West Union’s Ethan Cantrell, center, placed first in his division at the recent Milford Invitational. (Photo courtesy of the Ohio Valley Wrestling Club)

West Union’s Ethan Cantrell, center, placed first in his division at the recent Milford Invitational. (Photo courtesy of the Ohio Valley Wrestling Club)

By Mark Carpenter

people’s Defender

Recently, the West Union High School boys wrestling team competed at the Milford Invitational. There were around 20 Division I and Division II schools competing.

“We were one of three Div III schools there,” said West Union wrestling coach Michael Felts. “The team finished top 10, I was very happy with the boys since our numbers are low this year and it was a tournament where we saw larger schools than us. The boys that competed were Ethan Cantrell, Lukas Baker, Owen Davis, Chance Mahun, Connor Caldwell, and Kody Hamilton.”

“Going into the tournament Ethan and Lukas were both seeded first. As the day ended both young men were in the finals for first. Throughout the day all the young men were wrestling well. This tournament was a pool tournament that worked itself into a bracket style meet. This means each boy would get more matches than your traditional bracket style tournament. As a coaching staff we like to get our kids into these types of tournaments. It gives our guys the most matches possible to show us what we need to work on as a staff.”

“At the end of the day we had three placers. Ethan Cantrell pinned his way through the tournament not only going 5-0 but bringing his season record to 36-2,” Felts continued. “Lukas Baker fell short of first place, finishing second. Lukas is the second winningest wrestler we have with 32 wins on the season. Our third placer was Kody Hamilton, who finished sixth. As the season starts to come to an end the most important part is still ahead.”

The WUHS boys have their Sectional Tournament on February 25 at Blanchester. The top four places move on to the District Tournament held in Troy, Ohio. Just like sectionals, the top four finishers at districts go on to the State Tournament held in Columbus on March 10, 11 and 12.