Cardington’s Cameron Sherman took eighth place in the state wrestling tournament over the weekend.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
In the first year of girls’ wrestling being recognized as an official OHSAA sport, Cardington sophomore Cameron Sherman earned a spot on the podium in Columbus.
Competing in the 170-pound weight class over the three-day state wrestling meet at The Ohio State University’s Jerome Schottenstein Center, Sherman (11-9) placed eighth.
“It feels great,” she said. “I wasn’t really expecting to get here as a sophomore and it’s a really big accomplishment.”
Sherman’s tournament got off to a rough start with a first-round match against Kate Simmons of Findlay, who eventually took fourth in the meet. After two hard-fought periods that saw her only trailing by a 2-1 margin, Sherman was reversed to her back and pinned in the third to be sent to the consolation bracket.
However, she would then win two straight matches to earn a spot on the podium. On Friday night, she edged Maddie Menchasa of Mentor by a 6-4 score in overtime. She then controlled Chloe Vining of Bethel-Tate in her first Saturday match, building a 6-0 lead early in the third period before pinning her opponent at the 3:55 mark.
She would then fall by a 7-2 count to Kascidy Garren of Olentangy Orange Saturday night to wind up in the seventh-place match.
There, she would take on Audrey Garcia of Ross. After two back-and-forth periods ended with the score tied at 4-4, Garcia took advantage of a pair of locking hands penalties and an escape to jump in front 7-4 and then took control of the match with a takedown that led to multiple sets of back points.
Despite losing 13-6 to finish eighth, both Sherman and her coach, Michael Ongalibang, saw a lot of positive things over the weekend.
“The atmosphere was really great,” said Sherman. “It was really active, but everyone was friendly and it was a really fun and invigorating experience. I was really nervous at first, but going out there multiple times, it was fun.”
“She’s really exceeding expectations,” added Ongalibang. “She’s growing really quick.”
The coach added that he hopes this experience will help springboard his wrestler to bigger and better things next year.
“That’s our goal,” he said of Sherman having more success next year. “I said we’ll work on things we can work on after we enjoy today and make some plans for next year.”
A pair of Highland wrestlers also competed in the girls’ meet.
Emma Bolton went 1-2 at 190 pounds to finish her freshman year with an 18-11 record. Bolton was the first Morrow County girl to earn a win at the OHSAA state meet, as she dominated Elesia Guerra of Lebanon in her first-round match on Friday.
Bolton used a pair of takedowns, as well as numerous penalties against her opponent to jump in front by a 10-0 margin before recording a pin at the 5:38 mark of the match.
Competing against eventual third-place finisher Zayna Muntaser of Lakewood in the quarterfinals, Bolton lost a heartbreaker. She led 2-1 and 4-3 in the first period and was tied with her opponent at 6-6 going into the third period. However, Muntaser would get a takedown and then pinned her to send her to the consolations.
She would lose in another close match, this time to Xsaria Puente of Fremont Ross. Bolton trailed 4-2 after two periods, but bounced back with three straight points in the third period to take the lead. However, she would not be able to hold onto that advantage and wound up on the wrong end of an 8-5 decision that ended her season.
Also wrestling was 235-pounder Madelynn Morrison (4-12). She fell by pin to Kristine Hockenberry at the 1:23 mark of her first match. In the consolations, she was pinned by Le’Naysia Dickson of Brush after 2:17.
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
