By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The West Union High School boys wrestling team competed last weekend in the Division 3 Southwest Sectional Tournament held at Blanchester High School. The top four wrestlers in each weight class qualified to the Division 3 District Tournament to be held at Hobart Arena in Troy Ohio. This is year five for the boys team since the Adams County Ohio Valley Board of Education adopted the sport in 2017.
The West Union team consisted of Ethan Cantrell, Lukas Baker, Owen Davis, Chance Mahun, Connor Caldwell and Kody Hamilton. The team finished outside the top 10, placing 11th of 28 schools. The day started off slow since most of the boys got first round byes.
“I was told as a young coach from a mentor there will always be disappointment and a surprise at the end of the year,” said WUHS wrestling coach Michael Felts.
“This year things went as well as they could have,” Felts continued. “Senior Connor Caldwell fell short of his goal to be a district qualifier, despite wrestling very well and showing a lot of heart. Owen Davis, Chance Mahun and Kody Hamilton also fell short of the district tournament. But I am not disappointed in anyone’s performance this weekend. All the young men showed heart and wrestled as well as they could have. All I can ask for is each of them to give their 100% and if they can do that and end up short of a goal we can build off that for next season.”
Lukas Baker finished the day 3-1 and third in his weight class making him the ninth district qualifier in school history.
“Lukas has been wrestling very well the past few weeks,” said Coach Felts. “I was not surprised that he will be making the trip to Troy. I believe that Baker will make some noise in the district.”
The Dragons also achieved an individual school first at the sectional tourney as Ethan Cantrell became the school’s first-ever sectional champion.
“Ethan Cantrell has been on a 35-match win streak since his last loss in early December,” explained Coach Felts. “He has huge goals to place at the state tournament. As well as he has been wrestling the past couple of months I still do not think I have seen the best of him yet. I am very excited for what will come in the next couple of weeks. Ethan pinned his way through the tournament, capping it off as the first sectional champion in school history along with punching his ticket to the district tournament. With this sectional title, Ethan has put himself in a great spot in the bracket to reach the state tournament. I have been very blessed to have been a part of this young man’s career so far.”
(Thanks to WUHS Wrestling coach Michael Felts for providing the information for this story.)