OHHS hosts MAWA district qualifier
Mar. 30—The Oak Hill High School wrestling team hosted the Mid Atlantic Wrestling Association (MAWA) District Qualifier on Saturday, March 18.
According to Red Devil head coach David Vincent, there are six district tournaments that feed into the West Regional tournament held in State College, Pa. The top four from districts in each weight class qualify for that event on April 7-8. If the wrestler finishes the top four at the regional level, then they qualify for Eastern Nationals held in Salisbury, Md. on May 6-7. District tournaments are held in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia and West Virginia. They also have a girls-only division beginning at the region level.
"Jeff Bowman from Princeton has been the tournament director for the past several years," Vincent said. "He had called me with the opportunity to host this tournament; I did not hesitate to accept the task. When I was in high school in the 1980's I had competed in this same tournament. I loved it then and love it now."
"We had a great turnout for this district qualifier, honestly a lot more than I thought we would have had," Vincent added. "We felt that we would see around 100-120 participants (as) 82 had pre-registered. As we opened the doors Saturday morning it was a flood of wrestlers showing up as walk-ins. We had somewhere around 200 total wrestlers.
"I really wasn't personally prepared for this many; fortunately the support structure with our high school, middle school and youth coaches/parents are second to none. Tim Naylor, Brian Miller, Scott Rinehart and Aaron Shuemake played a huge role in the flow of the tourney (keeping matches ready to go), Coach Wayne Yonkelowitz, Coach Alan Fell, Dr. Travis Wills and Frankie Treadway managed the scorers tables. Melody Ruskin, Kassie Coleman, Heather Naylor, Kara and Geoff Swafford, Jerry Long and Stacy Wills helped out everywhere else."
Greg Davis and Shaun Coleman were instrumental, as well.
"Once we started, everything fell into place. A huge thank you to the administration at Oak Hill High School and the Board office along with the board of directors for allowing us to host the last athletic event in this gymnasium before it is remodeled."
Out of the roughly 200 participants, 90 are going into the regional tournament in State College, Pennsylvania on April 7-8, where they will compete to earn the right to go to Eastern Nationals.
