Findlay's Hanes, L-B's Parmelee each win titles at FIGHT

FINDLAY – In four short years Ben Kirian has put together the largest high school girls wrestling tournament in the country.And he may just be getting started."If we can make a couple of adjustments, maybe with the date, we can get even more teams," Kirian said Saturday during the finals of the fourth annual Findlay Invitational Girls High School Tournament (FIGHT)."There's lots more teams that want to come. What's stopping them now is that it's finals week for a lot of schools, and for some it's the travel cost so close to Christmas."Eighty-one teams, most from Ohio and the Midwest but some from as far away as Colorado, journeyed to Findlay for the latest FIGHT event. The field of over 650 wrestlers included state campions and national qualifiers in virtually every weight division.Findlay's McKenna Hanes and Liberty-Benton's Evie Parmelee made the most of their opportunities and battled their way to the top of the podium in winning individual championships. Findlay's Julia Bollenbacher placed fourth.Kirian, head coach of both the Findlay High boys and girls programs, said the biggest benefit of the weekend is the level of competition, and to that end he entered 20 of his wrestlers in the 14 weight divisions."The caliber of competition has been fantastic," Kirian said."The girls get a taste of where they're at, what they need to work on. Even when they get eliminated, they spend time watching other wrestlers. I've seen a lot of team bonding, which is what we want. They're over on the side screaming and yelling for each other, building that team feel."Hanes and Parmelee pinned their way to their individual titles.Hanes won four straight matches, all with first-period pins, then went a bit longer in the 235-division final before stopping Archbold's Gabby Oregon in 4:55.Parmelee, who was sixth in last year's state meet, also dominated at 190. Following a first-round bye, Parmelee dispatched her next four opponents with pins. Her fifth pin was one of her fastest, needing just 58 seconds in beating Sophia Harris of Benjamin Logan High School for the championship.Bollenbacher, wrestling at 170, also opened with three straight pins. She lost her fourth match, 8-2, to Analize Tapla of Lowell, Mich., then beat Amara Crawford of Jay County, Indiana by the same 8-2 score.In the match for third and fourth place, Bollenbacher fell 10-0 to Evelyn Krauss of Delaware Hayes.Though not placing among the top eight, Findlay had several other wrestlers post winning records against elite competition.Audrey Whitener went 4-2 in the 140-pound division, while Connelly West (170), Natalie Winans (235) and Dhani McCray (155) all went 3-2. McKenzie Milam (125) posted a 2-2 record, and Aalylah Romero (145), Arylah Gray (135), Diego Tisdale (140), Ellyse Cunningham (170), Emmalynn Strausbaugh (120), Kendall Munson (190) and Rah'Jia Williams (135) all won at least one match."I thought all of our girls wrestled really well," Kirian said."I think the top end quality of this tournament is exceptional. The kids coming to this tournament know if they can place here, they can go to state just about anywhere."Liberty-Benton's Bella Flippin also had a good tournament. Flippin lost her first match in the 145-pound bracket, then ripped off four straight wins, finishing with a 4-2 record in the event.L-B's Abigail Jones (170) was 2-2, and Addison Fleck (170) and Cecilia Claypool (110) went 1-2.Olentangy Orange scored 223.5 points to win the 2025 FIGHT team championship. Whiteland County, Ind. was second (187.5) and William Henry Harrison third (173.5), with Lebanon (144.0), Garrett, Ind. (142.0), Marysville (141.5) and Delaware Hayes (140.0) in a heated battle to make the top five.Findlay finished 14th (95.5), Liberty-Benton 28th (58.0) and Patrick Henry 57th (24.0) in the standings. BOYS WRESTLINGLIMA – Bluffton won two individual titles early on and one at the end and placed third in the team standings at the Allen County Wrestling Meet held at Lima Bath on Saturday.Ronald Kaufman (120), Branden Cross (126) and Mason Shank (285) won individual tiles for Bluffton.Kaufman scored an 18-3 tech fall over Langston McClain of Allen East in the championship match, Cross pinned Lima Senior's Corbin Phillips in 3:23, and Shank pinned Elida's Adrian Timmerman in 1:09 in their finals.Bluffton's Alex Nance (132), Micah Rehm (157) and Jesus Rivera (190) placed second in their weight classes. Hephaestion Weyer (138) was fourth, Braylin Freels-Aller (215) fifth and Hunter Beasley (144) sixth.Allen East edged Elida 257.5-237.5 for the team title. Bluffton (216.5) was a close third in the 11-school field.