Cael Vanderhorst and Kellan Anderson will make their third straight trips to the state wrestling meet as both finished in the top four of their respective weight classes at the Division III District Tournament at Hobart Arena in Troy.

MARCH 6, 2020 – TROY
After the first night of wrestling at the Division III District Tournament at Hobart Arena in Troy, six of Covington’s eight district qualifiers are still alive and the Buccaneers are sitting tied with Clermont Northeastern for ninth in the team standings with 25 points.

Of the six wrestlers still in contention for a possible trip to state, junior two-time state placer Cael Vanderhorst is the lone wrestler to secure a spot in tomorrow’s championship semifinal round. The remaining five wrestlers will need to battle through the consolation bracket to secure a spot at state with a top-four finish.

Vanderhorst (43-5), who competes in a loaded 120 pound weight class, opened the tournament with a 2:44 pin of Nathan Opicka (28-18) of Maderia. He followed with a 3:22 pin of Gabe Sutton (35-8) of Wayne Trace to set up a semifinal showdown against Boede Campbell (32-6) of Legacy Christian. A victory for Vanderhorst would secure a third straight trip to the state tournament and a spot in the district championship match.

Anderson (43-5) also started the tournament strong with a 3:23 pin of Johnathon Brooks (33-9) of Delphos Jefferson, but defaulted his 126 pound quarterfinal bout to Dixie’s Brian Blosser (33-10). Anderson, a junior who placed at state as a freshman, looks to battle back through the consolation bracket in hopes of securing his third straight trip to state. He will face Timmy Davis (21-22) of Brookville tomorrow morning.

Also winning his first match at districts was junior 170 pounder Trentin Alexander (38-10), where he pinned Cael Gostomsky (30-12) of Arcanum in 3:24. Alexander then dropped a tough 6-0 decision to East Clinton’s Jonathan Cline (35-5), who was the champion out of the Reading Sectional. Alexander will face Lee Burkett (16-14) of Troy Christian in tomorrow’s consolation round.

Three Buccaneers dropped their opening matches, but were able to rebound with wins in the first consolation round.

Sophomore 138 pounder Connor Sindelir (30-17) fell to Carson Bey (49-8) of Versailles by the score of 7-3 and then put together a dominating 14-0 major decision win over Coldwater’s Sam Obringer (20-25). He will face Sevaughn Carter (25-14) of Lima Central Catholic in his next match tomorrow morning.

Jensen Wagoner (28-9), a sophomore 160 pounder, dropped his opening bout on a heartbreaking 6-3 decision to the Reading Sectional Champion, Ian Goospater (18-3) of Deer Park. Wagoner then deleted Lehman Catholic’s Noah Young (17-15) in the first consolation round and will face Allen East’s Blake Hershberger (45-7) tomorrow morning.

Dylan Staudt (20-11), the lone Buccaneer senior to qualify for districts, dropped his first bout at 220 pounds to Caden Coleman (34-8) of Mechanicsburg, but rebounded with a 1:32 pin of Madeira’s Aidan Fertig (9-18). Staudt faces Brookville’s Matt Hamm (27-13) in his opening match tomorrow morning.

Junior 182 pounder Bryce Smith (19-14) saw his season come to an end as he fell to Ryan Gear (15-5) of McNicholas and Versailles’ Noah Gilmore (25-23).

Sophomore 285 pounder Scott Blumenstock saw his season end before the district tournament began as he was forced out of action due to wrist injury.

Wrestling resumes tomorrow morning at 10am.

MARCH 7, 2020 – TROY
The Covington wrestling program will be represented at the state meet by two familiar faces as junior standouts Cael Vanderhorst and Kellan Anderson secured their third straight trips to Columbus by finishing in the top four in their respective weight classes at the Division III District Tournament at the Troy Hobart Arena.

In all, Covington finished with 56.5 team points – good for 10th out of the 51 teams who had wrestlers qualify for the district tournament.

Five Buccaneer wrestlers made it to the second day of competition with Cael Vanderhorst (44-6) being the lone wrestler alive in the championship rounds. He opened the day with a 7-0 victory over Boede Campbell (34-7) of Xenia Legacy Christian in the semifinal, but fell to Miami East’s Max Shore (42-3) in the championship match at 120 pounds by a close 6-3 margin.

Vanderhorst will make his third trip to state next week in hopes of becoming only the third Buccaneer wrestler to earn a third state medal.

Kellan Anderson’s path to state went through the consolation bracket as he defaulted in Friday’s championship quarterfinal at 126 pounds. Anderson (46-6) earned a 17-0 technical fall win over Timmy Davis (22-23) of Brookville and followed with a gritty 6-4 win over Luke Stroud (29-15) of Mechanicsburg. He then secured his spot at state with a dominating 12-2 major decision victory over Ezekiel Burkholder (20-12) of bath before defaulting his consolation final bout to Camryn Lecure (35-4).

Like Vanderhorst, Anderson makes his third straight trip to state and hopes to earn his second state medal after placing 6th at 106 pounds two years ago as a freshman.

The four remaining Buccaneer wrestlers that advanced to the second day of action same their seasons come to an end, but not without gritty efforts.

Buccaneer 170 pounder Trentin Alexander (40-12) finished 6th as he opened the day with a 3-1 victory over Lee Burkett (16-15) of Troy Christian and then followed with a 2:20 pin of Mason Rhoades (26-13) of Kenton. In his go-to-state match, Alexander fell to Devin Oligee (51-3) on Middletown Madison by the score of 7-1 and then dropped a 7-0 match for state alternate status to Ezra Jones (38-11) of Columbus Grove.

Buccaneer 138 pounder Connor Sindelir (31-18) kept his dream of qualifying for state alive with a 4-2 victory over SeVaughn Carter (25-15) of Lima Central Catholic and was within a whisker of reaching the consolation semifinal round in his next bout against Parkway’s Abe Meyer (19-4). Trailing 5-2 in the third, Sindelir turned his Meyer for three back points to tie the match at 5-5. Unfortunately, the Buccaneer wrestler couldn’t hold on in the final seconds as Meyer recorded an escape point with two ticks left on the clock to hand Sindelir a heartbreaking 6-5 defeat.

Jensen Wagoner (28-10), the Buccs’ 160 pounder, dropped his opening match on Saturday in a razor thin 5-2 decision to Blake Hershberger (48-8) of Allen East.

Lastly, Buccaneer senior Dylan Staudt (20-12) saw his season and career end in the second day of districts as he fell to Matt Hamm (30-14) of Brookville.