Team Ohio Strength @ TOC

• zambrown

  

  Congrats to Team Ohio Strength who did a great job today at the TOC. My son was thrilled to be invited to wrestle with this team that is loaded with State qualifiers and placers. They won the team title from Saturday's individual results, and placed second (I believe) in the All Star bracket of the dual tourney. Not only were these a bunch of great wrestlers from Central Ohio, but also great kids and parents as well. This whole experience was awesome for my son and I want to thank Ryan Murdock for including him. This was a pretty young team and has great potential to come back again next year with a few substitutions for the departing seniors. Great job Team Ohio Strength!
• hizzmuther

  Members of Team Ohio Strength for the Tournament of Champions
  
  100-payton gutierrez
  105-chris mullucey
  110-nick perrotta(Connecticut)
  115-ryan murdock
  120-austin marsico
  125-trevor ferucci
  130-andrew taylor
  135-stephen alger
  142-andrew higgins
  150-alec marsico
  160-alex mickley
  171-zach brown
  189-jason russell
  220-alex lamancusa/ryan steiner
  285-kosta karrageorge
  
  All members contributed team points to the team championship from Saturday's individual tournament where they won their division (although I'm not sure they know what division they were in).
  
  Saturday individual placers were:
  Cadet 100 Payton Gutierrez 7th
  Cadet 120 Austin Marsico 4th
  Elite 128 Andrew Taylor 7th
  Elite 135 Stephen Alger 7th
  Elite 142 Andrew Higgins 2nd
  Elite 150 Alec Marsico 3rd
  
  A great showing at a very competitive tournament in our own back yard.
  
  Today's dual meets were grueling. They may have felt they were really getting beat up, but they came out second in their bracket, losing to a team from PA and one from MD, but beating another Ohio team and another MD team, and someone else (long day!). Another great day of very competitive wrestling.
  
  Thanks to JT Rice for stepping into some coaching shoes today and to Bob Stoll who thought he was just coming to watch. It's amazing how well these kids do without a coach, but the refs seemed to need to see an adult in their corner.
• funk101

  The refs were horrid. Many calls in favor of other teams.
• hizzmuther

  the refs weren't horrible, they were simply taking advantage of the only team there without an adult in the coaches corner. We have put up with that for years and it seems to get worse at big "important" tournaments. Ask Andrew about the Iowa PreSeason Nationals refs. How many times did the refs tell your coach to sit down ("Sit down kid!") But on the other hand, you guys learned a lot from coaching each other -- wearing both hats... wrestler and coach. In the long run, this will be to your benefit. In the short run, it was frustrating everytime one of you got robbed of a point or two or six. It kind of slowed down once JT got a little more involved and Stoll and some of the "coach-looking" dads took a seat a little closer to the mat or maybe the refs on that side of the room were just that much better.
• funkem123

  i personally tried to argue many calls but unfortunately did not win! hopefully better luck next tournament lol
• hizzmuther

  HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION 1
  
  1. PITT BULL (PA)
  2. BAD BOYS 1 (MD)
  3. OHIO STRENGTH (OH)
  4. SENIOR TERPS (MD)
  5. LEWPORT (NY)
  6. TEAM TNT (OH)
  
  HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION 2
  
  1. TEAM COBRA (NY)
  2. BAD BOYS 2 (MD)
  3. HOOSIER ELITE (IN)
  4. TEAM NATI (OH)
  5. TEAM FLCIKER (OH)
  6. TEAM PALMETTO (SC)
  
  High school results from the web site, but hey, we went home with the second place medals.