Boys Best of the Week: 8 take titles at wrestling tourneys, plus hoops high scorers abound

Eight boys wrestlers from around the area earned championships at tournaments held around the state last weekend.

At the J.C. Gorman in Mansfield, Pleasant's Daxton Chase remained undefeated this season as he won the 150-pound title, taking his first two matches by technical fall at 23-6 and 22-5, then a 17-6 major decision and a pin in 63 seconds in the finals.

Elgin's Kaiden Luikart at 150 pounds and Tyler Pasma at 215 earned crowns during a tournament at Central Crossing, while River Valley's Karson Jenkins at 106, Owen Rogers at 138 and Porter Rick at 190 all won titles at the Steve Yinger Memorial at Nelsonville-York. The Highland duo of Kasey Clark at 126 and Cael Gilmore at 144 took their classes at the Licking Valley Invitational.

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● Pleasant finished ninth out of 32 teams at the Gorman as Sam Mentzer was third at 165, Sean Murphy was sixth at 120, Landon O'Donnell was sixth at 215 and Ayden O'Dell was eighth at 113. Northmor was 10th at the tournament as Cowin Becker at 138 and Carson Campbell at 157 were runners-up. Ashton Clark at 190 and Ethan Amens at 120 were fifth for the Golden Knights, while Carter Thomas was sixth at 106.

● Elgin earned second place at Central Crossing, just three points behind Westfall. Taking third for the Comets were Russell Sherman at 285 and Nels VanGundy at 175. Fourth were Hunter Johnston at 132, Gavin Rhodes at 138 and Colton Long at 144. Fifth were Aiden Cervantes at 106 and Karson Thomas at 120. Sixth were Landon Shrader at 126 and Kaleb Martin at 165.

● RV was runner-up at Nelsonville-York, finishing behind Athens and ahead of Washington Court House and Watkins Memorial at the 21-team event. Placing for the Vikings were Darren Triplat (third, 113), Aiden Jordan (third, 120), Carter Creeden (third, 175), Adison Babb (fourth, 150), A.J. Thorpe (sixth, 157), Remington Sanchez (sixth, 215), Drew Goldberg (seventh, 285) and Coben Reser (eighth, 126).

● Highland was third at the 17-team Licking Valley Invitational. Konner Blaney at 113 and Remington Baker at 157 were runners-up followed by Brady Byler in third at 106, Brenden Lester in fourth at 120 and Liam DeLaney in fifth at 150.

● North Union was 12th out of 27 teams at the Toledo Woodmore Invitational. Posting five wins for the Wildcats were Zack Ellis, Kannon Alvarado, Braylen Riffle, Kingston Alvarado and Tyler Cline. Getting four wins was A.J. Leeson, and getting three wins was Rylan Riffle.

Boys Basketball

● Northmor's Grant Bentley dropped five 3-pointers en route to 32 points in a 79-59 win over Crestline. A.J. Bower scored 13 as 10 Knights scored.

● Nine Vikings scored led by Carson Smith's 27 points and five 3-pointers during an 82-47 victory over Galion. Also hitting double figures for River Valley were Ayden Kenney with 12, Chase Smith with 12, Chase Ebert with 11 and Sawyer Weston with 10. In a 67-49 win over Bishop Watterson, Carson Smith again led with 23 points as Ebert added 13 and Chase Smith and Kenney nine apiece.

● Marion Harding's Boston Pearson scored 20 points, Marquis Long Jr. 16, Braylyn Dyer 12 and Logan Thrapp 10 in their 71-50 victory over Ontario.

● North Union got six 3-pointers and 26 points from Nolan Draper, plus 22 from Max Parish and 13 from Miles Hall in a 77-68 win over Northwestern. In a 59-39 loss to Kenton Ridge, Parish and Draper both had 13 and Hall 11.

● Highland's Toby Rogers put up 29 points and Aron West chipped in with nine in a 58-48 loss to Crestview. In a 53-44 loss to Clear Fork, Rogers led with 18 and Cooper Young with eight.

