Buckeye's Bartos captures second state wrestling title

The awards podium at the state wrestling tournament has become a bit of a second home for Buckeye’s Blake Bartos. All four years of the senior’s career ended there.

That culminated this past Sunday with Bartos making his second trip to the top as he will leave high school as a two-time state champion, including the 138-pound crown this season. He was state runner-up last year at 132, won in 2024 at 113 and placed fourth at 106 as a freshman.

Bartos was not tested much as he won his second title. He had a pair of pins and two major decisions and left no sweat on the Schottenstein Center mats.

His first match was a pin in 2:50 of Gallia Academy’s Evan Warren before laying a 14-0 major decision on Wilmington’s Josiah Puller. In the semifinal, Bartos put Columbus Bishop Watterson’s Thomas Lindsay on his back in 1:50.

In the final, it was Copley’s Desmond Childers going down with relative ease, by an 8-0 major decision to get Bartos back to the top of the podium, this time with a 28-0 record.

With Bartos’ title leading the way, the Bucks piled up 38 points to tie Galion for 10th place in the team race. Columbus Bishop Watterson won with 110.5.

Sophomore Colin Bartos had a nice run at 120 pounds. He started with a pair of wins to make the semifinals, beating Peyton Martin of West Holmes and Heath Norris of Clyde before falling to Gavin Genovese of Woodridge in the semis.

Bartos then had a tough finish, falling to Caden Kaleal of Chesterland West Geauga in the consolation semifinals and then to Rayce Watson of Jonathan Alder in the fifth-place match to finish sixth. Bartos wrapped up the year at 32-15.

Senior Logan Letner had a tough draw to Columbus, losing both his matches by 2 points to eventual placers at 144 pounds. The first was by a 4-2 count against Tyson Spicer of New Lexington, who went on to finish fifth. Then Letner fell 8-6 to Owen Weaks of Benjamin Logan. Weaks placed fourth. Letner finished his final year 39-13.

Junior Brody Zoul picked up one win in three matches but could not find his way to the podium at 165. Zoul finished his year with a 34-10 record.