Area wrestlers began their postseason Saturday with league tournaments.
The Central Buckeye Conference action was held at Jonathan Alder.
In the Kenton Trail division, the hosts took first place with 196.5 points. Tecumseh was second (96.5), followed by London (80.5), Bellefontaine (61.5), Kenton Ridge (57) and Urbana (56.5).
For the Chieftains, Jeffrey Smith finished second at 113 pounds, and Jared Young was second at 126 pounds. Also placing was Zavier May, who took third at 157 pounds.
Brenden Murray (120) was named the Sportsmanship Award winner.
“Jeffrey and Jared wrestled smart and finished about as well as could have been expected,” said Bellefontaine head coach Aaron LaBatt. “Jeffrey lost to the projected state champ from Graham and Jared lost to a district placer, so they had some stiff competition, but wrestled well. Zavier had a real solid day. He out performed his seed and wrestled smart all day. His only loss was to a three-time state champion from Graham.”
Also competing for Bellefontaine were Eli Deal (132), Andrew Larison (138), Rickey Smiley (144), Drake Hoon (165), Noah Torsell (175) and Cameron Hensley (285).
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In the Mad River division, Graham took first with 295.5 points.
Indian Lake was second with 193.5 and Benjamin Logan third at 169.
Rounding things out were North Union (62), Shawnee (57.5) and Northwestern (56.5).
Jordan Henderson took first place at 120 pounds for the Lakers. Aaron Rapp (215) and Christopher Timms (285) were runners-up.
Grabbing third place on the podium were Bradyen Riffell (113), Ke’Shawn Blackwell (126), Bronx Dickson (132), Czar Dickson (150), and Tristan Shoffner (190).
Draden Stevenson (138) and Gavin Henry (144) finished fourth, and Cash Scott (106) took fifth place.
For Ben Logan, seven wrestlers reached the finals, with all of them earning second place. They were Cooper Buck (120), Carter Buck (132), Kyle Kibler (138), Owen Weaks (144), Hayden Hites (165), Ethan Carpenter (175) and Owen Jordan (190).
Jeremiah Parker (126) and Levi Achor (215) both finished fifth. Also competing were Kendall Plikerd and Maxwell Troth.
Next up is the sectional tournaments on Saturday. Bellefontaine and Ben Logan will compete at Northwestern, while Indian Lake heads to Versailles.
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Tigers girls compete
The West Liberty-Salem girls wrestlers competed Saturday at the Ohio Heritage Conference meet in Mechanicsburg.
Jenna Cline was 1-1 and took first place at 115 pounds.
Shelby Vincent was 1-2 at 125 pounds, and was second.
Chloe Griffith went 3-2 at 110 pounds and finished in third.
Each of the wrestlers got one win by fall.
They will travel to Greeneview Friday for the sectional tournament.
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Raiders junior high in action
The Benjamin Logan middle school wrestlers were at Butler for the OAC district meet on Sunday.
Emerson Carpenter took first place at 164 pounds. Owen Marshall was second at 78, Rhett Newman was third at 146 and Kaleb Linkenhoker took sixth at 90 pounds.
Sebastian Stokes and Eli Carpenter also saw action for the Raiders.
The state meet will be held in Youngstown.