Wrestling: Strong culture helps Dublin Coffman overcome adversity to win district title
Saturday, March 2, 2024
By Scott Hennen
shennen@cbussports.com
Family has been an important element for the Dublin Coffman wrestling team in winning six consecutive Division I district titles.
The perfect half dozen came March 2 in the finale of the two-day tournament at Hilliard Darby.
“This is just as special as the first one,” coach Chance Van Gundy said. “We have built a strong culture and have had so much adversity as a team this year that only the kids in the room and the families know about. To see how they came out and battled for us is really great.”
The Shamrocks were pushed by Olentangy Liberty going into the championship round, but the Patriots could not reduce their deficit to double digits. Coffman (237.5 points) won with Liberty (216.5), Olentangy (110.5), Mount Vernon (99) and Marysville (97.5) rounding out the top five.
The top four in each weight class advance to state March 9-11 at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center. Coffman had 10 wrestlers advance in the 13 weight divisions, led by 144-pound champion Omar Ayoub. The senior is a two time defending state champion after winning at 126 as a sophomore and 138 as a junior. As a freshman he was runner-up at 113.
“This never gets old,” said Ayoub, who has to wrestle at Nebraska. “It’s getting into a routine. Every match is the same. I go in there with the same warm-up and the same routine. I always expect the most out of my opponent in every match.
“I have been a part of this team since middle school. It’s more than just a team, it’s a program. It’s a family over here and we’re here for each other. We love building up the program.”
Grayson Woodcock (157) and Ethan Birden (165) also were district champions.
Van Gundy’s state experience will be a little different this season as will be joined by his son Blaze Van Gundy, a runner-up at 120. The freshman forfeited the championship match as he was dealing with several nagging injuries.
“Blaze is not 100 percent healthy and he came out and wrestled strong,” said coach Van Gundy, a 1994 Bloom-Carroll graduate who competed at state in 1993 and 1994. “We’re going to celebrate and then tomorrow it’s getting back to work and trying to get as many kids on the (state) podium as we can.”
Liberty had eight state-qualifiers led by champions Jaxson Rosselli (120), Huggy Williams (126) and Preston Parks (132).
“We had 10 placers (with eight finishing in the top four as state qualifiers), so I’m really happy,” Liberty coach Mark Marinelli said. “We won a tough sectional (at Newark) and we were all to get good seeds and good matchups, so we should have some good draws in the state tournament.”
Olentangy jumped to third place after doubling its effort from last season. The Braves finished 10th with 53.5 points last season. They had five state-qualifiers including three district champions in Luke Mokros (106), Kurt Mokros 113) and Jake Piontkowski (138).
“I think we all bonded together and uit turned out the way it did,” said Luke Mokros, a freshman. “We put in the work together and we have been there for each other and it all came to a point here (at district).”
Other district champions were Dublin Scioto’s Christopher Price (190) and Ty Wilson (150), Lancaster’s Luke Cox (285), Marysville’s Carson Mize (175) and Mount Vernon’s Alex Taylor (215).
Jacob Ramirez placed fourth at 150 for Central Crossing but will be joined at state with his father in the corner, Comets coach Jamie Ramirez.
“I thought (eldest son and 2023 graduate) J.J. would make it to state but he lost in the blood round (state-qualifying match) on the same mat that Jacob was wrestling on,” said coach Ramirez, who competed at state in 1989 for Fremont Ross. “I thought it would be different this time, and that turned out to be the case.”
Jacob said his hard work had paid off.
“I told myself I was going to state all week, and I was pretty determined to win,” said Joshua, who defeated Big Walnut’s Nathan Barnes 6-3 in the blood round. “I don’t remember much because of the adrenaline.”
Westland’s Lucas Crosier was fourth at 132 as the only state qualifier for a program that has made great strides. Second-year coach Tyler Fitzgerald’s squad won the school’s first league title in any sport since 2005. The Cougars had not won a wrestling title since 2003 as they were champions of the OCC-Ohio Division at 5-0.
“We didn’t really have the numbers but we built it up to over 50 this year,” said Fitzgerald, who is also the Grandview Heights baseball coach. “It’s great to have a good quantity of wrestlers but they also got the job done.”
Crosier trailed his state-qualifying match to Scioto’s Adrian Pigg 12-0 with 40 seconds remaining in the match. The Westland sophomore got a quick reversal and pinned Pigg with 24 seconds left to advance.
“I never thought I would go (to state),” he said. “I thought I was done. I wasn’t supposed to do anything here (at district). I wasn’t even ranked in the top 10 in the district and here I finished fourth and made it to state.
“I knew I had to do something big (in the go-to match), I really don’t know what I did. It’s a move I made up. When they put in the half (nelson) and some kind of cradle and you just bridge and roll real hard and it works a lot of time.”
Division II
Watterson finished second in the district at Wilmington behind St. Paris Graham, which has won 22 consecutive state championships. The Eagles totaled 180 points as Graham had 236.
Michael Boyle (165), Neal Krysty (120), James Lindsay (138) and Mitchell Younger (150) all won titles for Watterson. Other area champions were Granville’s Nash Finley (113) and Hartley’s Aiden King (132).
Division III
North Union and Mechanicsburg lead the Central District teams in the district at Heath.
Barnesville scored 245.5 points to win ahead of the runner-up Wildcats (104.5) and third-place Mechanicsburg (90).
Cowin Becker (132) won a championship for North Union. Nolan Fraley (106) and Ronnie Thomas (190) were champions for the Indians (132).
