Ohio girls wrestlers relish debut at OHSAA state tournament, Value City Arena
Walking through the tunnel leading to the wrestling floor at Value City Arena, Marysville senior Cali Leng said she could no longer contain her excitement.
“Unleash me, please, let’s go,” Leng said she told her coaches before her opening-round state tournament match. “I was smiling. I was ahead right away and thought, 'This was what we’ve been training for.' ”
Leng and dozens of other girls wrestlers made history Friday, competing in the first state tournament sanctioned by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The previous three state tournaments were sponsored by the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association and held at Hilliard Davidson.
The three-day event — championship matches will be held Sunday — kicked off with Teays Valley junior Ava Miller pinning West Union’s Scotlyn Adams in 2:52 in a 105-pound match.
“With it being sanctioned now, it feels so much better being in front of all these people,” said Miller, who finished fourth at 100 last season. “It feels good to open with a win. It felt like all eyes were on me. I’m kind of used to that.”
Leng, a four-time state qualifier, pinned Conneaut’s Mollie Rozalski in 2:00 at 120 to advance to the quarterfinals. Leng finished first at 116 as a sophomore, second at 120 last season and sixth at 126 as a freshman.
“Last year I lost in the final and it all prepared me for this moment,” Leng said. “I’m pumped. This is awesome.”
Leng said she wasn’t intimidated by the atmosphere at Value City Arena, which has a seating capacity of about 19,000 for Ohio State men's basketball games, after previously competing in other marquee events, including twice at nationals in Fargo, North Dakota.
Delaware Hayes senior twins Kasey and Molly Wells said they entered the tournament confident and relaxed thanks to their coaches.
“This doesn’t feel any different,” Kasey said. “It’s a little different than when we held it at Hilliard Davidson, but it’s not that big of a change. At Hilliard, people were right near the mat. There’s not as many people near the mat here. You feel a little more isolated.”
On Friday, Molly won by pin (1:10) at 115 and Kasey won by decision (5-0) at 110. Molly finished sixth at 111 as a sophomore, and Kasey finished eighth at 105 last season.
“I was prepared by my coaches and (Devin Halliday) on the boys team who had been here before,” Molly said. “I’ve been able to block out a lot of the emotions and just go out there and wrestle, so it wasn’t much different than any other match.”
Halliday lost his first-round match at 165 on Friday. The 86th annual boys tournament is being held in conjunction with the girls tournament.
Delaware coach Kevin Rieman said the coaching staff focused on downplaying the atmosphere.
“They’re both composed,” Rieman said of the Wells twins. “It’s a wrestling tournament. I feel like we made a bigger deal than we needed to. They said it feels like a tournament. That’s awesome. It feels like there’s thousands of people here, but I joke with them and say nobody is watching you. You probably have 20 people watching you.”
A three-time state qualifier, Central Crossing junior Addison Russell was proud to be a part of the event. The lone girls wrestler at her school, she won by pin in 1:51 at 115 to kick off her pursuit of her first state title.
“I was super excited because I believe I thrive in the bigger environment when there’s more people,” said Rudolph, who finished third at 105 last season and fifth at 101 as a freshman. “I was looking forward to the bigger crowd.”
For Jeff Martin, watching the event was a proud moment. He helped girls wrestling get started in the 2019-20 season and played a key role in obtaining support from the OHSAA.
“I was always hoping it was going to be sooner, but we’re very grateful that it’s finally occurred,” he said. “A lot of people with Sanction Ohio (#SanctionOH), the group that was trying to work with OHSAA to get through all those hoops, put a lot of time working with Wrestle Like a Girl and their people.”
Martin’s daughter, Taryn, was a pioneer in the sport, winning state titles in 2020 (137) and 2021 (170) for Olentangy Orange. The 2021 graduate is now a sophomore wrestler at Tiffin.
“She may be a little jealous,” said Martin, who recently completed his first season as Orange’s middle school coach. “I think some of the girls that have already moved on to college, they would have loved to be part of this, but you have to take baby steps and they did the things they needed to do to make this possible for the girls behind them.”
As the past president of the coaches association, a former head coach at Davidson and a three-time state champion for Ready, Dominic DiSabato took pride in the event.
“This is fun,” said DiSabato, a 1991 Ready graduate. “It’s a long time coming. I’ll probably hide a little tear when they come out of the tunnel. ... The goal was to get here. We just followed the process and followed their guidelines and got it here pretty quickly. We’re proud of that.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio girls wrestlers enjoy debut at OHSAA state tournament
