The only previous time the Columbus East wrestlers finished in the top five at the AAU Scholastic Duals, the Olympians ended up placing third as a team at the state finals the following year.
Last weekend, East matched its fifth-place finish from 2017 in the event also known as the Disney Duals in Orlando, Florida. The Olympians’ top team, competing as Fight Barn WC Orange, went 9-3 to finish fifth in the Community 1 division.
“We’re real excited,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “When we did it before, we only had one team, and now, we had two teams. We have a lot of depth, so it’s pretty exciting.”
In the Community Divisions, at least 11 of the 14 wrestlers on a team had to be from one school. The Olympians’ Fight Barn WC Orange team had 12 East kids, along with one each from Floyd Central and Owen Valley.
Fight Barn WC Orange went 3-1 on each of the two days of pool matches. They then went 3-1 in the Gold Bracket on Sunday, beating Lake Gibson (Florida) 35-28, falling to to North Florida Wrestling Academy 37-28 and beating over Wellington (Florida) 49-17 and Westside WC (Florida) 36-32.
Leading the way was recent East graduate Sam Morrill, who is headed to University of Indianapolis to wrestle. Morrill went 12-0 with 11 pins and one major decision at 170 and 182 pounds to earn Gold Level All-American honors.
Morrill’s brother Tommy, who will be a junior, went 11-1 at 220 to earn Silver Level All-American. Noah Lykins, who will be a senior, went 10-2 at 113 to earn Bronze Level All-American.
“Noah Lykins looked great,” Cooper said. “He lost his first two matches and then won 10 in a row. Sam Morrill looked outstanding. Tommy’s only loss was to a nationally-ranked kid, and he beat a Florida state champion and several ranked kids, so he looked pretty good.”
Jaden Durnil (170 and 182) went 9-3, and Tyler Williams (152) went 6-3 to earn Copper Level All-American. Eli Pollitt (145) went 8-4, and Liam Krueger (106), Josh Schrader (195) and Patrick McMahon (285) all went 7-5.
East normally doesn’t take graduated seniors to the Disney Duals, but made an exception for Sam Morrill and Williams this year since last year’s tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Olympians’ second team, Fight Barn WC White, went 6-5 in the Community 2 Division and finished third in the Silver Pool.
Tristan Statler (182 and 195) went 9-2 and earned Bronze level All-American. Jacob White (170 and 182) went 8-3, and Jordan Sutton (152) went 7-3 to earn Copper Level All-American.
Prior to arriving at the Disney Duals, the Olympians made a few stops along the way. They practiced one day at Social Circle, Georgia, and another at Bradenton (Florida) Manatee. They also took part in a two-day camp at Jesuit Prep in Tampa, Florida.
“It was an awesome experience for the kids,” Cooper said. “When we were in Tampa, we went to the beach. They got a lot of time to be with their teammates. Last year, it was a bummer because everything got canceled. This year, it was nice to get out and travel.”
