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Six top wrestling seeds fall in SWBL tourney

Six top seeds fail to win individual titles; Dixie, Eaton win division titles.

Dixie's Matt Buxton (left) wrestles Brookville's David Williams during the final day of the Southwestern Buckeye League Wrestling Championships at Bellbrook High School on Saturday. Buxton won the match, finishing first in the 152-pound weight class.

Nick Daggy Dixie's Matt Buxton (left) wrestles Brookville's David Williams during the final day of the Southwestern Buckeye League Wrestling Championships at Bellbrook High School on Saturday. Buxton won the match, finishing first in the 152-pound weight class.

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Photos: SWBL wrestling championships

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By John Bombatch, Staff Writer Updated 3:22 AM Sunday, February 12, 2012

BELLBROOK — Every underdog has his day, and Saturday’s Southwestern Buckeye League high school wrestling championship was just that day for six of the 14 champions.

While top-seeded favorites Cameron Kelly of Bellbrook (106 pounds), Cody Steiner of Waynesville (120), Nick Lipinski of Brookville (132), Jimmy Sandlin of Carlisle (145), Dixie’s Matt Buxton (152) and Aaron King (170), Carlisle’s Marcus Smith (182) and Valley View’s Bryan Day (220) each won, six other favorites weren’t as fortunate.

Second-seeded Alex Vencill’s win in the 160-pound final may have been the most emotional. The Northridge Polar Bear watched his cousin, Cole, lose in his 145-pound final earlier in the day. Cole nearly succumbed to the MRSA virus five years ago and needed several operations on his hip as a result. Alex said just seeing Cole in a final was inspiring.

“I took fifth in both my sophomore and freshman years, and I owe this to my best friend and my training partner, Cole, and my coaches for helping me get this win,” Alex said. “Some people pick you as second best, and so it feels good to come out here and show ’em that underdogs can do it.”

Other dogs to enjoy their day were: Madison’s Colin Ingram (113 pounds); Franklin’s Matt Middleton (126); Benjamin Schram of Bellbrook (138); Eaton’s Dillon Gilbert (195); and, in the day’s final match, Brookville heavyweight Aaron Honious.

Dixie won the Buckeye division title as well as the overall crown with 190 team points. Eaton finished second overall and earned the Southwest division title with Brookville, Franklin and Valley View rounding out the top five.

“It’s a great team accomplishment,” Dixie coach Doug Campbell said. “The kids have worked really hard. We got a good team effort, and I’m proud of every one of them. I thought we had a shot. We didn’t do as well in the finals as we would have liked to, but it was a good tournament the rest of the way.”

The Greyhounds sent six wrestlers to the finals and nabbed two wins.

Valley View’s Day not only kept his season record unblemished at 34-0, but his win in the 220-pound final enabled him to set a career wins mark for his school.

The Spartan senior now has an overall record of 133 wins and 25 losses.

He missed several days of practice last week as a result of illness.

“I don’t want to blame it on strep throat or anything like that. Chase (Henderson, of Franklin) wrestled pretty good. He’s wrestled me five times now and knows my style, so I had to earn this one,” Day said.

Another Spartan, Cole Steiner of Waynesville, joined rare company when he won his 120-pound finale. Steiner won an SWBL title for the fourth consecutive year.

“I don’t think a lot of people have done it, and I know nobody’s done it at Waynesville in wrestling,” Steiner said. “So it’s a pretty cool accomplishment.”

Waynesville coach Greg Steiner wasn’t certain, but thought Cole may have been just the second wrestler to claim the league’s wrestling title four straight times.

Madison No. 4 seed Colin Ingram may have been the biggest surprise champion of the day.

Ingram upended Northridge top seed Robert Carter in the 113 semifinals, then defeated Waynesville third seed Alec Logsdon in the finals. Fittingly, after the match, Ingram was seen wearing an Underdog T-shirt.

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