant superstar in this state over the next three years.  

There are three good choices for the #2 spot- yet in the end, there can be only one choice. Ryan Fields of West Chester Lakota compiled a 47-0 record against a daunting schedule that included 15 state qualifiers and six state placers, until the wheels came off in the finals against Palmer.  Most notable was his 7-3 victory at Brecksville over outstanding Division II state champion Dennis Roche. 

Tim Peskar made a good case for himself for the #2 spot by giving Collin Palmer his only remotely close match within the state and placing 3rd at Senior Nationals, but Fields comes out slightly ahead since Peskar lost his 3rd place match at state to Seth Horner.

There is an outstanding group of freshman at this weight in Palmer, Horner (3rd in Division I), Zach Toal (3rd place Division III), and Brian Stephens (6th in Divison I).

119
1. Aaron Hart
2. Tony Jameson
3. Ricky Floyd
4. Jeffrey Pelton
5. Mike Wilson
6. Dante Rini
7. Seth Morton
8. Ryan Gambill
9. Bryce Freeman
10. Roshawn Jones
11. Brian Dean
12. Daniel Kolodzik
13. Tyler Adams
14. Jonathan Stone
15. Jordan McGuire
16. Josh Palivoda
17. Darren Boing
18. Jan Ulinski
19. Tristan Thompson
20. Ricky King

Two outstanding competitors here with very different styles- Aaron Hart, a hammer with a “traditional” style, and the unconventional Tony Jameson, a virtual wrestling artist who is looking to put his opponent on his back every second of the match.  Both won their second state titles.  In the end the nod goes to the Senior, Hart, based on his national credentials (Runner-up at Cadet and Junior National freestyle, 3x Ironman champion) and the fact that he was never in danger of losing to any Ohio competitor.  The rapidly improving Jameson is a joy to watch compete.  The sophomore appears well on his way to four state titles, with only Collin Palmer being a foreseeable threat in the next two years.

The most interesting turn of events here was in the loaded Division III weight class- arguably the toughest field of the three divisions.  The class of the weight during the season were defending state champion Ryan Gambill and Mike Wilson- but both were upset early, only to find themselves matched up in the consolation quarterfinals (which Wilson won).  Wilson would come within a match of All-American at Senior Nationals. 

125
1. Keith Sulzer
2. Ben Jordan
3. Quentin Keyes
4. Adam Koballa
5. Jeremy Espinoza
6. Michael Lybarger
7. Casey Thome
8. Travis Salyer
9. Ben Llanas
10. Eric Gobin
11. Josh Steele
12. Brett Freeman
13. Aaron Sulzer
14. Matt Dennis
15. Matt Manful
16. Clayton Wetzel
17. Ryan King
18. Josh Speelman
19. Matt McGovern
20. Drew Kapper

Though he was narrowly defeated by Quentin Keyes in a dual meet, the only logical choice here must be Division I champ Keith Sulzer.  Historically the master of winning close, low-scoring bouts, Sulzer showed he could open up this year- in fact, his only matches that went the distance in the tournament process prior to the state finals were 12-0 and 11-0 wins.  Even more impressively, Sulzer defeated 2x state champion Ben Jordan for the second time this year in the St. Ed’s/Graham dual meet by a lopsided 8-1 score. 

Only a sophomore, Jordan is now on pace to match his father and uncle as 4x state champions thanks to a 5-1 state finals triumph over Quentin Keyes- his third win over Keyes in three matches.  Jordan showed outstanding defense in that match to go along with his outstanding “angle knee drop”, the same shot used by his 4x state champion, 2x NCAA Champion (and now Ohio State Representative) father, Jim Jordan.   Keyes stepped up his game significantly this year, adding much more offense than he showed in the past, but simply could not solve Jordan.

A highly underrated junior to watch for next year is #5 Jeremy Espinoza of Rossford.  Espinoza suffered just one loss (in the state semifinals against Keyes) this season, and posted the following dominating wins:  14-1 over 2005 state champion Ben Llanas, 12-5 and 10-3 over Division II 4th place finisher Travis Salyer, and 5-0 over Division I 3rd place finisher Matt Dennis.  Though he would be a definite underdog, Espinoza is someone who could play the “spoiler” against Ben Jordan in his quest for four state titles.

130
1. Willie Saxton
2. Adam Kriwinsky
3. Coby Boyd
4. Chase Skonieczny
5. Kevin Hardy
6. Richie Spicel
7. Dan Gonsor
8. Zach Nelson
9. Matt Reedy
10. Steve Young
11. Eric Meyer
12. Zach Mizer
13. Cody Toney
14. Kyle Gardella
15. Ben Fondale
16. Josh Cintron
17. Tucker Guy
18. Arthur Milner
19. Kurt Stapleton
20. Eric Mayer

The amazing Division II field was the story at this weight class.  Chase Skonieczny won the “Powerade”, placed 3rd at the Ironman, and defeated now-2x Division I state champion Kevin Hardy twice this year.  However, he placed only 5th  in Division II, and neither loss was an upset.  Look for great things from Skonieczny and fellow sophomore Coby Boyd over the next two years- as well as Division III state champion Zach Nelson (also a sophomore) of London Madison Plains, who posted a gaudy 46-0 record on the year. 