● Ridgedale outscored East Knox 15-7 in the fourth quarter of a 57-52 come-from-behind victory as Eric Gottfried produced 21 points and Evan Ricketts 15. In a 46-45 loss to Lima Temple Christian, Brogan Weston had 16, Gottfried 15 and Ricketts eight.

● Gilead Christian beat Bowling Green Christian 57-53 and Warsaw Christian 52-25 to run its record to 11-3, which is the most wins in program history. Junior Talen Blankenship is 47 points away from being the program's all-time leading scorer.

Boys Swimming

● Mount Gilead finished second to Upper Sandusky with Wynford also competing during a boys swimming meet in Bucyrus. The 200-yard freestyle relay of Josh Davis, Niles Bush, Jaxon Tinch and Hayden McClelland won as did Luke Frazier in the 100-yard breaststroke. The 200 and 400 free teams were runners-up as were Tinch in the 200 individual medley, McClelland in the 50 free and Owen Hershner in the 100 breaststroke. Bush was third in the 50 free and so was Tinch in the 100 backstroke.

Boys Bowling

● Marion Harding's Gaven Stoll fired a 285 game and a 225 for a 510 series at Dynasty Lanes in Willard to help beat Shelby 2,397-1,553. Allen Eaches added a 203-264 467, while Noah Daigneau had a 340, and Clayton Spiedel and Dallas Hubbard both had 339s. The Presidents also beat Cardington 1,844-1,669 at Morrow Lanes as Eaches had a 230 game and 388 series. Stoll added a 346 and Hubbard a 337.

● In a match at Bluefusion, Pleasant held off River Valley 2,361-2,178. Carter Colby led the Spartans with a 218-232 450, while Nolan Ludwig chipped in with a 195-218 413, Tucker Ludwig a 219-192 411, Johnathan Maran a 203-165 369 and Dawson Hall a 183-153 336. For RV, Mason Self had a 189-214 403, Andruw Peak 178-152 330, Caleb Diaz 175-143 328, Andrew Karrick a 235 game and Caleb Rowlinson a 210 game.

● North Union's Logan Otten shot a 367 and Zach Howald a 341 in a 2,465-2,052 loss to Graham. In a 2,370-2,077 loss to Bellefontaine, Braden Rhodes had a 384 and Howald a 304.

● Highland's Jacob Anthony scored a 167 game in a 1,697-1,455 loss to Galion.

Coaches at statisticians are encouraged to send results to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, X @McMotorsport and Instagram at rob_mccurdy_star.

VOTE: Marion Star Boys Best of the Week Performer Poll

• Marion Harding bowler Gaven Stoll rolled a 285 game with a 225 for a 510 series at Dynasty Lanes during a win over Shelby.

• Northmor basketball's Grant Bentley scored 32 points with five 3-pointers in a win over Crestline.

• River Valley basketball's Carson Smith scored 27 points with five 3-pointers in a win over Galion.

• North Union basketball's Nolan Draper scored 27 points with six 3-pointers in a win over Northwestern.

• Highland basketball's Toby Rogers scored 29 points in a loss to Crestview.

• Pleasant wrestler Daxton Chase won the 150-pound weight class at the J.C. Gorman Invitational in Mansfield to stay undefeated this season.

• Voting for this week's polls will continue through early Sunday morning at MarionStar.com and its app.

• For the Marion Star Boys Best of the Break Performer Poll, River Valley wrestler Porter Rick, who won the 190-pound class at the Newark Catholic Invitational to earn his 100th career victory, earned 296 of 764 votes (39 percent) to win it. Other nominees were Highland wrestler Kasey Clark, Marion Harding basketball's Marquis Long Jr., Pleasant basketball's Trey Booker and Mount Gilead swimmer Jaxon Tinch.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Boys Best: Champion wrestlers, high scorers headline week