KARL PEARSON
Fridays are often a brutal day at the state wrestling tournament. Many high hopes are dashed on the rocks of quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
But Edgewood’s Thomas Butryn recovered from some early disappointment and made the most of the rest of his day. Following a loss in Friday morning’s championship quarterfinals, the Warrior senior rebounded with two straight victories to guarantee himself no worse than a sixth place at 125 pounds in Division II.
Butryn will wrestle again at 10 a.m. today to try and secure the best place he can. Two victories today would give him third place, quite an achievement for a wrestler not even ranked going into the weekend.
For the area’s other two state qualifiers, the morning session at Value City Arena was also tough. Conneaut senior Patrick Sanford and Madison freshman Nick Montgomery lost their championship-quarterfinal matches to fall into consolation wrestling.
Undeterred, Sanford and Montgomery came back in the afternoon to win their first matches in consolation wrestling to assure themselves of finishing somewhere in the top eight at their weights. But the evening session was a different story as both lost. They can do no better than seventh when they wrestle again at 11 a.m. today.
Butryn put up a brave fight against projected state runner-up Drew Stone of Oak Harbor in his morning match before dropping a 6-1 decision. He came back in the afternoon to edge Travis von Neumann of Dayton Carroll, 3-2.
That seemed to get his juices flowing. In his first match Friday night, he pinned Norton’s Jordan Westfall in 4:02 to earn a higher position on the awards stand.
Butryn’s two victories Friday make him the first Edgewood wrestler to place at the state tournament since Matt Melaragno in 1998. If he can win both of his matches today, a third place would make him highest-ranked Warrior wrestler of all time, eclipsing the fourth place earned by Jim Dunn in 1973, according to Edgewood athletic director Dave Melaragno.
Butryn was certainly pleased with his status.
“I was just happy to make it down (to state),” he said. “I’m definitely happy to place. Now I want to make the most of it. I think if I stay good on my feet, I can win my matches.”
