Yellow Jacket boys defend LCL wrestling title

The Mount Vernon boys’ wrestling team wanted to repeat as Licking County League Champions. In the process of doing just that, they also made a statement.

The Yellow Jackets had six wrestlers in the championship match of their respective weight classes, with four winning conference titles, en route to a second straight team conference title. Mount Vernon finished with 212 points, well ahead of runner-up Granville, which had 177.

“It’s always a team goal every year for the kids. We really stress that as a program,” said Mount Vernon coach Corey Firebaugh. “A league championship is obviously a big deal. It means a lot because you’re never guaranteed to win it every year. When you can, it’s a nice accomplishment for every kid. … We had six in the finals. Four champs, so that was great.”

Four Yellow Jackets earned an LCL title — Gabe Thomas (144 pounds), Mavrik Gregory (157), Carter Hill (175) and Luke Mullins (190). Preston Hempfield (150) and Trevor Jones (215) added runner-up titles.

All four of the champs had impressive runs to their titles. Thomas had three pins in four victories; Gregory had a pin in just 25 seconds and two technical fall victories; Hill had two pins, including one of the fastest ones in school history (9 seconds) and a decision; and Mullins had two pins and a technical fall victory.

Hill’s run may have been the most impressive of all. He started the day with a pin in just nine seconds, then beat the No. 1 seed in the semifinals. Hill trailed 7-2 in that match before rallying for a 10-9 win. He finished the day up with a pin in 2:41 in the finals.

“We knew that semifinal match would be a close one. Just coming out in the championship match and getting the win for the team was huge,” Firebaugh said. “He’s one of those people we knew he was going to be a placer, but we weren’t sure how high. He wrestled well. He’s becoming more consistent. He’s always had it, just maybe not in the right position. He’s been building for this. Hopefully, he stays consistent down the stretch and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

The Jackets had three others finish in third place — Keagan Leasure (120), Jaxon Plumly (138) and Jude Kirk (165). All three lost their first match, but bounced back to win out in the consolation bracket and grab third.

“I think that just goes back to what we try to preach to them. You get to the sectional tournament and all of a sudden, you lose one. You can’t throw in the towel. You can be upset but you can’t let it ruin all that we’ve been trying to do for these last few months. It was good for them to bounce back,” Firebaugh said.

Tye Thomas (132) added a fourth-place showing, giving the Jackets 10 wrestlers out of 13 that finished in the top four. Firebaugh thinks that’s a great sign of the work the athletes have put in over the year and for the upcoming sectional tournament.

“Out of the 13 weight classes, 10 in the top four is pretty good,” Firebaugh said. “We’ll use it as a building block. From there, we’ll use this as momentum to get to the sectionals and hopefully get a lot of kids to the district and state.”

The Jackets will wrestle in the Div. I sectional on Saturday, Feb. 28, at Upper Arlington.