First of all, farewell to seniors Phil Corcoran, Ian James, Brayden Kuhling, Lucas Kurzhals, Brady Mentz, Phil Owens, and Michael Yerian. Best of luck to them in all their future endeavors, whether or not that includes wrestling in college. A couple of them were banged up pretty good going into Lebanon even after three weeks off after the State Duals but they decided to gut it out because they wanted to end their high school careers on the mat, wherever that turned out to be; they both made it to Kettering.
The grapplers had a very good year. In duals they tallied a 9-3 record, losing only to Moeller twice and to LaSalle. In tournaments they finished third at the Ryle Raider Rumble, fourth at SWOWCA, fifteenth at Brecksville, third at the CIT, and fourth at the Rieman. They also finished second at the Lebanon sectional and sent 11 to Kettering, where they finished seventh.
Juniors Konner Lambers and Joey Thamann went to the Schott for the third straight year while sophomore Colin Broxterman and senior Lucas Kurzhals went for the first time. Broxterman had a great tournament and placed sixth.
As for next year, here is the Panther lineup Coach Roush used at the Lebanon sectional minus the seniors (all classes mentioned in this and all subsequent paragraphs are as of next year):
106: Colin Broxterman (junior);
113: Brandon Black (junior);
120: Ben Florian (sophomore);
126: Konner Lambers (senior);
132: Joey Thamann (senior);
138:
144: Jake Mentz (senior);
150:
157:
165:
175: Zach Ridner (senior);
190: Carson Williams (senior);
215:
285:
Assuming everyone listed above comes back, it appears that there will be six spots open on next year’s team; in addition, some who wrestled at Lebanon may face a serious challenge for their spot by someone who is listed below. But we must not forget about senior Joey DiTullio, whose season unfortunately was cut short when he suffered an injury during the Moeller dual. Assuming he comes back, then there will be five spots open on next year’s team. Opportunity will come knocking, who will answer and claim a weight?
Those who could be in the hunt for a starting spot next year include seniors Anthony Alter, Nick Kumpf, Tyler Lorenzen, Sam Reinbach, and Marlon Rudolph; juniors Carson Adkins, Joey Carter, Landon Casey, Ben DeMoss, Seb Hignite, Drew King, Trevor Magness, Luke Peace, Grant Pope, Quinn Riechmann, Milton Thomas, and Isaiah Zerilla; and sophomores Gabe Corey, Ben Florian, Major Kittles, Carson Mahaffey, Cooper Moryl, Reyli Reynoso, Vinny Rizzo, Luke Rodenberg, Charlie Staab, Noah Thornton, and Malik Williams. (My apologies if I missed anyone.)
I’m given to understand that once again no incoming freshman will claim a starting spot (although this will not be the case for the ’25-’26 school year).
As for next year’s GCL-S, it’s a familiar refrain: LaSalle once again will be trouble. They will return three of their five ’24 state placers and five other ’24 district qualifiers. The state placers will be seniors Holden Huhn (fourth at 138) and Carson Thomas (champ at 175) and junior Colin Wooldridge (fifth at 190). The Lancers’ other five returning ’24 district qualifiers will be senior D.J. Loveless; junior Alijah Mohanna (also ’23 seventh at 106); and sophomores Declan Hutt, Nick Vivian, and Kaleb Peters.
Moeller will return three ’24 state placers: seniors Londen Murphy (second at 150), Will Adkins (second at 215), and Lucas Stuerenberg (sixth at 285). They also will return ’24 state qualifier junior Noah Jackson.
St. Xavier will return state placer sophomore Kane Shawger (third at 132) and four ’24 district qualifiers: seniors Tommy Maney and Magnus Violet; junior Rocco Pusateri; and sophomore Vinny Soloria.
This is Pantherontheporch signing off from this year’s Panther wrestling thread. Once again it’s been fun following the team. Look for next season’s thread sometime in November. Aloha.