Lakewood's Jacks reaches heavyweight semifinal before injury bug bites
COLUMBUS — The pinnacle of Keegan Jacks’ wrestling career unfortunately took an all-too familiar turn.
The oft-injured Lakewood senior clinched his first trip to the podium Saturday morning during the Division II state championships at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center. But Saturday evening, Jacks suffered a high ankle sprain during the final seconds of his heavyweight semifinal loss, which went down as a 3-2 tiebreaker defeat to Alliance’s Aidan Mozden.
"He is going to give it a go (on Sunday)," said Lakewood coach Terry Cline.
Jacks clinched at least a sixth-place finish with an earlier 4-1 victory against New Philadelphia’s Garrett Dillon-Rine. It was a win a long time coming for Jacks, who has battled injuries much of his career.
“It’s just nice, but the job’s not finished,” Jacks said following his quarterfinal victory. “I have to keep going. Nobody trains just to get on the podium. I have to go out with that mindset.”
Jacks finally had enjoyed a healthy senior campaign up until Saturday night. During a season which included Licking County League and sectional championships, he and the Lancers had traveled across the state to prepare Jacks for this weekend.
"Keegan has had an incredible year. Our strength of schedule really benefitted him," said Cline, adding Jacks had wrestled almost the entire state bracket at one point or another.
It gave Jacks the necessary physical and mental capabilities to flourish.
“Knowing I could take kids down here was a confidence booster, but everyone gets better,” Jacks said. “Everyone’s record at state is 0-0. You have to go in and dominate.”
Rutherford reaches wall
When Ian Rutherford began wrestling for Granville 12 years ago, the Blue Aces were in the midst of being an up-and-coming program.
On Sunday, Rutherford will become the program's eighth wrestler to place at state. The senior heavyweight secured his spot with a 6-2 victory against Napoleon’s Isaac Lehman in a consolation match.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Rutherford said. “The hours poured into this, it’s all led up to it. I thought I would go through a little bit more before I got to the (consolations), but God’s plan always works.”
Rutherford quickly rebounded from a quarterfinal loss to Hawken’s Will Greenberg. Rutherford returns Sunday to wrestle for seventh place after falling to Bowser.
After Sunday, Rutherford will join previous Blue Aces on the wall in the program’s practice room.
“I’m not sure what picture they will use, but hopefully it’s a good one,” Rutherford said.
Justice earns second medal
Valley sophomore Addison Justice will make a return to the podium in the girls division. She pinned Kettering Alter’s Alora Strauser to win her second consecutive match at 125 pounds to clinch placement.
“She had a really tight grip. She had my wrist,” said Justice, who was dangerously close to being put on her back before rolling over for the pin. “I lost my first match, and that made me want to come back even more. I wanted to fight back.”
Justice will wrestle for seventh and attempt to duplicate last season’s finish on Sunday. She fell by pin in the third period of a back-and-forth match to United’s Auston Brown.
“I’m not as nervous because I have been here before,” Justice said. “Definitely the competition is a lot better than it was last year.”
Johnstown junior Cailyn Casto at 135 in the girls division and Watkins Memorial senior Nolan Perry at 106 in Division I each dropped back-to-back matches to fall short of placement. Casto’s first loss came at the hands of Miami East’s Kira Cole, a reigning champion.
Granville senior Peyton Costa dropped his consolation match at 120 in Division II as he wrapped up his career with three trips to state.
Newark Catholic senior Brian Luft also fell in the consolation round at 132 in Division III. Luft was competing in his program-record fourth state tournament and also competed in four state golf tournaments during a decorated athletic career for the Green Wave.
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Lakewood's Keegan Jacks reaches OHSAA heavyweight semifinal
