Milestone wins for Hermes, Vogus at Div. III Duals

Jan. 29—SANDUSKY — Two milestone wins highlighted area performances on Saturday at the Division III Duals at St. Mary Central Catholic.

A defending state champion and NCAA Division I Rutgers University commit, Edison senior Max Hermes unofficially became the 24th wrestler in OHSAA history to reach 200 career wins. Later in the day, Monroeville senior Hunter Vogus registered his 150th career win.

The 18-team field was split into two pools. The Chargers were fourth in Pool A, while the Eagles were third in Pool B.

The top team in each pool — which proved to be Archbold edging Genoa, 38-32 — then squared off for the championship on Saturday afternoon.

Monroeville finished with a 7-2 record overall over the two days.

The Eagles lost to Genoa (46-29), then beat Hopewell-Loudon (66-6), Brookdville (46-27) and the combined team of St. Paul-SMCC (54-24) to close out Friday.

On Saturday, Monroeville beat Carey (54-18), Defiance Ayersville (48-21), Fremont St. Joseph (54-19), then lost to Defiance Tinora (46-27) before topping Evergreen (40-15).

Vogus, Ashton Homan and Ben Seitz each finished a perfect 9-0 for the Eagles.

Ranked No. 2 in the state according to the latest borofanohio.net Div. III rankings at 132 pounds, Vogus had six victories by pin, including one in 10 seconds. He also added a forfeit, a 15-0 technical fall, then a 4-2 decision over No. 9-ranked Anden Ankney of Tinora.

The No. 1-ranked wrestler at 132, Homan had five pins, including one in 12 seconds, along with three forfeits and a pair of indentical 12-0 major decision victories.

At 150, Seitz dominated his way to seven pins, including two in under 30 seconds, along with a pair of forfeits.

Also for Monroeville, Landin Hershiser (175) was 6-1, while Landen Roeder (144) was 7-2 and Brencyn Evans (165) was 6-2.

Edison finished 6-4 overall in the duals. On Friday, the Chargers lost to Tuscarawas Valley (40-33), then beat Mohawk (42-35) and the combined Norwayne-Calvert team (47-36) before topping Northwestern (54-29) and falling to Archbold (62-16).

On Saturday, the Chargers beat Evergreen (42-36), lost to Sandy Valley (42-36), beat Patrick Henry (60-24), lost to Brookville (45-29) and beat Carey (45-36).

Ranked No. 1 in the state at 120 pounds by borofanohio.net, Max Hermes went a perfect 10-0 with eight pins and a pair of technical fall victories by identical 23-8 scores. Just two of the eight pins went beyond three minutes in length.

Also going 10-0 for Edison was state No. 3-ranked Marcus Medina at 144. He finished with four pins, highlighted by a pin in 6:16 over Archbold's Brodie Dominique — the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the state at the weight class.

Medina also had a technical fall (20-5) and a major decision (14-1), and had wins by disqualification, and twice by decision (9-4, 12-5).

At 150, No. 2-ranked Kohen Horvath also went a perfect 10-0 for the Chargers, which included six wins via pin. He also won by forfeit twice, an 11-3 major decision, and a 6-3 decision over Mohawk's No. 3-ranked Jace Margraf.

Abe Hermes, ranked No. 3 at 113, was in his first action this season in a return from injury and went 8-0. That included three pins, three forfeits, and two decisions (11-7, 5-2).

Edison is currently projected to finish third and Monroeville fifth in the state team rankings as of Jan. 25.

For St. Paul, defending state champion Casper Caizzo (17-1) was also dominant as he returns from a herniated disc in his back that cost him six months. The junior had eight pins, all but one in under three minutes, along with a 16-0 technical fall and a 13-3 major decision.

At 175, Tristan Nickoli was 7-3 for the Flyers, as was Niko Cuturic at 106.

St. Paul and SMCC wrestled as a team for the purposes of the dual matches because of their roster sizes.

Norwalk third at Raider Invite

BELLEFONTAINE — Behind two individual champions and five third-place finishers, the Truckers scored 176.5 points to finish third among 18 teams on Saturday at the Benjamin Logan Raider Invitational.

Juniors Mason Irwin (113) and Ryan Fox (175) won their weight classes for Norwalk.

Irwin (19-11) opened with a 9-4 decision and a pin in 2:38 to reach the semifinals, where he then earned a pin in 53 seconds. Facing Sidney's Elijah McKenzie in the finals, Irwin scored a 6-3 decision.

Fox (27-8) pinned his way through his weight class to earn first place. He had back-to-back pins in 3:11, followed by a semifinal pin in just 39 seconds. He then needed 3:22 to put Springfield's Bryce Sherrock on his back for the fall in the finals.

Earning third for Norwalk included Jackson James (120), Austin Ware (126), Nico Helton (157), Gabe Pearce (190) and Cooper Gee (285). Aldynn Metzger (106) placed sixth.

Norwalk will host Bellevue and Oak Harbor on Wednesday in its final tuneup before hosting the SBC championships on Feb. 18.

SWIMMING

Three top four placers at Ontario

ONTARIO — Three area swimmers placed among the top four in the deep Ontario Invitational field on Saturday.

For Norwalk, Sidney Sage was fourth in both the 100-yard backstroke (1:11.59) and the 100 freestyle (1:01.7), while Skylar Cross was fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.84).

For Willard, Mason Carnahan finished third in the 100 freestyle in 53.76 seconds.