COLUMBUS – Senior Troy Kennedy and junior Connor Havill won their opening matches at state to advance to the championship quarterfinals, while juniors Kyle Schroer and Jason Shaffer dropped into the consolation bracket with first round defeats.
Still, all four wrestlers remain in contention for state medals after the first day of the state tournament.
Troy Kennedy, who improved to 33-5, advanced with a 5-3 decision victory over Michael Markulin of South Range in a match where the Eagle wrestler pretty much controlled the action throughout. Next Kennedy faces Skyler King of Barnesville (45-5), who is the champion out of the Heath district.
Connor Havill (24-3), who entered state as the champion out of the Troy district, put together an extremely impressive performance in his opening match at state. Havill dominated the action from start to finish en route to an 18-3 technical fall victory over Charlie Well of Black River. Next up for Havill is a quarterfinal match against Tabor Lackey (49-2) of Trimble.
Kyle Schroer dropped his opening match at state 10-4 to Adam Mattin (38-10) of Delta. He then faced Tristen Rossiter of Shenandoah and came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Rossiter in exciting fashion, 3-2.
Jason Shaffer came within a whisker of upsetting Daxton Chase of Pleasant, who was the champion out to the Heath district and placed 8th at 113 pounds a year ago. Unfortunately, Shaffer came up short by a slim 3-1 margin.
He then faced Will Davidson of Kirtland, who finished third at 120 pounds in 2021, and captured an impressive 6-3 win to advance to Saturday’s second consolation round.
TROY CHRISTIAN RESULTS
FIRST ROUND
106 – Adam Mattin (Delta) dec. Kyle Schroer (Troy Christian) – 10-4
132 – Daxton Chase (Pleasant) dec. Jason Shaffer (Troy Christian) – 3-1
138 – Troy Kennedy (Troy Christian) dec. Michael Markulin (South Range) – 5-3
175 – Connor Havill (Troy Christian) tech. fall Charlie Wells (Black River) – tf18-3
FIRST ROUND CONSOLATION
106 – Kyle Schroer (Troy Christian) dec. Tristen Rossiter (Shenandoah) – 3-2
132 – Jason Shaffer (Troy Christian) dec. Will Davidson (Kirtland) – 6-3
