Knight grapplers shine at Spartan Invite

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

LIMA — Led by Gavin Grubb, Crestview finished sixth at the 20-team Spartan Wrestling Invitational at Lima Sr. High School on Saturday, the highest the young Knight program has placed at the annual event.

Grubb went 6-0 on the day and won the 126-pound title with a pin in 1:24 over Shawnee’s Kael Dodson. It was Crestview’s first ever individual champion at the Spartan Invitational. Grubb is now 19-1 this season.

“He wrestled through a very tough semi-final match against Indian Lake winning 14-7,” head coach Jake Sawmiller said of Grubb. “That was a great match for Gavin and his determination to win showed through as that was a hard fought win and my hat goes of to his opponent from Indian Lake (Gavin Henry) for such a great match.

Levi Grace (150) and Ayden Martin (165) each went 4-1 and earned third place finishes in their respective weight classes. In his final match of the day, Grace defeated Shawnee’s Kayne Brown 5-3, while Martin earned a hard fought 3-2 decision over St. Marys Memorial’s Caleb Turner.

Zayden Martin finished fourth at 157 pounds, Evan Walls (215) finished fifth, Ethan Lugabihl (132), Jackson Marks (138) and Hayden Tobias (144) each placed sixth and Aiden Helt (175) finished seventh.

“Zayden took the No. 4 kid in the state (Trenton Gatchell of Allen East) to a 3-2 deficit heading into the final 20 seconds of the match,” Sawmiller noted. “He was so close to taking the advantage with about 30 seconds to go but ran out of room as they went out of bounds. Those are the matches we love as coaches, it may go down as a loss in the record books but Zayden just realized his potential that he can not only compete against, but put himself in position to defeat a kid projected to be on the podium in Columbus at the end of the season.”

As a team, the Knights scored 170 points. Indian Lake won the team title with 266.5 points, and St. Marys Memorial was the runner-up (208). Mechanicsburg was third (202), followed by Shawnee (193.5), Allen East (187) and Crestview.

“Last season, we showed up and scored 73 points at this tournament,” Sawmiller said. “Aaron (LaTurner, assistant coach) and I thought if we just put up a respectable showing at a tournament this size we’d be happy with the boys this year. To spend half the day holding onto second place and ultimately landing in sixth place, with a sizeable gap over seventh place, we couldn’t be more proud of the effort of our kids.”

“These boys made a statement today that Crestview is ready to compete and I hope they are each as proud of themselves as Aaron and I are of each of them,” he continued. “Everyone played such a big part in the team’s overall success and we saw these kids wrestle beyond themselves and for the team throughout the entire day.”

The Knights will host the 12-team Crestview Duals this Saturday.