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Madison County represents at state wrestling tourney
(by Pat Donahue, staff photographer - March 09, 2010)
Of the 12 wrestlers Madison County sent to the state wrestling tournament, seven made it to the medals podium.
West Jefferson senior Marco Gualtieri entered the tournament with a record of 50-4. In the end, he placed second in Division III’s 135-pound weight class, just one point away from the state championship title, which went to Payton Oney of Greenwich South Central.
Gualtieri was one of seven wrestlers who represented the Roughriders at the state tourney, held March 4-6 at Value City Arena in Columbus. West Jefferson placed fourth as a team in Division III.
In addition to Gualtieri, West Jefferson wrestlers who made the awards podium were: senior Tyler Fabry who placed third at 215 pounds; junior Sean Prather who placed fourth at 152; junior Aaron Branham who placed fifth at 119; and senior Jake Cochran, who placed eighth at 171. This was the first trip to state for West Jefferson freshman Gennar Feucht at 103 pounds and junior Ryan Fultz at 189.
Three wrestlers represented London at state. One, senior Matt Perez, made the podium with a seventh-place finish in Division II’s 119-pound class. The other Raiders were senior Matt Schramm at 285 and sophomore Aaron Thompson at 125.
Jonathan Alder’s state qualifiers were juniors Chris Baker at 152 pounds and Bobby Blankenship at 189. Blankenship placed fourth in his weight class among Division II competitors.
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 In the state wrestling title match for Division III’s 135-pound class, West Jefferson’s Marco Gualtieri (right), the top finisher from the Division III Heath District Tournament at 53-4, met up Greenwich South Central’s Payton Oney, the top finisher from the Owens College District Tournament at 51-1. They fought it out to a 5-4 finish, with Oney taking first place and Gualtieri capping a great season with second place.
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 Matt Perez of London wrestled his way to seventh place at state in Division II’s 119-pound weight class. He picked up three wins along the way, including a 3-1 victory in this seventh-place match-up against Miami Trace junior Keaton Webb.
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 Jonathan Alder junior Bobby Blankenship (in black) wrestles to a 3-2 quarterfinal victory over junior Joey Monroe of Mantua Crestwood. Blankenship finished fourth among Division II 189-pound wrestlers at the state tournament, finishing his season with a record of 41-5.
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