Smiths, some surprises spice competitive Licking Valley Invitational

HANOVER ― On a sometimes surprising day that saw a fifth seed win a championship and a sixth seed reach the finals, the Smiths held serve on Saturday in Dick Torbert Gymnasium.

Seniors Clayton Smith of Utica and Jibreel Smith of Newark are both returning state wrestling qualifiers and continued to live up to their high expectations at the 16-team Licking Valley Invitational. The top seeds each claimed titles and led their teams to strong finishes, with the Wildcats taking fifth with 170 points and the Redskins seventh at 127. Carrollton dominated with 254 points to 208 by runnerup New Lexington, while the host Panthers were a close third with 200.5. Newark Catholic was ninth at 116.5, Northridge 10th (103.5) and Heath 16th (40).

Jibreel Smith (20-1) pinned his way into the 126-pound finals, where he rallied for a 5-4 win against Carrollton's Levi Pidgeon (18-8), a returning Division II state qualifier. He recently went over 100 wins for his career and relied on his vast experience to pull out the victory. He trailed 3-2 late in the third before getting an escape.

"I knew he was really good," Jibreel said. "But I knew I could get out, because escape is one of my main points. Once I got the escape, I wanted to go neutral, take the down position in the third period, and I went to work and got the reversal."

Clayton Smith (15-2) didn't have to work nearly as hard, scoring five consecutive pins en route to the 144-pound title, a 1:21 pin of Licking Valley senior Devyn Boyd (15-4). He's fully healthy, after placing fourth in the state last year at 144 despite a UCL tear in his elbow.

"I'm firing right now," he said. "I tore the UCL in the district and went as far as I could with it, including a couple of tournaments after the state. I've kept going with the hard work in that room. I have one main goal, and that is to wind up on top."

Two of Jibreel Smith's Newark teammates also stood atop the podium Saturday, and one of them most certainly was not expected. Senior Reece Redman (13-3) was seeded just fifth, but stormed to the 190-pound championship, pinning top seed Ben Zinda in 2:14 in the semifinals, then blanking third-seeded Licking Valley senior Bryce Justice (13-3) 4-0 in the finals.

"It felt good, getting first place, after I was second here last year," Redman said. "They seeded me wrong, but it's been that way all season. I thought I should have been the top seed."

He used a move learned from an Olympic bronze medalist from Belarus, at Colin Palmer's spring camp, to pin the top seed. "He taught me to throw when I feel pressure," Redman said. "When he went to one side, I was able to toss him."

Junior Eli Justice (20-4), seeded second, secured the 150-pound crown for the Wildcats by pinning all five opponents, including Licking Valley sophomore Luke Conaway (10-4) in 2:23 in the finals. Conaway had pinned top-seeded Remington Baker of Highland in the semifinals.

"It was 0-0 in the second period, and I was able to get him in a cradle," Justice said of the finals. "I thought I had a really good chance to take it here this year. This is one of my better years. I'm having fun."

The other local champion at Valley, Newark Catholic senior Griffin Halenar, made the state last year for Bishop Hartley as a 190-pounder in Division II. Suddenly, he's become a threat as an unbeaten, albeit smaller heavyweight in Division III. His five pins Saturday, including in 1:21 in the finals against second-seeded Landon Pedigo of Highland, ran his record to 18-0 with 17 pins.

"You would think moving up a weight class would be a lot harder, but I've found that I'm faster than most of them," said Halenar, who checks in at 234 in a class with a 285-pound weight limit. "I use the Fireman's move a lot, and these bigger guys don't expect me to shoot as much as I do. But I still have a lot to improve on. I'm ranked like 15th right now, and that's okay."

NC senior Brendan Sheehan (17-1) pinned his way to the 165-pound finals before suffering his first loss in a 14-12 decision to third-seeded New Lexington senior Hunter Rose (21-5). Nico Richards (138) and Theo Talbot (157) finished third for the Green Wave and Rugby Meza (175) was fifth.

In addition to runnerups Boyd, Bryce Justice and Conaway, Valley freshman Noah Curry (13-3) finished second at 113 as a sixth seed, picking up three pins and a major decision before pinned by top seed Kail Snair (26-1) of Carrollton in the finals. Sophomores Aiden Mcmahan (106) and Mason Hornfeck (120) both placed fourth and Theo Walsh (215) was fifth.

"Overall, I think we did pretty well, but I was not impressed with how we did in the finals," coach Jeremy Tate admitted. "But this team is young, the youngest I've had in a long time. We placed third out of 16 teams, and we're right there for second. These next three or four weeks are a pretty tough stretch, and we'll get better."

Northridge had two runnerup finishes as top seed Haedyn Parman was nipped 3-2 by third seed Dominic Bates of John Glenn, and second seed Trevon Angus (132) dropped a 14-8 decision in the finals to top seed Caleb Wetzel of Highland. Carter Yorde (113) was fourth and Michael Fister (138) placed fifth.

Newark's solid showing included a runnerup by third seed Kallan Baker (15-6) at 175, where he lost to top seed Aden Strahler (20-3) of Warren Local. Hunter Cayton (132) was third and Avidan Shaw (106) and Nicholas Harrell (113) took fifth. "We came in, thinking these guys would keep us up with all these other teams, and they put in the hard work," Jibreel Smith said.

Utica had five semifinalists, and coach Mark Rakoczy came away impressed. "We've had a lot of injuries and illness, and this is by far the best tournament we've had," he said. Brayden Hill was third at 126, while Zach Cyphers (165), Andrew Lewis (175) and Brandon Thornsberry (215) were all fourth. Three of that group are sophomores.

"We finished ninth in the state last year as a team, but we lost Brock (Wygle) and Wesley (Wydick), and they were a huge part of this program," Clayton Smith said. "I'm trying to boost the confidence of this young team."

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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark, Licking County League wrestlers shine at Licking Valley invite