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OVAC Wrestling

64th OVAC Ron Mauck Wrestling Tournament to begin Thursday night at WesBanco Arena

WHEELING — The 64th annual OVAC Ron Mauck Wrestling Tournament will be launched at 6 p.m. on Thursday and approximately 850 bouts will be run off before the last buzzer on Saturday night is sounded. The action will be heated on the eight mats. The tournament will bring to the WesBanco Arena some 500 matmen from 42 high schools. Only 14 of these will be crowned as champions at Saturday evening’s final session. Thursday night’s opening ceremony is at 6, followed by wrestling at 6:30. Friday’s morning session begins at noon and highlights second-round matches. Quarterfinals ...

Wrestlers must sacrifice a lot for their sport

... on the Ultimate Sacrifice Sport What I’m about to share with you are factual events that only wrestlers will truly understand. It is the story of my personal sacrifices as a high school wrestler in Pennsylvania which is only a microcosm of what all committed matmen in my day experienced. As a wrestler, I never thought about the “time sacrifice” I made during my four years as a high school student-athlete. In my day, the school year began after Labor Day and ended before Memorial Day. That equates to nine months. Our wrestling season started at the beginning of November ...

Bridgeport seeks to compete in Class 2A field

By KIM NORTH Times Leader Sports Writer BRIDGEPORT — Things are looking up for the Bridgeport wrestling team. Fifth-year head coach David Nelson has done a tremendous job of getting the numbers back up to par for the youthful Bulldogs as they will fill 12 of the 14 weight classes when the 64th annual Ron Mauck OVAC Tournament begins Thursday inside downtown Wheeling’s WesBanco Arena. The event will run through Saturday night’s championship finals. “I am looking for us to improve on our two placers from last year. We have a good shot of placing three to four wrestlers, ...

Park’s Nash looks to repeat

By KIM NORTH Times Leader Sports Writer WHEELING — Wheeling Park is a very well respected wrestling program, both in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference and the state of West Virginia. The Patriots will be seeking their seventh overall title and second Class 5A championship when the 64th annual Ron Mauck OVAC Tournament gets under way Thursday for a three-day stay inside downtown Wheeling’s WesBanco Arena. However, second-year head coach Clay Tucker, a Martins Ferry graduate and one of only seven, four-time tournament titlists, is well aware of what it takes to be an ...

Union Local ready to endure at OVAC

By RICK THORP Times Leader Sports Writer MORRISTOWN — Zach Powell believes his team endures a tough schedule, so the first-year Union Local head coach hopes his squad is ready to endure the rigors of the 64th annual Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Tournament. Action begins Thursday night at WesBanco Arena and Powell is eager to see how his team performs under the spotlight. ‘‘We wrestle a tough schedule and the OVAC Tournament is just more good competition for us leading up to the sectional, district and state tournaments,’’ Powell said. The Jets are competing in a loaded ...

John Marshall is always a big presence at OVAC

By RICK THORP Times Leader Sports Writer MOUNDSVILLE — Year in and year out, there’s one thing area wrestling fans can count on — John Marshall will have a big presence at the Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Tournament. 2016 should be no exception as Head Coach Ted Zervos has a young, but talented group, headed for downtown Wheeling this weekend for the 64th annual event. ‘‘Competing in the OVAC is a good measuring stick on how the season is progressing,’’ Zervos said. ‘‘I compare it to a midterm test. We use the results to make adjustments for the final stretch of ...