COLUMBUS — Ashlynn Brokaw may not consider herself a trailblazer but when the story of Mount Vernon girls wrestling is written, a chapter will almost certainly be devoted to her.
The 105-pound freshman bounced back from a loss in the semifinals Saturday night to win a pair of matches Sunday morning inside Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center.
Her third-place finish is the best for the Yellow Jackets in the two years the girls state tournament has been sanctioned by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
The burgeoning Most Vernon girls program had six wrestlers compete at the Claymont pre-regional tournament.
Brokaw and senior teammate Emma Rinehart, a seventh-place finisher at 115 pounds in the first OHSAA-sponsored state tournament last year, both qualified for state. Rinehart finished one win off the podium this year.
“I love seeing the sport grow,” Brokaw said. “I would say Emma is the trailblazer for girls my age. There are a ton of other girls this year.”
If the next generation of Mount Vernon girls wrestlers is looking for a role model, they need look no further than Brokaw. She beat Washington Court House’s Leah Marine 6-0 in the consolation semifinals, then Columbus Academy’s Cece Reitter 8-4 in the third-place match.
“For coming into the season and just going with the flow, I think getting third is a big accomplishment,” Brokaw said. “I definitely felt like I could bounce back after my loss.
“It’s never been a mental thing for me to come back after a loss.”
It was a big weekend for the Mount Vernon wrestling program in Columbus.
Seven wrestlers qualified for state and six of them won at least one match.
Sophomore 215-pounder Alex Taylor reached the semifinals Saturday night before dropping a heart-breaking 3-1 sudden victory decision to Cincinnati Moeller’s Will Adkins in a match Taylor seemed to control.
Taylor, who placed third as a freshman, finished with a 6-3 win over Springboro’s Aidan Weimer.
“It didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I was in a couple of close matches and I just need to wrestle a little better,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day I’m still proud of what I did. I worked as hard as I could and closed it out with a win.
“Last year I got fortunate in my closer matches to finish third. This year I think I’m a better wrestler. This isn’t my final season and I’m just glad I ended it with a win.”
Taylor’s drill partner, East Knox 190-pounder Blake Elliott, dropped a 5-3 decision to Delta’s Connor Sintobin in the fifth-place match. A junior and three-time state qualifier, Elliott became his school’s first-ever state placer.
“It took me three years to do it but I finally got onto the podium,” Elliott said. “It gives me momentum going into next year.”
It was a good weekend for Corey Firebaugh, who serves as the coach of the Mount Vernon boys and girls and the East Knox boys.
“It started last week. We got five guys, two girls and Blake down here,” Firebaugh said. “We rode that momentum, into Friday and seven of our eight made it into day two. Saturday was a little rough, but we learned from it.
“Having Alex take fifth and finish with a win and Ashlynn taking third, those are things we can build off of. And to have Blake become the first placer for East Knox, that’s pretty cool.”