The polar vortex Mother Nature delivered to the Ohio Valley early Wednesday has forced postponement of the sixth annual Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Bill Hinegardner Dual Meet Wrestling Championships.

Instead of competitions being held Wednesday night and tonight at Brooke High School in Wellsburg and the John Marshall Fieldhouse in Moundsville, all four classes will crown champions on Friday at the same sites.

“Due to the wind chill advisory for Wednesday and Thursday, we are rescheduling the Dual Meet championships for all divisions until Friday,” Meet Director Jim Rocchi said in an email.

According to Rocchi, the lone change will have weigh-ins bumped up to 3 p.m., with wrestling to start an hour later.

Championship matches will be wrestled 20-30 minutes following the completion of the semifinals.

“We did that, basically, to give the Ohio schools involved in our duals and the OHSAA team duals on Saturday some extra time on Friday,” he explained of the time change. “Our policy states that if the OVAC Duals aren’t completed by Saturday, then the top seeds in each division would be declared the champion.

“We wanted to give each school a chance at winning the championship on the mats, so we made the changes.”

The brackets are the same with Class 1A/2A and Class 4A vying for crowns at Brooke High School.

Class 3A and Class 5A will compete in Moundsville.

Class 1A/2A

Bridgeport is the top seed and will meet No. 4 Caldwell in the semifinals. ironically, the same two teams will vie Saturday at Nelsonville-York High School in the Ohio Division III team duals.

The other semi has second-seeded Toronto meeting No. 3 Weirton Madonna.

Class 3A

Shenandoah is the top seed and faces fourth-seeded Linsly, while No. 2 Barnesville matches up with third-seeded Magnolia.

Class 4A

St. Clairsville is the No. 1 seed and will tangle with Buckeye 8 rival Martins Ferry, which was a last-minute replacement for Cambridge. Northern conference rivals Oak Glen (No. 2) and East Liverpool (No. 3) battle in the other half of the bracket.

Class 5A

Wheeling Park finds itself atop the ‘big school’ draw and meets No. 4 Indian Creek in a semi. Second-seeded Steubenville and No. 3 John Marshall do battle in the other semifinal.