COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In a repeat of the 2018 OHSAA Individual Wrestling State Tournament, Lakewood St. Edward, St. Paris Graham and Genoa Area took home titles in their respective divisions at the 2019 OHSAA Dual Team Wrestling State Tournament on Sunday at St. John Arena.
Lakewood St. Edward won its fourth OHSAA Division I Dual Team Wrestling Championship in the tournament's seventh year in existence. The Eagles came up just short in 2018, falling to St. Paris Graham 28-23 in the finals. In this year's tournament, St. Edward defeated Dublin Coffman 60-15 in the quarterfinal, Brecksville-Broadview Heights 40-17 in the semifinals and beat top-seeded Cincinnati LaSalle 29-28 in the finals. The one-point margin of victory is the smallest in OHSAA Dual Team Wrestling State Tournament history. The win brings the Eagles' total number of wrestling state championships in both the team and individual tournaments to an OHSAA record 36.
Last year, utilizing a new OHSAA rule giving teams the option to wrestle up in division, St. Paris Graham won its first Division I wrestling title at the 2018 Dual Team tournament. This year, Graham chose to stay in Division II and the end result remained the same. On its way to a seventh straight dual team championship, top-seeded Graham defeated London 62-8 in the quarterfinals, Sandusky Perkins 58-13 in the semifinals and Aurora 38-24 in the finals. Graham's 2019 title gives the program 27 championships between the team and individual state tournaments.
For the second-consecutive year, the Genoa Area Comets are the OHSAA Division III Dual Team Wrestling State Champions. En route to its third-straight OHSAA wrestling tournament state title (2018 team, 2018 individual, 2019 team), Genoa broke two OHSAA division III dual team tournament records. In its quarterfinal match, Genoa defeated Marion Pleasant 72-6, setting the mark for the highest preliminary round point total and margin of victory. Genoa continued with a win over Rootstown 55-13 in the semifinals, and victory over Milan Edison 52-23 in the finals.