Seven area champions highlight Norwalk Middle School Invite
Jan. 18—NORWALK — Seven individual champions in their respective weight classes highlighted area placers on Jan. 15 at the Norwalk Middle School wrestling Invitational.
Bellevue scored 219.5 points to win the 17-team field going away. Edison was fourth (168.5), followed by Monroeville (168), Norwalk (133.5) and South Central (119.5) in fifth, sixth and seventh place, respectively. St. Paul was 11th (87) and Willard (38) was 15th.
For host Norwalk, Aldynn Metzger remained undefeated on the season at 25-0 with xx wins at the 80-pound weight class. Metzger pinned all four of his opponents, needing just 27 seconds and 1:01 — then 3:34 and 3:53 in the semifinal and finals round.
Placing second for the Truckers was Gavin Lepley at 110 pounds, while Nico Helton was third at 150.
Also placing for Norwalk was Hunter Schneider (142) and Wes Sage (160) in fourth. Earning sixth place was Camron Brown (116) and Brady Case (134).
Edison's Ben James (19-0) won the 150-pound weight class for the Chargers. He won by pin in 13 seconds, 41 seconds and 2:05 before an 11-2 major decision to reach the finals, where he claimed a 6-1 decision over St. Paul's Raphael Gross.
The Chargers had four wrestlers place second, including Kyler Jones (80), Mason Hermes (86), Owen Price (92) and Eli Hermes (160). Rounding out placers for Edison was Colton Ritz (98), Kaleb Martin (122) and Josh Thompson (142), who each finished sixth.
Monroeville had a trio of individual champions, which included Owen Patchen (86), Colton Clark (92) and Hayden Ryan (172).
Patchen (12-0) won three matches, two by pin (1:04, 2:20) and a 14-10 decision over Mason Hermes. Clark (15-1) won four matches at 92 and all four wins came by pin in times of 25 seconds, 1:15, 2:25 and 54 seconds, respectively.
Ryan (21-4) also went 4-0 for Monroeville, which started with three pins in 1:20, 1:31 and 55 seconds, and ended with a 10-8 decision over Shelbys Sean Koehler.
Also for the Eagles, Andersen Evans (134) was second, while Isaac Krueger (116) and Brycen Dunlap (205) each placed third.
South Central's Dixon Blanton won the 160-pound weight class. He won three matches in the pool format by pin (2:43), technical fall (17-2) and decision (9-3). Blanton (21-2) then posted an 11-7 decision in the semis before a 5-1 win in the finals over Eli Hermes.
Also for the Trojans, Cole Frankart (122) was third, followed by Wyatt Martin (92), Aiden Schrader (150) and Alex Hammons (205) in fourth, and Caiden Wilson in fifth place.
For St. Paul, Xander Gfell-King (104) and Zeke Dvorak (110) were third to follow Gross' second-place finish. Levi Rospert and Adam Dowdell were fourth and fifth, respectively, at 98 pounds.
Willard had one placer, but it was Luke Slone atop the podium in first place at 128 pounds. Slone (28-0) won all four of his matches by pin, needing just 1:19, 2:10, 2:24, and 3:54 to do so.
A total of 164 wrestlers from the 17 teams participated in the tournament, which was held at Norwalk High School.
