Kiser, Hurlow win titles as MV wrestlers third at Newark Catholic

The Mount Vernon Varsity Orange boys' wrestling team had two champions in the Newark Catholic Invitational on Dec. 27 and finished third overall.

Gabe Kiser (106 pounds) and Ethan Hurlow (126) both captured weight class titles, while five others made the podium.

Kiser cruised in pool play, winning by pins (0:53 and 0:37), then by technical fall 18-3. Two more pins, including one in just 49 seconds over Kaleb Marker of Edison, gave him the 106-pound championship.

Hurlow won all three of his pool play matches, including a pin in 1:21 to advance to bracket play. There, he posted a 10-2 win and a 16-9 win over Jack Sommer of Upper Arlington to grab the title at 126.

Keagan Leasure (120) and Jaxon Plumly (138) each finished second for the Jackets, while Fritz Johnson (285) was third and both Noah Crowthers (138) and Tristan Gill (175) finished fifth.

Leasure had had three pins on the day (0:47, 5:03 and 1:48) but fell 12-9 to Luca Andres of Upper Arlington in the championship match at 120.

Plumly had three straight pins (0:34, 0:12 and 3:29 before dropping a hard-fought 14-13 decision to Ace Montero of Upper Arlington in the championship match.

Johnson had three victories on the day, including a pin of Jordan Taylor of Groveport-Madison to finish third at 285. Crowthers, after losing his first match, won four straight, including a 3-1 decision over Andrew Teal of Dublin Coffman to finish fifth. Gill also lost his first match, but bounced back with an 11-5 victory over Andre Porter of Walnut Ridge to finish fifth.

Aidan Moyer (126), Noah Maleszewski (150), Zell Pastor (150), Braxton Burdulis (157), Brandon Jaynes (157), Aaron Snider (165), Tanner Robinson (215) and Landon Bunzey (215) all participated and had at least one victory on the day.

Boys’ basketball

Trenton Wells calmly stepped to the free-throw line with 3.6 seconds left, sinking two shots and helping his team to a 44-43 victory over visiting Delaware Hayes on Dec. 27.

Wells finished the night with 16 points to lead the Yellow Jackets (4-3), who won their third straight game. Trace Beck and Landon Dawson added 10 points and four rebounds each.

The win over the Pacers was the first since 2017-18 for MV.