Congrats to Athens State Dual meet finals

[tric118]

Congrats to Athens making the state dual meet finals.

[90goldeneagle]

Great job Athens, congratulations!

Athens 42 - Circleville 19

106 Skyler St. Peter 11 (Athens) pin Israel Villarreal 9 (Circleville) 5:30
113 Dusten Cummings 11 (Circleville) pin Cortez Gainey 9 (Athens) 1:00
120 Emmett Covington 10 (Athens) dec. Daryn Meadows 12 (Circleville) 9-3
126 Tyler Knul 11 (Circleville) maj. dec. Keanu Hallowell 12 (Athens) 11-3
132 Tommy Holloway 12 (Circleville) dec. Andy Vu 11 (Athens) 8-5
138 Cory Abdella 12 (Athens) pin Brandon Buss 11 (Circleville) 3:00
145 Hunter St. Peter 10 (Athens) dec. Trevor Fullen 10 (Circleville) 6-4
152 Dallas Lazear 11 (Athens) over Payton Griffin 10 (Circleville) df
160 Troy Stalder 10 (Athens) dec. John Davis 11 (Circleville) 9-2
170 Alex Tritipo 12 (Athens) dec. Jared Roese 11 (Circleville) 12-6
182 Kelton Barrows 12 (Athens) pin Bret Taylor 11 (Circleville) 3:00
195 Dennison West 12 (Athens) dec. Aaron Collins 10 (Circleville) 8-4
220 Jed DeBruin 12 (Athens) dec. Brennon Hemming 12 (Circleville) 11-5
285 Josh Payne 10 (Circleville) pin Isaac Love 11 (Athens) 3:00

[Gib25]

Congratulations to Athens Bulldogs of Coach Paul Kaiser! Making it to the State in the first year of the State duals is sweet!

[tric118]

This is not the first year for the state duals Nelsonville-York has been in them 3 times and the past 2 years. This is the first year under the new format. The State Duals started back around 1992 and Athens acctually made it around 1995 under Robb Weinfurtner.

[Auburntgrfan]

Athens is #8 seed and gets St. Paris Graham first round. Ouch....
No matter the outcome,"The Bulldogs" are one of the top eight dual meet teams in the state this year, which is outstanding. Have seem them several times this year and they are a solid tournament team. Several quality kids, they have in Graham possibly one of if not the toughest draw. Wish them good luck Saturday in Columbus.

[bman]

This is the first time it is an officially recognized activity by the OHSAA, I believe.

[SE Ohio]

yes this is the first year the state deuls are under the OHSAA and under the new format. i like the idea of the state duels, but the state needs to make some adjustments. i think teams need to qualify and seeding needs to be fixed.
the state duels themselves have been around since 1994, with several teams from southeast ohio participating over the years logan 1994, athens 1995, nelsonville several times, miami tace several times, i know there has been more.

[pf26]

It wold be nice to see them pull off an upset over Graham, but if not hopefully they wrestle back to third. I for one would love to see them meet up with claymont and drill the mustangs.

Teams do qualify by the way. All teams entered in the tournament participated in regional qualifying rounds during the last few weeks. Each division was split into eight regions. The eight regional winners advanced to the state duals tournament this weekend.

[tric118]

They do not wrestle back to 3rd. 1 loss and you are out. Unfortanely I don't see Athens winning any head to head matches let alone pulling off the upset. However they made it and that is a huge step for the program congrats and good luck David vs Goliath. I am pulling for David. 145 Lazear over Garrett Jordan best shot at a win.

106 Eli Stickley 10 Graham- 4@106 24 0
113 Eli Seipel 10 Graham- 4@113 19 5
120 Brent Moore 9 Graham- 1@110 16 4
126 Mario Kastl 9 Graham- 2@104 8 3
132 Micah Jordan 11 Graham- 1@126 24 1
138 Nate Henkle 11 Graham- 5@132 17 6
145 Garrett Jordan 9 Graham- 12 6
152 Alex Marinelli 9 Graham- 1@154 23 2
160 Bo Jordan 12 Graham- 1@152 22 0
170 Lane Thomas 11 Graham- 18 5
182 ParkJosh Couchman 10 Graham- 17 10
220 Jesse MaAnthony Welty 12 Graham- 17 7

The weak spots for Graham are 195 and 285 and they are no bums.

[bman]

When teams commit to this tourney, they need to stay with it. Region 13 only consisted of 15 teams after teams withdrew.

I'd also move it to Saturdays to create more interest. Block off three weekends, two for regional competition and one for state. The regular season tournaments that are displaced can be moved.

[ace63]

Congrads athens, You always make southeastern ohio proud, Good luck !!! Dont let anyone rain on your parade, You did it !!!!!!!!!!

[Bulldog Mom]

Athens won 3 matches vs. St. Paris Graham. Cory Abdella, Dallas Lazear and Isaac Love. Congratulations to all the Bulldogs and Coach Kaiser! He has built a program and truly cares about his boys. John Deno was the wrestling coach back in the day and the Bulldogs were tough then...it's great that he is able to still come to matches and always is willing to help the boys. It's just a great wrestling family.

I did notice that St. Paris Graham was ranked first in the state for final rankings and they beat (I believe) St. Eds in a dual...St. Ed's was ranked #1 in the final team rankings for Division 1.

Congratulations, Bulldogs!