COLUMBUS—Lutheran West’s Catie Kerr and Paris Willis survived the first day of the 2023 OHSAA state wrestling championships at the Schottenstein Center on Friday.
Kerr and Willis have competed at the state tournament in previous seasons, but this year, the OHSAA sanctioned girls wrestling in the state and for the first time, the girls are competing alongside the boys on the state’s biggest stage.
Kerr, who placed fourth at the Ohio Wrestling Coaches’ Association state tournament last season and has qualified for the state tournament four years in a row, opened her one and only run at an OHSAA state title with a 45-second pin of Findlay’s Emily Caton to improve to 42-4 on the year.
On Saturday, she’ll wrestle Washington Court House Washington’s Lyndyn Gibbs (40-3) in a rematch of last season’s third-place match. Gibbs won that bout by fall.
Willis, making her second appearance at the state tournament after placing eighth last season, dropped her first bout on Friday to Bethel-Tate’s Chloe Vining, 6-3, despite leading 3-2 with 37 seconds left in the match.
Vining was awarded two third-period penalty points after Willis was hit for stalling and then an escape gave her a 4-3 lead with 16 seconds remaining. Willis attempted a last-second takedown, but Vining spun behind her to close out the match.
Willis then flattened Napoleon’s Tia Leahy in a first-round consolation bout to keep alive her hopes of earning All-Ohio honors. She’ll wrestle the loser of the quarterfinal bout between Rossford’s Audrey Garcia and Findlay’s Kate Simmons.
Lutheran West’s Nat Rodriguez bowed out of the tournament with two losses on the first day and Harvey’s Melany Herrrara’s state tournament run ended Friday night after dropping back-to-back matches. She finished seventh in the state last winter.
