VANDALIA — After two days of grueling competition, a few local wrestlers in The Register-Herald coverage area fought their way into the top eight in their respective weight class during the annual Greater Miami Valley Wrestling Association Holiday Tournament.

Team scoring was separated into large school and small school designations, but wrestlers from each category competed against each other throughout the two-day tournament held Dec. 27 and 28 at Butler High School’s Student Activity Center.

Buford (Georgia) won the large school competition with 287 points. Brookville placed 10th with 88 and Northmont 11th with 81.5 points.

Graham Local won the small school division with 281 points. Preble Shawnee took 12th with 68.5 points, Eaton 15th with 57, National Trail 18th with 43, and Tri-County North was 33rd with no points scored.

The following local wrestlers placed in their weight class.

106: Hayden Jones (Brookville) placed 2nd losing by a 15-0 technical fall to Jake Landis (Graham Local). Jones advanced to the final by winning by a fall (1:36) against Aluma Enwa (Great Crossing, Kentucky) in the semifinal round. Landis defeated Warren Taylor (Legacy Christian) by a 10-4 decision.

144: Landon McCargish (Northmont) placed 3rd with a 4-3 decision over Max Kaye (Piqua). McCargish advanced to the 3rd place match by scoring a 13-4 major decision over Ethan Kuhns (Jonathan Alder) in the consolation quarterfinal and a 4-2 decision over Mark Ellis (Waynesville) in the consolation semifinal.

Kaye advanced by pinning Max Weimer (Springboro) in 58 seconds in the consolation quarterfinal and won by default in the consolation semifinal over Brady Willman (Miamisburg).

150: Luke Dolan (Brookville) placed 3rd with a 9-2 decision over Clayton Shaddix (Great Crossing, Kentucky). Dolan lost a 4-2 decision in the semifinal to Gage Murphy (Reading). Shaddix lost a 3-2 decision in the semifinal round to Brayden Brown (Legacy Christian).

175: Marcos Velasquez (Northmont) placed 6th losing by a pin (4:29) to Wyatt Buell (Wapakoneta). Velasquez advanced to the battle for 5th place by scoring a pin (2:55) against Blake Schlosser (Clear Fork) in the consolation quarterfinal before losing a 15-2 major decision to Anthony Kroninger (Jonathan Alder) in the consolation semifinal.

Buell advanced with a 7-4 decision over Brandon Burchett (Fairdale) in the consolation quarterfinal before losing a 3-1 decision to Rod Owens (Alter) in the consolation semifinal.

190: Riley Stevenson (Preble Shawnee) placed 5th with an 8-1 decision against Presley Stewart (Eaton) who was 6th. Stevenson advanced to the battle for 5th with a 12-1 major decision over Bryce Sherrock (Springfield) in the consolation quarterfinal before losing a 15-2 major decision to Anthony Kroninger (Jonathan Alder) in the consolation semifinal.

Stewart advanced by scoring a 17-0 technical fall against Brody Adams (Springfield Catholic Central) in the consolation quarterfinal before losing by a fall (2:29) in the consolation semifinal to Cooper Frye (Delaware Hayes).

285: James Baker (National Trail) placed 8th losing by an 8-0 major decision to Wyatt Kaemerer (Graham Local). In the consolation quarterfinal Baker lost a 6-0 decision to Brandy Bwendelele (Moore) while Kaemerer lost by a fall (3:12) to Paul McClure (Boyle County).

A total of 662 wrestlers representing 67 teams from Ohio, Kentucky and Georgia competed in the tournament.

Reach Ron Nunnari by email: [email protected].