TROY — Fourteen Miami County wrestlers advanced to the Division III state tournament at the Troy D-III district tournament at Hobart Arena.

Troy Christian

Four of the Eagles six wrestlers advanced on to the state meet.

Kyle Schroer (106) and Connor Havill (175) both won district titles.

Schroer advanced to the semifinals with pins of Reid Wischer of Madeira and Carter Deppe of Lima Bath.

In the semifinals, Schroer got past Kyer Hendricks of Greeneview 6-4, before improving to 21-6 on the season with a 13-3 decision over Gage Murphy of Reading in the title match.

Havill, 23-3, advanced to the semifinals with tech falls win over Merrick May of Dayton Christian and Ronnie Thomas of Mechanicsburg.

In the semifinals, he recorded a 16-3 major decision over Caleb Kaiser of Versailles and won the title with a 17-1 tech fall of Mason Vonderwell of Delphos St. John’s.

Troy Kennedy (138) finished third and Jason Shaffer (132) finished fourth.

Kennedy, 32-5, advanced to the semifinals with pins of Dallas Eavers of Greeneview and Layton Hughes of Miami East.

After losing 11-4 to Arlie Benson Jr. of Greenon in the semifinals, Kennedy won by tech fall over Jacob Pinks of Allen Est and pinned Hughes in the third-place match.

Shaffer, 11-2, advanced to the semifinals with pins of Aaron Mills of Miami East and Logan Brown of Kenton.

After losinga 7-5 decision to Brayden Brown of Legacy Christian, Shaffer won a 5-2 decision over Payton Platfoot of Versailles in the go-to state match.

He lost a 3-1 decision to Trey Allen of Allen East in the third-place match.

Covington

The Covington wrestling team matched a school record by qualifying five wrestlers to the state meet with senior Scott Blumenstock making heavyweight history once again during the Division III District Wrestling Tournament at Hobart Arena in Troy.

First, sophomore Carson Taylor advances to state by taking fourth at 106 pounds.

Taylor advanced to the semifinal with two wins on Friday, but dropped into the consolation bracket with a close 4-0 loss to Gage Murphy of Reading in the semifinal. Taylor rebounded in the consolation semifinal with a 2-1 win over Brandon Day of Springfield Shawnee to secure his spot at state. In the consolation final, Taylor came up short 3-0 against Corbin Kimmel of Wayne Trace in a match that could have gone either way.

At 113 pounds Jericho Quinter opened the second day of districts in the semifinal after winning his first two matches on Friday. He faced Eli Campbell of Legacy Christian and dropped a close 5-0 decision. In the consolation semifinal, Quinter dominated Kyler Walsh of Carlisle with a pin in 40 seconds and then cruised to a 16-1 technical fall win over Khadyn Jacobs in the consolation final to finish third.

Returning state placer Michael Hagan also advanced to the semifinal by winning his first two matches on Friday, but was pitted against nationally ranked Dillon Campbell of Legacy Christian in the semifinal. Hagan dropped into the consolation bracket with a loss to Campbell. The Buccaneer sophomore responded with a 5-0 victory over Czar Dickson of Indian Lake and an 8-3 victory over Ramakrishna Gandhi of Reading to finish third at 120 pounds.

The district weekend was extremely sweet for sophomore 126 pounder Chase Vanderhorst, who had his entire freshman season taken from him due to a serious knee injury. Vanderhorst showed what hard work and mental toughness will do for a young athlete as he rolled into the finals with a 5-2 win over returning state placer Jesse Stroud of Mechanicsburg. This was after he captured back-to-back wins on Friday, one via pin and another with an 8-4 win over eventual third place finisher Logan Attisano of Legacy Christian. In the finals, Vanderhorst faced Max Shore of Miami East, who won a state title a year ago at 120 pounds and lost 10-3.

The final Buccaneer to qualify for state was senior Scott Blumenstock at 285 pound.

Blumenstock’s path to state was the longest and hardest path a wrestler could take as he dropped his opening match on Friday to the top ranked wrestler in the state.

He advanced through the blood rounds with a pin on Friday and then a 4-3 overtime win over Logan Johnson of Spencerville. Blumenstock then pinned Patton Johnson of Reading, who was the sectional champion out of Reading Sectional, in 2:59 of the consolation quarterfinal. In his go-to-state match in the consolation final, Blumenstock won by an injury default over Middletown Madison’s Austin Skinner.

Miami East

The Miami East wrestling team had a huge weekend at the Division III District Wrestling Tournament at Hobart Arena in Troy as four Viking wrestlers qualified for state with two going as district champions.

This led to a fourth place finish at districts in the team standings as Miami East accumulated 115 points.

Heading to state as district champions are brothers Cooper Shore (113 pounds) and Max Shore (126 pounds).

Cooper, who finished runner-up a year ago at 113 pounds, rolled into the finals with two pins and an 18-3 technical fall victory over Khadyn Jacobs of Brookville in the semifinal. His semifinal match was not so easy, however, as Shore was taken into overtime by Legacy Christian’s Eli Campbell, the same wrestler he defeated 4-2 in the sectional final a week ago. Shore, who had pushed the action throughout the entire match, was able to finish a takedown attempt in overtime to secure a district title with a 3-1 win.

Max Shore, who won a state championship last season at 120 pounds, was equally as dominant in reaching the finals at 126 pounds. He advanced with two pins and then a 20-5 technical fall win over Ashtan Hendricks of Greenview. In the finals, Shore pulled away from Covington’s Chase Vanderhorst in the final two periods for a 10-3 win.

Joining the Shores at state is returning state placer David Davis and sophomore 138 pounder Layton Hughes.

Davis advanced to the championship final with a 5-3 victory over Dickie Engel of Reading and then went into overtime tied 0-0 with returning state placer Jake Hurst of Mechanicsburg. In what was an extremely physical and technical match, Davis came up short as Hurst capitalized on a scramble for the winning takedown in overtime. Th defeat was just the second of the season for Davis, who enters state with a 39-2 record.

Hughes dropped into the consolation round with a loss to Troy Kennedy of Troy Christian in the semifinals, but rebound in grand fashion with a 6-4 victory over Anthony Hunt of Kenton in the consolation semifinal. The victory endured Hughes a state birth and a rematch with Kennedy in the consolation final. Unfortunately for Hughes, Kennedy was able to duplicate his effort from the semifinals by defeating the Vikings wrestler.

Lehman Catholic

John Edwards (190) will represent Lehman Catholic after finishing fourth.

He did it the hard way, winning four straight consolation matches after losing his opening round match by pin to Ashton Simison of Greenon.

Edwards, 43-6, did it by pinning four straight opponents, including Heath Gaskill of Spencerville, Jensen Wagoner of Covington, Nathan Osborn of Wayne Trace and Drake Bennett of Miami East.

He lost a 6-4 decision to Zane Hitchcock of Mechanicsburg in the third-place match.