High School Wrestling: Southeastern earns program’s first trophy

Members of the new Southeastern High School wrestling team warm up in their practice space, a barn on Jay Mitchell’s farm, seven miles from South Charleston after the team was formed in 2011. FILE PHOTO

Members of the new Southeastern High School wrestling team warm up in their practice space, a barn on Jay Mitchell’s farm, seven miles from South Charleston after the team was formed in 2011. FILE PHOTO

Southeastern High School wrestling coach Joe Hall knew his program was taking steps forward.

The program – in just its sixth year – jumped from sixth to second in the Ohio Heritage Conference tournament in 2016.

Last week the Trojans brought home a trophy from a tournament for the first time in school history with a second-place finish in the Xenia Invitational.

“I was worried if we really did enough to hold onto second,” Hall said. “When they announced it, I was finally able to breathe and our kids and parents went nuts.

“The big thing was that everybody contributed to the first trophy the program ever brought home.”

Lane McCombs took first at 120 pounds to lead Southeastern, which totaled 160 points to finish behind Little Miami (211).

“We are still a relatively young team with a lot of sophomores and juniors,” Hall said. “It has been surprising and I am pretty pleased with how we have performed..

“We are definitely ahead of schedule, but I am not complaining about it.”

Jesse Mitchell finished second at Xenia after winning Sidney while Southeastern also got second place finishes from Max DeLong (126), Joseph Sulfridge (132) and Aiden Hartman (138). Robbie Mills was fourth at 285.

“We kind of took our lumps last year,” Hall said. “But we wrestled in a lot of pool tournaments and everbody got a lot of experience.

“Winning now is great because it is good for their confidence. But until they get into those matches with state level kids, they are not going to know what that is like and they are going to be behind the eight ball.

“The balancing act becomes tougher, but it is all a part of the process.”

Wild weekend: The winter weather that moved through the area last Friday and Saturday caused more than a few wrinkles at area tournaments.

Shawnee, Mechanicsburg and Urbana were among seven teams who had to pull out of the Tipp City Invitiational.

Mason won the Tipp title with 266 points while Troy Christian was second with 249.5.

Happy Holidays: Wrestlers across the state get an extra-special gift for the holidays from the OHSAA.

The two-pound allowance for the start of 2017 goes into effect on Christmas day.

The allowance means any wrestler who has wrestled in a match at scratch weight receives two additional pounds for the remainder of the season in addition to any additional pounds some tournaments give for the multi-day events.

On deck: The Greater Miami Valley Wrestling Association Holiday Tournament will take place Tuesday and Wednesday at Wright State University's Nutter Center.

Wrestling begins at 11 a.m. both days with finals on Wednesday beginning roughly 45 minutes following the last consolation semifinal – or about 5 p.m.

Graham is the defending champ of the 64-team field.

Mechanicsburg will head north to participate in the Brecksville Holiday Tournament.

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