Girls state wrestling: Black River's Taylor Owen leads locals with third-place finish at 155 pounds

COLUMBUS — Taylor Owen felt that burn. The Black River junior knew she had it within herself to find a way to end Sunday's fourth annual high school girls state wrestling tournament on a high note at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center. Mission accomplished. Owen came through with a huge seven-point move midway through the third period to break the match open and went on to win 8-5 over Lebanon senior Natalie Carlisle to finish in third place at 155 pounds. The match was scoreless through two periods. Carlisle let Owen escape to start the third period, but Owen knew a 1-0 lead wasn't going hold up. She had faced Carlisle three times previously, going 1-2 including a loss by pin at the Ironman Tournament in December. "It felt awesome. I'm so proud of myself," Owen said. "Going into the third period, I knew it was going to be a battle. Just really working on getting those takedowns is so very crucial. I knew that she was going to come into me strong after letting me go. I fell into the head and arm and I just went for it. I was holding on for dear life there." Carlisle rallied back. She was awarded a penalty point on the back end of Owen's seven points for an illegal hold infraction when her arm slipped. Carlisle then escaped and recorded a takedown, but that was as far as the rally went. "I know I'm competing at a top level," Owen said. "I know I can get first if I really wanted to and put my mind to it." Owen was fourth in the state at 145 in 2024 and seventh at that same weight last year. "This is just fuel. I'm so excited to keep wrestling," she said. "I want it more and I can't wait until next year. I know what I want and I'm going to get it so I'm ready for next year." Owen advanced to the placement match after a tough 3-2 win over Hartley senior Maya Keane in the consolation semifinals. A takedown 28 seconds into the second period was the difference as Keane could only answer with a pair of escapes. "I couldn't be more proud of her," said Black River coach Blake Owen, Taylor's father. "I could tell she got that takedown off the edge of the match that we didn't get scored. I just had that feeling that she was going to be able to get it. Even if it went overtime, I felt like that she was going to be able to get the takedown that we needed to win. "She just wrestled so good this weekend. We knew that (Carlisle) was explosive. We've wrestled her multiple times. It's just great to get the win when it really matter down here." POWERFUL PAIR Elyria sent five wrestlers to the state tournament and finished with two state placers — senior Jaelyn Green (145) finished fourth and senior Emilie Conley (120) placed sixth. Green was pinned by Greeneview junior Lilly Hendricks 41 seconds into her placement match, while Conley was pinned in the second period of her placement match by Clyde sophomore Meredith Greenslade. "Overall, I did all right," said Green, whose fourth-place finish was the highest in program history after eclipsing Riley Banyas' fifth-place finish in the inaugural girls state tournament. "I definitely could have wrestled the last match better obviously. I hate to go out that way, but overall I can't be too upset on my journey and how things went in the end." Green advanced to the placement match with a 4-3 win over Tuscawaras Valley senior Tori Davis. The match was scoreless through two periods before Green broke things open with a takedown 52 seconds into the third. "I feel good. I feel like that I haven't reach my fullest potential yet," said Green, a two-time state qualifier. "I think (coach) Paul (Felton) has honestly played a very long way into getting me to this point. I thank him and credit him for all my success that I've seen as a wrestler. It's going to be sad for me to leave him but I'm glad I've had him here to push me to get this fourth place on the podium. It's been a long path to work on my confidence. It's been a long four years, especially after the first two with the injuries and to get my confidence built back up." Conley had to overcome several injuries. She was sidelined from mid-July until early January while dealing with a knee injury which required surgery for a torn meniscus. Conley was knocked into the placement match after losing by pin at 1:18 to Miamisburg junior Lila Krull earlier in the consolation semifinals. "This is more than I hoped for," Conley said. "I achieved a lot more than I thought going into this season. I didn't get cleared to wrestle until the first week of January. My only goal has been to get down here and I placed. "It felt great getting back to practice. First time back I beat a couple girls that were ranked pretty high in state. It's given me my motivation. It's given me my confidence and let me realize that I really am one of the top girls in the state. I just very happy that I proved it to myself." Felton was proud of what the Pioneers accomplished. "We had a good weekend. We had five girls down here to start," he said. "I thought Jaelyn and Emilie wrestled very well. The other girls as well. They all deserved to be down here. They worked hard all year. I proud of them." PODIUM FINISH Columbia senior Youstina Hanna finished sixth at 140 pounds after being pinned with eight seconds left in her placement match by Marysville senior Cara Leng. "I couldn't be more proud of her effort," Columbia coach Marty Belfi said. "Obviously we would have liked a different outcome. That's why we show up here. Only one person walks away with the top of the podium spot. I think the injury (right ankle sprain suffered in a 13-8 sudden victory overtime win over Salem senior Paige Menough in the quarterfinals) kind of changed the complexion of the weekend for us. But for her to have the guts to come back and keep battling and keep battling says something." Hanna was dropped into the placement match after losing 10-5 to Seneca East junior Kiera Delpinet in the consolation semifinals. "The one thing she said to me afterwards was she wanted to know if she made a difference for our program and girls wrestling in general," Belfi said. "I said we're all proud because you made a difference. She's going to go on. She's going to compete at the next level, live to fight another day kind of deal. Her and Cailyn Demagall, I couldn't be more proud of both for getting down here as seniors, competing, overcoming adversity, everything that the sport of wrestling is supposed to be about. "They're disciplined. They're training partners. The Columbia program is kind of built on their backs. They're cornerstones of where this program is going to go moving forward. We see it already with these girls coming up. Youstina specifically. I've watched the way she's trained. My heart breaks for her because it's not the way she wanted it to turn out, but I know that this is just a stop and not a final destination. Everybody will be reading about her competing in the future." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.