Olentangy Orange, Marysville, Delaware Hayes pace central Ohio girls wrestling programs
In central Ohio, girls wrestling’s second season as an OHSAA sport could look a lot like the first.
Olentangy Orange and Marysville have new head coaches, but both should remain among the area favorites to compete for the state championship, along with Delaware Hayes. It will be the second season in which the individual state tournament is held at Value City Arena along with the boys tournament.
At Orange, Brian Nicola and Vanessa Oswalt have switched roles, with Nicola now serving as head coach and Oswalt serving as an assistant.
“Vanessa and I are pretty collaborative,” Nicola said. “It doesn’t look a lot different. We communicate pretty much every day. We’re both pretty locked in. It’s going really well. The numbers are great. The girls look really tough. We’re excited.”
Former Hilliard Davidson boys coach Dominic DiSabato has joined Orange as an assistant.
The Pioneers, who were second (69) behind Harrison (97) last season at state, should be led by seniors and two-time state placers Kascidy Garren (190 pounds) and Surraiya Mahmud (155). Garren finished fifth (170) and Mahmud was eighth (145) at state a season ago.
“It’s a really solid team,” Nicola said. “I don’t feel like we have a weak weight class, but we still have to figure some of those weights out. We have a good crew. Everybody has been putting the time in.”
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Also last season, Orange won its second consecutive championship at the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association state dual tournament.
The OHSWCA also sponsored the individual state tournament before the OHSAA. The event was held for the first time during the 2019-20 season.
At Marysville, longtime boys coach Shawn Andrews has taken over the girls program, with his brother, Nate, now leading the boys. The Monarchs finished fourth (61) at state last season behind 120-pound champion Cali Leng, who won central Ohio’s only individual state title.
“We have everything from girls who have been wrestling for a long time to girls who have been wrestling for a couple of weeks,” Shawn Andrews said. “We just have to work through it and get the most out of all of them.”
The Monarchs return junior Desi Lee, who finished sixth at regional at 190 last season after placing seventh at state at that weight as a freshman.
Orange hosts Marysville on Jan. 4.
“Orange is really good,” Shawn Andrews said. “They’re probably the team to beat in central Ohio. You want to be tested and dual meets are fun, exciting ways to grow the sport. We’re going to go there with the expectation to fight and see where we can knock some of the girls off.”
Delaware continues to be led by co-coaches Josh Lamb and Kevin Rieman, who share duties on the girls and boys sides.
Key wrestlers should be senior Hailey Hatfield (115/120), junior Gracie Rasberry (190) and sophomore Evelyn Krauss (155). Rasberry and Krauss are returning state qualifiers.
“We lost a great group of seniors but have girls ready to step up and keep the program moving forward,” Rieman said.
There also was some coaching news in the offseason, including Orange graduate and two-time state champion Taryn Martin taking over at Olentangy and Kenny Farrow being named coach at Westerville North.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Central Ohio high school girls wrestling preview 2023-24
