Indian Valley sends wrestlers to Division II state tournament

Indian Valley’s wrestling team advanced three wrestlers to the Division II state tournament, which will be held this March 14-15 in Columbus at the Schottenstein Center.

Qualifying for the season’s final meet were Bodie Raymond, Bronko Braun and Brock Albright. Raymond won the district title at 113 pounds. Braun was runner-up at 120, and Albright placed third at 126.

Brogan O’Connor placed fifth at 165 to earn a trip to state as an alternate. Arian Braun finished sixth at 157 to reach the district podium.

The Braves totaled 104 points to place sixth among the 37 teams that scored at least one point. They finished a half-point behind fifth-place West Holmes. New Lexington won with 151 points, followed by Beaver with 129.5, Claymont with 125 and Steubenville with 115.5.

Raymond, a sophomore, received a first-round bye, then won his quarterfinal match 4-1 over Nash Edwards of Claymont. He defeated Carrollton’s Sawyer Broadwater 11-2 by major decision in the semifinals before topping No. 1 seed Cash Owen of Sheridan 4-1 in the final.

Braun, a junior, opened with a pair of pins in less than 90 seconds combined to reach the semifinals, where he posted an 18-2 technical fall against Cole Harvey of Steubenville. He lost 4-1 to Peyton Martin of West Holmes in the final.

Albright won two matches to reach the semifinals before the senior lost 13-4 to Colby Campbell of Chillicothe. He rebounded to win both consolation matches, including a 5-3 decision over Gabe Umstead of West Holmes in the third-place match.

O’Connor won his opening match before falling in the quarterfinals. He then won back-to-back consolation matches to reach the blood round, where he lost to Evan Ours of Beaver. O’Connor then defeated Thad Nikodym of Sheridan 4-1 in the fifth-place match to earn a trip to state as an alternate.

Arian Braun opened with two wins to reach the semifinals. He lost his next two matches, including a 2-1 decision to Owen Edward of John Glenn in the blood round.

Also competing for Indian Valley were freshman Drake Richardson at 106; sophomores Boston Braun at 138, Brett O’Connor at 144 and Bradley Barr at 175; and senior Cadyn Riggs at 190. Riggs, Boston Braun and Brett O’Connor each went 2-2 on the weekend. Barr won one of three matches.

Cambridge ends Braves’ season in district semifinal

The Indian Valley boys basketball team saw its season end March 3 with a 64-51 loss to Cambridge in the East 2 Division IV district semifinals at Tri-Valley.

Cambridge later lost to John Glenn in the district final.

The Braves led 32-26 at halftime, still held the lead late in the third quarter and trailed by one entering the fourth. Cambridge pulled away from there.

Ryker Williams led Indian Valley with 19 points, and Colt James added 14.