Covington hosted an exciting tri with Oakwood and Urbana tonight, defeating Urbana by a score of 57-24 and losing to Oakwood, 17-51. Oakwood, one of the top DIII teams in the Miami Valley, also defeated Urbana, 57-13. A number of the matchups went down to the wire, including the last match of the evening, won by Covington’s Brandon Hartzell with a takedown in overtime over Oakwood’s John Willis.

The Buccs got the opportunity to face some outstanding wrestlers in the meet, as Oakwood brought a number of returning state qualifiers and district placers. At 140, Ben Adams lost a close back and forth 12-9 decision to Oakwood’s Matt Pelkey, a district placer, while Logan Brown bested another of Oakwood’s district placers, Graham Garrison, 10-4. Ryan Vanderhorst at 152 gained experience wrestling Steve Owens, one of Oakwood’s state qualifiers, before getting pinned, while at 171, Brian Ely frustrated Oakwood’s other state qualifier, Mike Duncan, losing 11-4.

Going undefeated for the Buccs were 103 lber. Michael Corkhum (1-0), 125 lber. Ritchie Watkins (2-0, 1 pin), 135 lber. Bobby Wiltshire (2-0, 1 tech.fall), 152 lber. Justin Owens (1-0), and 189 lber. Logan Brown (2-0, 1 tech. fall). At 119, Mitchell Herron finished 1-1 after scoring a number of takedowns on Oakwood’s Amir Maki, before getting turned and losing the match. Also finishing 1-1 were Ben Adams at 140 (1 tech. fall), Brandon Hartzell at 145, Ryan Vanderhorst at 152/160, and Brian Ely at 171.

Covington will host another tri vs. National Trail and Tri-County North this Saturday (12/20) at 10 am in the high school.