By Cort Reynolds
COLUMBUS GROVE - Bluffton finished a strong third at the eight-team Northwest Conference championship wrestling meet hosted by Columbus Grove Saturday, February 15.

Defending champion Allen East won its ninth all-time NWC crown with 341 points to easily out-pace second-place Spencerville (223). Bluffton was a close third behind the Bearcats with 218.5 points.

Several Bluffton grapplers enjoyed fine tournaments.

Pirate juniors Tayton Kleman (113) and Jeremy Sturgeon (120) repeated as NWC individual champions with 4-0 records on the day. 

Senior Landen Luginbuhl also won the championship at 220 lbs., finishing the event with a perfect 5-0 mark.

Pirate freshman Thayne Kleman also swept to victory in the 106 lbs. class with a 4-0 record.

Defending Bluffton league champion, sophomore Jackson Wilson, finished second at 182 lbs. with a 4-1 record.

Sophomore Kaden Basil captured third at the 138 lbs. bracket wih a 3-1 record.

Sophomore Elias Mault also took third in the 126 lbs. class, going 3-1 at the event.

Freshman Hunter Sturgeon went 1-3 at 145 lbs. to come in sixth.

Freshman Mason Davis went 2-2 at 132 lbs. to end up sixth. Sophomore Trent Howard finished 1-3 to also come in sixth at 195 lbs.

NWC championships team results:
1.    Allen East    341 points
2.    Spencerville 223    
3.    Bluffton 218.5    
4.    Jefferson 178.5    
5.    Columbus Grove 171
6.    Paulding 159    
7.    Ada 106    
8.    Lincolnview 73

NWC individual placers by weight class:
106 lbs.:
1st Thayne Kleman 9, Bluffton, Fall 0:42
2nd Nyah Hodge Miller 9, Spencerville
3rd Hunter Sidle 10, Allen East, Fall 2:36
4th Charity Schnepp 9, Paulding
5th Nicholas Wolverton 10, Columbus Grove, Dec 9-6
6th Serentity Sites 9, Jefferson

113:  
1st Tayton Kleman 11, Bluffton
2nd Carder Miller 9, Spencerville
3rd Antonio Petitt 9, Ada
4th Tristan Taylor 10, Lincolnview
5th Sheridan Matty 9, Paulding

120:  
1st Jeremy Sturgeon 11, Bluffton
2nd Jordan Kennedy 12, Allen East
3rd Colton Biederman 11, Ada
4th Brendon Schwartz 9, Spencerville
5th Mathew Sigler 10, Columbus Grove

126:  
1st Drake Carmean 11, Allen East, Fall 1:56
2nd Johnathon Brooks 12, Jefferson
3rd Elias Mault 10, Bluffton, tf17-2
4th Luke Kaufman 10, Columbus Grove
5th Isaac Cross*JEF 10, X1, Fall 0:25
6th Hailey Stahl 9, Paulding
7th Marxen Bolinger 9, Spencerville, Fall 4:99
8th Maddy Allen 10, Lincolnview

132:  
1st Jordan Mudel 12, Paulding, Dec 9-3
2nd Anthony Bodine 10, Jefferson
3rd Jacob Hershberger 9, Allen East, Dec 9-6
4th Grayson Ford 12, Spencerville
5th Landen Schroeder 9, Columbus Grove, Fall 3:12
6th Mason Davis 9, Bluffton
7th Corbin Wannemaker*PLD 9, X1, Default
8th Evan Hefner 9, Lincolnview

138:  
1st Kade Wireman 9, Allen East, Default
2nd Jay Goetz 12, Spencerville
3rd Kaden Basil 10, Bluffton, Fall 2:03
4th Dawson Lamb 9, Paulding
5th Cody Redmon 10, Jefferson, Fall 1:15
6th Dylan Anthony*JEF 12, X3
7th Vanius Carnauba*BL 9, X2, Fall 2:58
8th Alfonso Casiono*PLD 9, X1

145:  
1st Gage Wireman 9, Allen East, Dec 7-1
2nd Garrett Jones 12, Spencerville
3rd Taylor Thompson 12, Jefferson, Fall 3:21
4th Brody Fisher 10, Paulding
5th Joe Kohli 10, Columbus Grove, Fall 0:37
6th Hunter Sturgeon 9, Bluffton
7th Donnie Riorden*JEF 9, X2, Fall 2:37
8th Cole Anspaugh 11, Ada

152:  
1st Chase Miller 10, Allen East, Fall 1:41
2nd Reece Evans 12, Ada
3rd Nate Brown 12, Jefferson, Forfeit
4th Emerson Layman 9, Spencerville
5th Dillon Bryan 9, Columbus Grove, md13-3
6th Joe Roman*CG 12, X1
7th Jeremiah Smith 10, Paulding, Dec 10-3
8th Anden Blankemeyer*CG 9, X4

160:  
1st Blake Hershberger 11, Allen East, Fall 0:53
2nd Dylan Bowyer 9, Lincolnview
3rd Ben McKee 12, Jefferson, Fall 2:42
4th Justin Flanders*CG 11, X1
5th Cameron Bober 11, Ada, Fall 2:29
6th Kelvin Ankney 10, Paulding
7th Tanner Blankemeyer 11, Columbus Grove, Fall 0:33
8th Preston Hull*PLD 11, X2

170:  
1st Ezra Jones 11, Columbus Grove, Fall 0:49
2nd Caleb Welch 11, Allen East
3rd Tyler Ulrey 9, Lincolnview, Dec 9-4
4th Reyce Robey*SP 9, X1
5th Carson Roberts 9, Spencerville, Fall 0:42
6th Joey Dailey 10, Jefferson
7th Kyle Mattson 9, Ada, Dec 9-6
8th Cayden Breier 9, Paulding

182:  
1st Cole Mabis 12, Paulding
2nd Jackson Wilson 10, Bluffton
3rd Ryan Bogart 11, Columbus Grove
4th Devin Anspach*AE 11, X1
5th Heath Gaskill 10, Spencerville
6th Ethan Boday 12, Allen East

195:  
1st Garrett Neth 12, Allen East, Fall 2:13
2nd Kane Plescher 12, Jefferson
3rd Riley Coil 12, Paulding, Fall 4:03
4th Reuben Noriega 11, Spencerville
5th Andrew Schafer 9, Columbus Grove, Dec 3-2 UTB
6th Trent Howard 10, Bluffton

220:  
1st Landen Luginbuhl 12, Bluffton, Dec 2-1 TB
2nd Eli Criblez 9, Allen East
3rd Darius Clark 12, Spencerville, Fall 1:56
4th Alek Winner*AE 10, X1
5th Jonathan McClain 11, Ada, Fall 2:40
6th Eli Kill 9, Jefferson

285:  
1st Jeff Meyer 11, Columbus Grove, Dec 5-3 UTB
2nd Brennan Davies 12, Allen East
3rd Brandon Dues 11, Spencerville, Fall 2:36
4th Louis Ulrey 11, Lincolnview
5th Noah Arnett 12, Ada, Fall 0:53
6th Braeden Pease 12, Paulding

The Div. III sectionals at Lima are set for February 28-29.