The Covington Buccaneers pulled out the team title in a very close battle in the inaugural Three River Conference Championships.
The anticipation for the inaugural Three River Conference Championships was extremely high due to the caliber of the wrestling teams competing for the championship.
Unfortunately, some of the luster was taken away before the first whistle blew as several state caliber wrestlers from various teams were missing from the tournament due to illness or injuries. Affected the most from missing wrestlers were Covington and Miami East.
Still, the tournament was extremely competitive as the margin between finishing in first place to fourth place as a team was just 12 points.
But in the end it was the Covington Buccaneers who captured the team championship with 147.5 team points – edging out runner-up Troy Christian, who compiled 143.5 team points.
Milton-Union finished third with 140.0 team points, while Miami East tallied 135.5 team points to claim fourth despite missing returning state champion Max Shore (126 lbs.), returning state runner-up Cooper Shore (113 lbs.) and heavyweight Dustin Winner.
Individually, Covington crowned three champions – sophomore 113 pounder Jericho Quinter, sophomore 120 pounder Michael Hagan and sophomore 215 pounder Hayden Barker. In the finals, Quinter won via default, while Hagan recorded a 13-1 major decision over Payton Mayfield of Milton-Union and Barker pinned Mike Scherer of Miami East.
Carson Taylor (106 lbs.), Connor Sindelir (157 lbs.), Izaiah Sherman (175 lbs.) and Scott Blumenstock (285 lbs.) all finished runner up in their respective weight classes.
Caleb Miller (150 lbs.) and Jensen Wagoner (190 lbs.) each finished third, while Aveyen Meek (138 lbs.) took fourth.
It was an impressive showing for the Buccaneers despite missing state ranked Chase Vanderhorst (126 lbs.), along with Jackson Shiverdecker, Jack Blumenstock and Ricky Stephan.
Covington looks for improved health as it prepares for a dual at Springfield next Thursday.
TEAM STANDINGS:
- Covington – 147.5
- Troy Christian – 143.5
- Milton-Union – 140.0
- Miami East – 135.5
- Northridge – 71.0
- Lehman Catholic – 20.0
