Legacy Christian started its wrestling program five years ago and began to build with sixth through eighth graders. Those wrestlers make up the core of the team.
“We changed our name from Xenia to Legacy Christian, and I think that was a great change,” said assistant coach Jason Brown, who runs the offseason program. “We’re going to try to create the legacy over there with our program. And I think we’re on a good start.”
Gavin Brown, a senior, won his third title at 150 pounds. He won at 126 in 2019 and 145 last year. Only the COVID shutdown of the 2020 state tournament stopped Brown from joining the elite list of Ohio wrestlers with four state crowns. Teammates junior Dillon Campbell (120) and senior Camron Lacure (138) won for the second straight year. Also placing for the Knights were Nick Alvarez (third, 165), Eli Campbell (fourth, 113), Logan Attisano (fourth, 126) and Boede Campbell (eighth, 144).
Brown, Lacure, Alvarez and Attisano were part of that middle-school group and will wrestle at the Division I level in college. Brown is going to Ohio State, Alvarez to Franklin & Marshall, Attisano to Air Force and Lacure to Campbell.
Other Division III state champions were Miami East’s Max Shore (126), Troy Christian’s Connor Havill (175) and Greenon’s Trevor Stewart (215).
The top area finisher in Division I was Wayne junior Josh Padilla, who was the runner-up at 285, falling 1-0 in the final. He placed eighth last year.
Centerville had the highest team finish at 15th with 33 points. Senior Luke Acuna led the Elks with a third-place finish at 126. He was eighth last year. Senior Damion Ryan finished fifth at 126 for the second straight year. Aydan George placed eighth at 165.
Springboro was 17th with 29 points. Myles Johnson led the Panthers with a third-place finish at 190. Conner Kleinberg was eighth at 138.
Lakewood St. Edward won the Division I team crown for its 35th state title and seventh in a row.
Graham had four champions and two runners-up to roll to its 21st straight Division II title and 23rd overall with 176 points. Aurora was second with 95. Graham was led by two-time winner Beric Jordan (106) and first-time winners Brogan Tucker (113), Carter Neves (215) and Nolan Neves (285).
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