History was made during Thursday’s OHSAA state wrestling tournament preliminaries, and Olentangy sophomore Trevor Fiorucci was a part of it.

Wrestling in the 103-pound weight class among Division II competition, Fiorucci, who finished eighth at the showcase last season when Olentangy was a D-I school, opened the tourney by taking on Mantua Crestwood’s Paige Nemec — the first girl to compete at Ohio’s championship meet in the event’s 73 years of existence.

Fiorucci had the advantage most of the match, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period and 5-0 lead in the second before winning 8-0, but Nemec proved to be a tough challenger. Fiorucci nearly had her pinned on two separate occasions, but she twisted out of trouble both times.

With the win, Fiorucci will take on New Richmond’s Austin Skaggs — a 17-9 winner over Wapakoneta’s John Martin — in today’s championship quarterfinals.

Nemec, who was penciled into the consolation bracket with the setback, won her first consolation match, dropping the aforementioned Martin 3-0 to keep her season alive.

And that was just the beginning of what proved to be an exciting day for the Delaware County’s nine state qualifiers, who combined to pick up a slew of early wins.

Olentangy’s other opening-round winners included freshman Anthony McHugh (112 pounds) and Joe Grandominico (145). Already up 10-0, McHugh beat Athens’ Josh Dingess with a pin at the 43-second mark of the third period. He’ll meet up with Defiance’s B.J. Miller, who pinned Beloit West Branch’s Dustin Graham in 3:22, in today’s quarterfinals. Grandominico, who finished seventh as a 140-pound standout among D-I competition at last year’s state meet, cruised past Parma Heights Holy Name’s Jim Klosz 8-3. The win sets up a quarterfinal battle with St. Paris Graham’s Matt Stephens, who pinned Cleveland Benedictine’s Troy Henderson in just 40 seconds to win his prelim.

The county’s other local winner, Orange freshman Artem Timchenko (112), was also a part of history. Not only is he the first Pioneer to get to high school wrestling’s biggest stage, after his 10-5 win over Harrison’s Dillon Campbell, he became the first to win a match at the event — an accomplishment he’ll have for the rest of his life.

With the win, Timchenko will take on Lakewood St. Edward’s Edgar Bright — a 3-2 winner over Youngstown Austintown-Fitch’s Shawn Ague — in today’s Division I quarterfinal action.

For the other five county contenders, the first day of competition wasn’t nearly as smooth. Of the five, Olentangy junior Caleb Hetterscheidt (152) was the only one to bounce back from a first-round loss to win a consolation match and keep his season alive. After losing a tough 3-2 decision to Toledo Central Catholic’s Tony Martin, Hetterscheidt was on the winning side of a 3-2 contest, beating Benjamin Logan’s Skylar Wohlgamuth to advance to the second round of the consolation bracket, slated to face the loser of today’s championship quarterfinal between Ravenna’s Randy Carpenter and Konner Witt.

Those who saw their state tourney experience end earlier than they would have liked included Olentangy senior Brit Yant (140) and junior Al Caserta (125), Big Walnut junior Matt Brown (215) and Liberty’s Ethan Snyder (145).

Yant lost to Lake Catholic’s Matt Free 19-4 before falling to Parma Heights Holy Name’s Erich Scheidel by a slim 2-1 margin in a consolation match; Caserta was pinned by Kenston’s Tre Smith with a minute to go in the first period of their match before dropping a thrilling consolation battle with Wauseon’s Dalton Nicely 8-7; Brown lost to Wapakoneta’s Logan Erb 7-1 before being pinned by Greenfield McClain’s Caleb Cooper in 2:45; and Snyder, competing in Division I, lost to Harrison’s Tyler Griffin 8-6 before falling to Massillon Perry’s Tanner Lemon in a consolation match 14-5.

sports@delgazette.com