Lady Warriors fall on tiebreaker at Alliance; boys roll

Tiebreakers, especially if you’re on the wrong end of one, can be a real pain.

Such was the case Jan. 8 when the Carrollton girls wrestling squad made the hike to Alliance to take on the Aviators in an Eastern Buckeye Conference dual showdown. When the dust settled, the score between the two teams was knotted at 54 points apiece.

The tiebreaker? The team with the most pinfalls wins. Alliance, by virtue of having logged more falls, was awarded a solitary point, giving the Aviators a 55-54 win over the Lady Warriors.

For Carrollton, Jere Palas collected a pin, while Juliaunna Miller, Paityn Crank, Breanna Arquilla, and Riley Alborn were all awarded wins via forfeit.

The Lady Warriors weren’t the only team there to take on Alliance as the boys’ team also showed up to do battle. Apparently, the boys collectively said tiebreakers be damned as they left nothing to chance in cruising to a 42-24 victory over the Aviators.

Winning for the Warriors by fall were Cohen Little (106), Zander Spilker (132), John Childs(144), and Brody Gonda (157). At 138, Cael Lowdermilk picked up a tech fall, and Sawyer Broadwater (113), Jaxon Sutton (120), Jaden Sutton (150), and Jamasen Powell (190) all scored decisions.

Back to the Lady Warriors, who had little time to dwell on their narrow loss. That’s because they found themselves competing at one of northeast Ohio’s largest meets, the Fourth Annual Vantage Lady Viking Invitational, hosted by Akron North High School Jan. 10-11.

A whopping 55 teams did battle over two days and the Lady Warriors placed 17th overall as a team. Marysville won the team title at the Lady Viking Invitational with 211 points, and Columbia (129) slipped by Mentor (128.5) for second place.

The Lady Warriors had two wrestlers take their spot on the podium as Riley Alborn went a perfect 4-0 in being crowned champion, while Kristen Hawkins placed fifth after going 4-2 during the tourney. Juliaunna Miller, Jere Palas, and Kamryn DePalmo may not have placed, but they all won at least one bout at the outing.