Girls wrestling: Columbia's Youstina Hanna wins home tournament for first time in final try

COLUMBIA — There was plenty of success to be had for the local teams at the Lady Raider Invitational on Saturday, but no one had a better day than Columbia senior Youstina Hanna. In her final home tournament, the two-time state qualifier finally got a home victory at the tournament after finishing second in each of the last two seasons. She was awarded with MVP honors. "It's so fun to do it in front of my home crowd," Hanna said. "I was crying after the win, just because it was my last home tournament, and I'm a senior, so it was awesome." Hanna won four of five matches by pin, with three coming in under two minutes. In the final at 140 pounds, she faced Elyria senior Jaelyn Green, who was down a weight class, and after the two battled to a scoreless tie in the first period, Hanna scored a takedown halfway through the second and finished the match with a pin. "I was just feeling her out a little bit in the first period to see how she reacted," Hanna said. "And then I knew I could get to the leg and finish, so I just did that and I got the opportunity to pin." It was an emotional win for Hanna, who only started wrestling in eighth grade and has spent her entire wrestling career at Columbia. "Columbia literally built me," she said. "I started wrestling in eighth grade, and they're my biggest supporters. My coaches are like my family, and my teammates are like my sisters. It just means so much, and I'm so thankful to be a part of this. I just hope I leave an impact on this program." There was only one other local wrestler who won her weight class, and it came in the first final of the day, with Avon Lake's Destiny Cabot winning the title at 100 pounds. She won each of her first three matches by pin in under a minute before winning a 6-2 decision over Pickerington North's Kenleigh Ballance in a final she led by a point in the final minute before getting a late takedown to secure the victory. "I felt her trying to throw me, and I broke her grip," Cabot said. "So when she tried to throw me, she went back and I got my takedown. Then I looked at the clock and there were 30 seconds left, so I just tried to get my legs in and keep her down." Cabot also recorded her 100th career win with a 51-second pin of Oberlin's Rose Boyer in the semifinal. Unsurprisingly, the local team that finished the highest was Elyria, which placed third behind Gahanna Lincoln and Delaware Hayes, despite not having a single weight class champion. The Pioneers reached the finals at 110 pounds, 120, 140, 190 and 235. "The girls that we have in the lineup, they're tough," said Elyria coach Paul Felton. "They're working hard, and as I've said time and time again, it's one match at a time. And we wrestled well up until that final round. It was tough, but I don't think we were projected to win any of those matches." The next two local teams in the standings were Avon Lake in fourth and Columbia in seventh, followed by Oberlin in a tie for 13th, North Ridgeville in 23rd, Keystone in 24th, Wellington in 27th and Clearview in 29th. Contact Will Cunningham at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. TEAM SCORES: 1. Delaware Hayes 215.5, 2. Gahanna Lincoln 162.5, 3. Elyria 135.5, 4. Avon Lake 103, 5. Brush 99, 6. Mentor 86, 7. Columbia 78.5, 8. Northwestern 66, 9. Beachwood 56. 10. Valley Forge 53.5, 11. Brunswick 51, 12. Brecksville 46, 13. North Royalton 44, 13. Oberlin 44, 15. Lutheran West 38, 16. Garrett Morgan 33, 17. Norwalk 30, 18. Roosevelt 29, 19. Cuyahoga Falls 27, 20. Eastlake North 26, 21. Pickerington North 24, 22. Mapleton 23.5, 23. North Ridgeville 18, 24. Keystone 10, 25. Padua 8, 26. Olmsted Falls 6, 27. Wellington 4, 28. North Olmsted 2, 29. Clearview 0. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: 100 – CHAMPIONSHIP: Destiny Cabot (Avon Lake) dec. Kenleigh Ballance (Pickerington North), 6-2. THIRD: Abi Forsythe (Delaware Hayes) tech. fall Rose Boyer (Oberlin), 17-2. 105 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Mya Webb (Beachwood) dec. Maiya Corbin (Delaware Hayes), 4-1. THIRD: Virginia Jordan (Avon Lake) tech. fall Isabella Trujillo (Elyria), 15-0. 110 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Anna Tsirambidis (North Royalton) pin Olivia Campbell (Elyria), 3:16. THIRD: Maddie Beaumier (Mentor) pin Lynneyya Anthony (Brush), 3:56. 115 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Penny Edwards (Roosevelt) pin Temperance Martinez (Eastlake North), 2:30. THIRD: Lahni Danzy (Delaware Hayes) pin Kai'Lianna Preston (Garrett Morgan), 0:19. 120 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Elana Quigley (Lutheran West) pin Bianca Craig (Avon Lake), 1:31. THIRD: Bri Popovich (Cuyahoga Falls) pin Azariah East (Oberlin), 0:16. 125 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Taylor Flynn (Delaware Hayes) dec. Ravenna Guidicelli (Elyria), 4-2. THIRD: Sarah King (Brunswick) pin Milo West (Mentor), 0:29. 130 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Anna Madi (Brecksville) pin Mina Gee (Gahanna Lincoln), 1:15. THIRD: McKayla Herda (Mentor) pin Andi Gambal (Delaware Hayes), 1:34. 135 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Kaylee Cherry (Northwestern) pin Brooklyn Prior (Beachwood), 0:46. THIRD: Kaylen Martin (Avon Lake) pin Chloie Garver (Gahanna Lincoln), 2:46. 140 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Youstina Hanna (Columbia) pin Jaelyn Green (Elyria), 3:29. THIRD: Skylar Hopstetter (Mapleton) tech. fall Nia West (Brush), 16-1. 145 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Josselin Sexton (Delaware Hayes) pin Olivia Ellis (Northwestern), 1:46. THIRD: Sydney Kemeliotis (Mentor) pin Ella Sabo (Brunswick), 0:25. 155 — CHAMPIONSHIP: KyLee Tibbs (Gahanna Lincoln) pin Brooklyn Baskin (Brush), 1:03. THIRD: Cailyn Demagall (Columbia) pin Joanna Torres (Valley Forge), 4:44. 170 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Amari Johnson (Brush) dec. Jordan Mills (Gahanna Lincoln), 13-8. THIRD: Evelyn Krauss (Delaware Hayes) pin Allison Dennis (Norwalk), 2:39. 190 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Mykah Bailey (Gahanna Lincoln) pin Kira Maassen (Elyria), 4;17. THIRD: Johanna Bogan (Garrett Morgan) pin Elianna Steele (Brush), 0:38. 235 — 1. Hadeel Abuqbitta (Valley Forge), 2. Khloee Washington (Elyria), 3. Evelyn Bowman (Delaware Hayes), 4. Alyssa Keener (Columbia), 5. Alyssa Mansfield (Cuyahoga Falls).