Olentangy Orange’s Surraiya Mahmud has her hand raised after beating Lebanon’s Carlotta Gilardi in the first round of the OHSWCA girls wrestling state dual meet championship Saturday in Marysville.
Ben Stroup | The Gazette
Delaware Hayes’ Gracie Rasberry pins Alliance’s Chacora Tackett to lift the Pacers to an opening-round win at the OHSWCA girls wrestling state dual meet championship Saturday in Marysville.
Ben Stroup | The Gazette
The Delaware Hayes girls wrestling team picked up a pair of thrilling wins on the way to a third-place showing and Olentangy Orange came a match away from winning its third straight state title at Saturday’s OHSWCA dual meet championship in Marysville.
For the Pioneers, who handled Lebanon 54-30 before knocking off Marysville 57-24 to punch their ticket to the final, the afternoon ended in heartbreak.
With her team down 39-36 heading into the final match of the final dual, Harrison’s Jessica Edwards pinned Jenny Huaracha-Arellanos in 2:39 to give the Wildcats their first title in school history.
The loss snapped a string of three-straight wins Orange used to set up the wild finish. Down 36-21, Surraiya Mahmud (155) and Lydia Heinrich (170) picked up back-to-back pins before Kascidy Garren (190) won via forfeit.
Adria Metzler (100), Josephine Nickoloff (125) and Alexandra Riley (130) also picked up wins for the Pioneers in the championship match.
The day ended a bit differently for the Pacers, who rallied for wins on two different occasions to finish third — their highest placing in program history.
Gracie Rasberry (135) played the role of hero both times. In Hayes’ opening-round dual against Alliance, she pinned Chacora Tackett in just 11 seconds to help her team move on with a 42-41 win.
The Pacers needed to win each of the last four matches to top the Aviators, and did just that. Evelyn Krauss (155), Sophia Edick (170) and Evelyn Bowman (190) powered their way to back-to-back-to-back pins to set up Rasberry’s heroics.
After falling to the eventual champs in the semifinals, Hayes rallied past the host Monarchs 42-40 to secure its top-three showing.
It took another late surge — Krauss and Bowman picked up pins to get the Pacers within striking distance — before Rasberry came up clutch again, pinning Desi Lee in just 33 seconds to complete the comeback.
In the Division I boys’ dual meet championship at Lakewood St. Edward, Olentangy Liberty finished 1-2 to close sixth.
The Patriots fell to eventual state runner-up Massillon Perry in the first round, beat Springboro 42-23 in a consolation semifinal and lost to LaSalle by a slim 36-34 margin in the fifth-place match.
Colton Russell (113), Jaxson Rosselli (120) and Zade Archibald (144) picked up wins in the loss to LaSalle while Rosselli, Griffin Gardner (126), Huggy Williams (132), Archibald, Tyler Deericks (157), Lincoln Gardner (165), Brock Fitzpatrick (175), Brady Quillin (215) and Bailey Byrd (285) picked up points against Springboro.