Willie Saxton started the season off right with a 17-6 win over Hardy, and kept the momentum going all the way to a surprisingly easy 10-6 win over former state champion/3x state finalist Adam Kriwinsky of University School.   Saxton would wind up as a runner-up at Senior Nationals, while Kriwinsky looked very tough en route to a 5th place finish at Nationals.

Kevin Hardy was the Rodney Dangerfield of defending Ohio State Champions this year, getting no respect from any of the ranking services following a season which included six losses.  However, the junior Hardy showed yet again that he knew how to win when it counts in claming his second state title, to go along with a 3rd place finish as a freshman.  The highlight of his title run was certainly the true grit he showed in coming back from an early 5-0 deficit in the state semifinals against Eric Meyer, winning 6-5 in the closing seconds.  In the finals, Hardy posted a convincing 7-0 win over Dan Gonsor of St. Edward’s.

135
1. Thomas Straughn
2. Pat McLemore
3. Ryan Cubberly
4. Germaine Lindsey
5. Chris Andrews
6. Kevin Christensen
7. Joe Skoff
8. Marcel Clopton
9. Angelo Castillo
10. Greg Hilbert
11. Stephen Morrison
12. Jacob Gambill
13. Jesse Dong
14. Jimmy Rendinell
15. Ryan Brownlee
16. Brian Connelly
17. Zip Zimmer
18. Robel Campbell
19. Matt Curley
20. Ryan Hopkins

If there is one bout that I would like to have seen in Ohio this year, it would be a Thomas Straughn/Pat McLemore matchup.  Both wrestlers feature exciting styles which tend to throw caution to the wind.  Ohio Wrestling Site went with Straughn by the thinnest of margins based on his overall dominance. 

Thomas Straughn was one of the biggest stories of the year.  A 2x state placewinner who wrestled at 140 lbs this year, Straughn found himself between a “rock and a hard place” with Lance Palmer competing at 140 and nemesis Sean Nemec at 145.  Straughn’s solution was to start cutting weight for the first time, moving down two weights to 135.  The results were spectacular- as Straughn’s debut at MIT featured a pin of state runner-up Chris Andrews and a mind-blowing technical fall over returning Division I state champion Richie Spicel early in the third period.   Straughn never let up- in fact, former state champion Sean Harris of St. Edward’s was the only opponent to come within ten points of him in the tournament process.

Pat McLemore of Padua finished where he started, on top of the podium at “The Schott.”  After winning state as a freshman at 103, McLemore failed to place as a sophomore 119, and was considered a title contender but fell victim to injury his junior year.  This year, McLemore finished posted an outstanding season; with wins over Max Shanaman of Blair Academy, Ryan Cubberly, Jedd Moore, Germaine Lindsey, Richie Spicel, Zach Mizer, and Chris Andrews in the state finals.  However, McLemore saved his best for last, placing 3rd at Senior Nationals. 

140
1. Lance Palmer
2. Kevin Lipp
3. Josh Falk
4. Jake Kyle
5. Jedd Moore
6. Justin Seebach
7. Nick Bodnar
8. Tommy Weinkam
9. Mike Janik
10. Nick Newell
11. Adam Vaccari
12. James Myers
13. Lawrence Cavello
14. Chris Kline
15. Brian Teter
16. Colton Collett
17. David Fisher
18. Max Wyse
19. Thomas Windom
20. Ira Lee

Like Julius Caeser of ancient Rome, Lance Palmer was a virtual “colossus” of Ohio wrestling this season in winning his 4th Division I state title.  Perhaps the best wrestler from the top position this state has ever seen, Palmer’s only match that “went the distance” in the tournament process over the past two seasons was a 10-0 state finals win over Jedd Moore.  Palmer also added his second Beast of the East title, and won Senior Nationals despite reportedly having the flu!  Look for more great things from Palmer at Ohio State over the next four years.

One of the biggest stories in the state this year was the showdown between Kevin Lipp and returning Division III state champion Josh Falk, a junior from Bluffton.  Falk had not lost since his freshman year, and posted two wins over Division II state champion Jake Kyle in that time frame.  The outstanding Lipp won state as a freshman, only to place third the next two years. This season, his only loss was to the nation’s #1 ranked 135 in the Ironman finals.  Lipp also defeated Pat McLemore 5-2 and Division I state runner-up Jedd Moore 8-1 this season.  The final with Falk came down to one spectacular flurry of action which saw Lipp “step over his own whizzer”, scoring a takedown and two backpoints.  From there, he cruised to a 6-1 win.  

Stay tuned for Part II of the All-OWS team!

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OhioWrestlingSite.com 2005