“I didn’t do it last year,” Creager said while showing off his blonde curls. “Then this year came, and I was like, ‘Why not? Just do it.’
“After this week, we’ll see if it goes back dark.”
After this week, the Wildcats are hoping to bring home five state titles.
Campbell, Creager, Berry, Egner and Napier will compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s state boys wrestling tournament this weekend at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center.
“You want 14 there, right?” Franklin third-year coach Hunter Bray said. “We have 22 guys on the roster. I think coaching all 22 is equivalent to coaching five. There are different milestones throughout the year — a lot of highs and a lot of lows. Each one that performs has a high.
“But coaching all five of these guys, they’re awesome, and they make it all worth it.”
Franklin ties the highest total of wrestlers competing at the state tournament in school history.
Campbell, a senior, is 20-3 and will wrestle at 144 pounds. Creager, also a senior, is 25-7 and will compete at 132 pounds.
“No. It’s a feeling you don’t forget,” Campbell said of making his third trip to state. “We train for this time. The whole season, it leads up to March — the month of champions. That’s what we preach and that’s what we believe in. We train to peak at this time, and I think we’ve really shown that over these last couple of years.”
Berry (23-3) is a junior wrestling at 157 pounds, Egner (38-6) is a junior at 126 pounds and Napier (24-13) is a freshman at 106 pounds.
“We keep the main goal the main goal,” said Bray, who was named Southwestern Buckeye League Coach of the Year. “The main goal is the state tournament. The way we get there is preparation and relationship. We prepare we feel harder than anyone else. We care about each other.”
Bray said it isn’t mandatory, but he encourages his wrestlers who didn’t make state to hang around to help the five prepare for this weekend.
“They’ll come with us during the tournament,” the coach said. “I’ll walk with all those guys and do the walk-through and get them familiar as to why they’re working this hard.
“In other words, we’ve gone from two, to three, to five,” Bray added of the increase in state participants since he’s taken over the helm.
“You won’t hear a louder student section with the other guys that we bring with them, either.”
Campbell — the SWBL’s Wrestler of the Year — said making the trip to Columbus with his teammates will be a unique experience.
“It’s awesome,” Campbell said. “Having four more guys with you, it makes it better, and it makes it more special because more people are buying in. More people are continually getting better and growing. It feels good when they’re seeing the results they work so hard for.
“There’s a saying — iron sharpens iron. That’s exactly what’s going on here.”
Egner finished eighth at 120 pounds in his second trip to state last year. This will be Berry’s first state competition, and Napier is just the second freshman in school history to advance to the state tournament.
Creager has bounced back from injuries and an illness to qualify for this year’s state meet.
“It’s really cool — especially to be a part of it,” Creager said. “To walk around school having our hair dyed, like all the wrestlers. It’s cool seeing that. Growing up, nobody really knows wrestling. They think WWE, and so we’re walking around the halls with our dyed blonde hair. I think it’s pretty cool.
“If you want to get better at wrestling, come to Franklin.”
Other area wrestlers competing in the OHSAA state wrestling tournament:
Boys
Division I
Hamilton senior Julius Knowles (43-4), 120 pounds; Monroe senior Nathan Moser (34-10), 132; Lakota West sophomore Wesley Allen (39-13), 138; Edgewood senior Isaiah Nichols (39-4), 150; Lakota East senior Cohen Reip (37-7), 215; Lakota East senior Demetrius Stanley (39-2), 285.
Division II
Franklin freshman Blaine Napier (24-13), 106 pounds; Franklin junior Dareyan Egner (38-6), 126; Franklin senior Junior Creager (25-7), 132; Franklin senior Tucker Campbell (20-3), 144; Franklin junior Jack Berry (23-3), 157.
Girls
Badin freshman Teegan Herrington (37-8), 100 pounds; Lakota East sophomore Camryn Gresham (37-0), 110; Monroe freshman Reagen Hudson (26-9), 110; Hamilton senior Tayley Asher (28-6), 115; Lakota West senior Ali Singleton (36-16), 120; Ross sophomore Caroline Davis (43-8), 120; Lakota East sophomore Makirah Hall (22-12), 125; Lakota West junior Kelsey King (37-2), 125; Lakota East senior Sydney Hall (26-4), 190; Mason freshman Saniya Erzhanova (17-6), 235.
About the Author