By Bob Evans
Sports Editor
March 4, 2008
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| Carrollton senior Cody Rector (left) placed eighth at last weekend's State wrestling tournament in Columbus. |
COLUMBUS - It was a good tournament for two Carrollton wrestlers.
Freshman Jordan Burkhart (103) placed fifth and senior Cody Rector (140) finished in eighth place at last weekend’s 71st annual State Wrestling Championships held at Value City Arena in Columbus.
They are the first pair of Carrollton wrestlers to place at the State tournament since John Kempthorn and Lee Newbold each finished third in 1968.
"I am very proud of both of them," said head coach Ken Pasiuk. "There is so much pressure on you to do well because this tournament is the goal of every wrestler.
"But, Cody and Jordan showed a lot of maturity and handled the pressure well."
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| Carrollton freshman Jordan Burkhart (right) is the first Carrollton freshman to place at the state wrestling meet. He finished in sixth place. |
Burkhart lost twice on Saturday morning to finish in sixth place. He is the first freshman from Carrollton to place at the state meet.
Burkhart lost to Andrew Roanchik of Parma 9-0 in his bout for third place and then fell to Cody McGee from Minerva 4-2 for fifth.
Rector dropped a 4-2 decision to Sean Scaglia from Kenton Ridge on Saturday morning to place eighth.
Burkhart opened the tournament on Thursday afternoon with a 6-1 decision over Nick Greenlee from Circleville.
On Friday morning, he was pinned by Ty Mitch from Aurora at the 5:32 mark. Mitch went on to win the 103 pound championship.
Dropping down to the consolation bracket, Burkhart recovered to win a 6-3 decision over Brandon Gambucci from Lexington.
Rector fell to Josey Neff from Miami Trace 4-3 in his opening match on Thursday, dropping him down to the consolation bracket where he pinned Mac Hatch of Hunting Valley University School in 2:33.
Rector then went on to pin Rob Eddy of Harrison Central in 2:35. In his next match Rector lost a 9-4 decision to John Dittrich from Copley.
Harrison Central’s Nick Risdon was the only area wrestler to win a state championship.
Risdon defeated Paul Rose from Cambridge 9-5 to win the 125 pound title.
Claymont had three wrestlers place. Cody Garbrandt (119) placed second, Jeremy Regula (135) placed fourth and Zach Garbrandt (160) finished eighth.
St. Pairs Graham won the Division II team title with 221.5 points. Oak Harbor was a distant second with 81 points. Beaver Local finished ninth overall with 45 points, Claymont 11th with 39 points, West Holmes 20th with 27 points, Marlington 22nd with 25 points, Carrollton 31st with 14 points, Minerva 42nd with 10 points and Harrison Central 50th with six points. |
