COLUMBUS — Unless you have ever been to the state wrestling tournament in Ohio you don’t truly understand the caliber of wrestlers that are showcased on the mat.

In a three-day grind you have 672 wrestlers from the three classifications.

“To get better you have to wrestle better competition,” St. Clairsville coach Jay Michael said in an earlier column I did this season.

Coach Michael may not have realized it, but his quote is a huge understatement. Being able to wrestle this caliber of guys on a regular basis separates the boys from the men. The teams that are making an impact this weekend – St. Edward, St. Paris Graham, Marion Pleasant and Troy Christian to name a few – are the ones who face the best of the best week in week out.

When the Schottenstein Center fills up to its 15,000 -lus crowds those guys don’t blink an eye because they are used to big crowds as they wrestle at Medina, Top Gun, North Canton and many other difficult wrestling tournaments.

The OVAC tournament is a great preparation for the state with regard of number of people that could potentially be in the house, but the caliber is nowhere near in comparison.

This is why it is good for underclassmen to experience the state tournament.

This weekend alone we have OVAC champs and OVAC runner-ups come up short and it isn’t because they are not capable of winning big matches. It is because they need more mat experience against stiffer competition on a regular basis.

St. Clarisville’s Dominic Prezzia, a freshman well beyond his years, had a great run in his first state tournament. The Red Devils’ grappler shocked Sandusky St. Mary’s Mark Costello, a district champion, in the opening round of competition Thursday. Being in matches before, the OVAC runner-up wasn’t used to having to wrestle that many good matches in a row which can really wear on the body. The result ended up with Prezzia checking out in his next two bouts, both by pin fall.

Red Devil teammate Dillon Nolte is another young grappler that wasn’t able to pick put together a set of matches together to make it to the podium rounds. The Red Devils’ sophomore checked out after two bouts, but his experience will prepare him for next year’s campaign.

Another OVAC wrestler that wasn’t able to make it to the podium was Bellaire OVAC champion Erik Canter at 130-pounds. The Big Reds’ junior managed to pick up a close 6-4 first round win, but wasn’t as lucky to keep the steam going as he advanced. The scrappy Canter gave it everything he had attacking his opponents, but was unable to create enough offense to advance on losing the next two consecutive matches.

Barnesville standout Kurtis Jefferis hit stride when every prep wrestler wants to – going into the sectional, district and state tournaments. Jefferis positioned himself into the state tournament by earning silver honors in the Heath district, but that was all the Shamrock sophomore had left.

After winning in the preliminary round bout Jefferis wasn’t able to muster up another victory as he lost a pair of consecutive decisions by a total of six points.

Harrison Central is another example of having underclassmen gaining invaluable experience at the state tournament.

Coach Todd Dunlap may not of known what to expect taking over the Huskies’ mat program this season, but he has done an extraordinary job with the wrestlers he was left.

The first year coach took four non-seniors to the state and had three of them check out earlier than he may have wanted.

Sophomore Darin Heavilin (103), junior Rob Eddy (140) and sophomore Jake Mallernee (189) were all rookies at the state tournament this year and didn’t have what it took to make the podium, but they took home experience.

Heavilin and Mallernee’s two and outs showed them what they need to do to prepare for the next level while. Eddy, who had a little bit more success, knocking off freshman sensation Matt Stephens of St. Paris Graham had possibly the best match of his career, but his body wasn’t used to being pushed in that way three more times to earn state gold. Instead the Huskies’ grappler went to his back to pocket a pair of pins and I am not talking about pins in his favor.

Martins Ferry is another squad that hopes to learn from its losses as juniors Matt Shreve and Steve Woodford checked out earlier for coach Jeff Oberdick. The bash brothers on the mat were relatively unknown entering into the 2007-2008 season before shocking a large crowd at Wheeling’s WesBanco Arena during the OVAC tournament.

These Purple Riders have grown very much in a short time and are exciting to watch on the mat. Both will now have to take their two and out experience at the state and apply it to next season if they plan to be able to bring themselves up to this level of competition.

So always remember, there is always someone out there better than you and the state tournament proves that every year to many young OVAC grapplers.

However, there is one silver lining in all of these scenarios – they all have another shot next season.

Cook can be reached at bcook@timesleaderonline.com