High school sports: New venues for wrestling, hockey tournaments announced

Kaleb Romero of Mechanicsburg (black) wrestles Sean Netherton of Williamsport Westfall (grey) at 170 lbs. in Division III during Thursday’s OHSAA championship wrestling tournament at Value City Arena in Columbus on March 9, 2017. Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch

Kaleb Romero of Mechanicsburg (black) wrestles Sean Netherton of Williamsport Westfall (grey) at 170 lbs. in Division III during Thursday’s OHSAA championship wrestling tournament at Value City Arena in Columbus on March 9, 2017. Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch

Columbus will still host the state hockey tournament but the state wrestling tournament will be in three different places this year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to force changes to the athletics calendar.

The OHSAA announced Thursday the state hockey tournament will be played at the OhioHealth Ice Haus, which is attached to Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus.

Hilliard Darby High School in suburban Columbus will host the Division I wrestling tournament while Division II will be held at Marengo Highland and Marion Harding will host Division III, both in northern central Ohio.

“We want to thank these three member schools for agreeing to host the wrestling state tournament along with everyone associated with the Ice Haus, Nationwide Arena and the Blue Jackets for their work to host the ice hockey state tournament,” OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said in a release. “The most important thing we are doing is giving our student-athletes a chance to compete. Our member schools and other tournament sites are to be commended for doing everything they can to provide these opportunities during the pandemic.”

Sites for the regional and state basketball tournaments have not been announced.

The swimming and diving state tournament will remain at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton on February 24-27. The bowling state tournaments will remain at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl on February 26-27 and March 5-6, and the gymnastics state tournament will remain at Hilliard Bradley on March 5-6.

Attendance remains limited to 300 people (or 15 percent of capacity if that is lower) at indoor events per the Ohio Department of Health.

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