Sunday, March 05, 2000
6 area wrestlers second best
BY MARK SCHMETZER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Greater Cincinnati wrestlers made a dramatic improvement over last year with their presence in the state wrestling tournament finals, but they couldn't improve on their championships.
Last year, three area wrestlers made it to the state finals in their weight classes, but only one came home with a title.
This year, seven reached the finals, but again there was just one champion: Moeller junior Nick Lukens, who won the Division I 171-pound championship.
Lukens was one of three Crusaders in the Division I finals at Ohio State Saturday night. Joe Zinkan and Bobby Lyons lost, as did St. Xavier senior Scott Smith (125), Lakota West sophomore Matt McEntire (130) and Lakota East senior Erik Jones (189) in Division I and Reading senior Gary Blair (160) in Division III.
Smith (42-1) fell victim to a headlock move by Lakewood St. Edward senior Mark Jayne and was pinned with 1:05 left in the second period.
“If the headlock's there, I'll hit it, but I don't try to look for it,” said Jayne, a senior who won his third state championship and is 40-0 this season. “I'm always looking for the pin. I'm a little disappointed if I don't get it.”
“It was an all-around good year,” Smith said.
McEntire was leading 1-0, when he gave up a takedown in the second period and a kickout to start the third period. By then, he knew he was in trouble.
“I knew I had to give up the kickout and try to get a score,” said McEntire (41-1). “I'm still disappointed that I didn't win. That's what I came here to do, and I didn't get it done. But I'll be back — that's for sure.”
Jones lost 4-3 to Marysville senior Ben Rings, who scored two points on escapes and two on stalling calls on Jones.
“It's pretty hard knowing he couldn't take me down,” said Jones (39-5). “He had to beat me on stalling calls and he needed the ref to take the match into his own hands.”
Blair (43-2) lost 3-1 to Cuyahoga Heights junior Matt Klinger.
“I wrestled too defensively,” Blair said. “I wanted to be more aggressive. He was moving around. He never stopped.”
In Saturday's early session, third-place finishers Tim Ruberg of Harrison and D.J. Engel of Reading led a group of 12 area wrestlers who earned medals by finishing sixth or better.
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