NW District Division III going to six sectionals

By Jamie Baker
Lots and I mean lots to cover today, especially since this is the offseason for wrestling and we are deep in the heart of summertime.
We’ll save the biggest news for last because it will take a bit of an explanation.
— Former Eastwood coach Ralph Cubberly is on the move again. He was headed to Urbana to coach, now he has taken the head coaching job at Defiance replacing Josh Neilson. Here’s the story from the Defiance Crescent-News. And another story from the Bowling Green Sentinel Tribune.
— Here’s an interesting story from the Plain Dealer on former Olympian and Ohio State NCAA champion Mark Coleman and his UFC career. Coleman is a Fremont St. Joseph graduate, I remember playing football against him in high school.
— Bellevue’s Joe Miller had committed to wrestle at Tiffin University. You can read a story about that here in the Bellevue Gazette.
— Here’s a story on Oak Harbor’s wrestlers finishing fourth at the Disney Duals. It was in the Fremont News-Messenger.
— Lima Senior is seeking a head wrestling coach/program coordinator. Former coach Josh Ingles is now the new head coach across town at Lima Shawnee. Candidates must hold a current Pupil Activity Supervisor Permit as required by the Ohio Department of Education. Interested persons may address information to: Jim Offenbaker, Athletic Administrator, Lima Senior High School, 1 Spartan Way, Lima, OH 45801.
— Last week’s post chronicled all of the teams in the NW District that will be going up or down a division.
Well, lets just say I got an email from a well-informed source that let me know that at least for this two-year cycle Division III in the Northwest District will be split into six sectionals instead of five. The split was possible because of the number of teams that dropped down from Division II to Division III this time around.
There are 65 Division III schools in the NW District and they will be split into six sectionals. That means there will be some serious shuffling to make up a new sectional at a brand new site and the district board would like to make them one-day sectional tourney. Because the NW District gains a sectional in Division III, it means another district loses a sectional site and it will be the Southwest District.
It will be a crowded affair in the SW District. They have already posted their sectional assignments for next season. The Sidney Lehman sectional will feature 20 schools and the Clinton Massie Sectional will have 23 schools. Here’s a link to the list because, honestly, I’m too lazy to type them all up. I feel bad for those schools, but then again, they made their own bed by not being able to field enough wrestlers to qualify as a team.
So next year, four NW sectionals will make up the Owens CC District and two will be sent to Kettering for the Division III district there. The following year, the SW district schools will come north to compete with the NW District teams at a site yet to be determined somewhere in the NW District. I’d love to see the University of Findlay host the district at the Koehler Center.
As for Divisions I and II, they will remain the same in the NW District.