Carman, Clear stand atop podium at Top Gun, Alborn wins for girls

By Carol McIntire
Editor
Carrollton and Malvern each crowned a champion at the Alliance Top Gun wrestling tournament Dec. 12 and 23.
Carrollton senior John Carman (138 lbs.) won his second title and Malvern junior Tyson Clear (157) improved on a fourth-place finish last year with the championship title. Both went into the tournament as the No. 1 seed in their weight class.
Carman earned a bye in the first round, met West Branch junior William Brown, posting a 22-second pin before posting an 8-1 decision over Vann Riordan of Perry. Carman advanced to the championship match with a 10-0 major decision over JJ Dodt of Worthington and claimed the title with a 6-1 decision over Jefferson junior Jonathan Bissell.
Clear’s road to the championship opened with three pins: (2:30) over Breck Millen of Minerva 45-second pin of Newcomerstown freshman Mason Shalosky and 2:22 pin over Tri Valley senior Dylan Pierce. An 11-1 major decision of Cregg Ngounou of Owings Mills set up the championship match against Nordonia senior Matt Hamad. Clear finished his title run with a 3:23 fall of the No. 7 seed.
Carrollton seniors Landon Jenkins (106) and Kail Snair (113) both placed second.
Jenkins lost a close 2-1 match to Canton South sophomore Dom Prosperi, the No. 2 seed.
Snair dropped a 13-10 decision to No. 1 seed, Johnny Green of Aurora, in the title match.
Minerva junior Hunter Dietrich (175) was pinned by Harrison junior Dickie Engel (4:37) and placed second. Teammate Mark Mueller (120) place third while Carrollton senior Levi Pidgeon (132) placed sixth. Malvern senior Zach Babiczuk (215) finished fifth.
“All the boys wrestled tough and had some great matches,” commented Carrollton Coach Joe McGee. “It’s a tough tournament and keeping our focus is key. We focused on the match at hand. It’s hard sometimes to not look ahead and when you do that bad things can happen. We’re proud of our guys…they represented our community with pride.”
“I’m very proud of Tyson,” said Malvern Coach Robbie Wilson. “He is our first ever Top Gun champion and he deserves it. He works incredibly hard and is wrestling the best I have ever seen him wrestle right now. To not give up an offensive point through an entire tournament like Top Gun is pretty incredible and we can’t wait to see how he does in the second half of the season.”
“Zach had a great tournament with his only two losses coming to ranked D-1 wrestlers. I’m proud of how far he has come as a wrestler and to see him place at both Hoover and Top Gun his senior year has truly been special,” Wilson said.
 As a team, Carrollton placed 8th in a field of 48 teams.
GIRLS ACTION
Carrollton freshman Riley Alborn won the 190 lb. class with a pin (1:44) over West Branch junior Joselyn Brink.
Freshman Kayleigh Delawder placed second sophomore Izzy Nuzzolillo third at 100 lbs., Alexis Farabaugh fourth at 235 and Raygen Speelman sixth at 135.