HUNTINGTON — The 2023 WVSSAC state wrestling meet continued Friday evening in Huntington inside the Mountain Health Arena.
After the opening round Thursday night, which was followed by the second round on Friday morning, the semifinal bouts were held to determine the final two wrestlers in each weight class that would meet for an individual state championship on Saturday.
After the conclusion of Friday morning’s session, the University High School wrestling team, seeking its first team state championship since 1956, found itself with 89.0 points and in second place overall in Class AAA, 7.0 points behind first-place Parkersburg South, multi-time defending state champions.
Five wrestlers advanced through to the championship rounds of the semifinals for the Hawks.
Sophomore Pepper Martin (106), senior Dom Parker (157), senior Dakota Hagedorn (165), junior Luca Felix (175), and sophomore Brock Kehler (215), all remained without a loss in the tournament entering Friday evening’s semis, looking to not only advance to the state finals for their weight class but help secure UHS vital points towards the overall team title.
After the Friday evening session, UHS holds second place in the team standings with 142 points. Parkersburg South holds first with 166 points overall.
“We lost a couple of close matches, and South was winning some of those matches,” UHS head coach Ken Maisel said after the session. “As of right now, it just wasn’t enough. We will see what happens tomorrow, but South has a lot of guys in finals and our guys in the finals have some really tough matches.”
Martin started the night off for the Hawks against Garrett Johnson of Woodrow Wilson. After falling behind 5-0 after the first period, Martin fought back and closed the gap with two points early in the 2nd frame. Johnson proved too much though and earned a pin-fall victory over Martin, who will now enter the consolation bracket of the 106 weight class.
Hagedorn battled Patrick Jackson of Spring Mills in a semifinal in the 165 weight class. Hagedorn fell behind early 8-0 and had to withdraw due to injury, UHS head coach Ken Maisel said they will decide tomorrow if Hagedorn can go.
Brodie Emery (points) and Colton Gillespie (pin) earned two early victories in the consolation bracket rounds, which helped toward the Hawks’ pursuit of a team title and ensured they’ll wrestle another match.
The big three for UHS, Parker, Felix, and Kehler, all advanced to the state finals in their respective weight classes.
Parker defeated Will James from St. Albans by a final score of 22-9, while Luca Felix followed in his footsteps with a win by points decision also, 13-4 over Cooper Durst of Ripley. Parker, a WVU commit, will now face off against the wrestler who gave him his only loss of the year so far, Elijah Osborne of Woodrow Wilson.
Felix will also wrestle against the person who gave him his only loss of the year so far Gage Wright of Parkersburg South in what could be the most anticipated match of the finals.
Maisel said that Felix, who may not even realize how good he is yet, must wrestle with confidence tomorrow against Wright.
“It’s unbelievable for me to say, but Luca needs to wrestle with more confidence,” Maisel said of his standout junior. “It sounds crazy to say, but he doesn’t even know how good he is, and he needs to start to commit to things if he wants to win in the finals. Hopefully, he can focus (Friday) and come out and win (Saturday). We will tell all of our guys, finalists or not, to come out and keep fighting and finish as well as they can.”
Kehler, who hasn’t lost all season, didn’t waste any time in his semifinal, earning a pin-fall victory in just over 15 seconds against Gabriel Truman from Oak Hill. The shining sophomore will look to capture his second-straight state title and complete his season unscathed.
Weigh-ins for finals will begin at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow with consolation rounds running first. Finals will begin at 6 p.m.
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