Girls wrestler holds bracket sheet
Crestview freshman Naomi Gearheart won a regional championship Sunday in Marysville. She’s the first girls state qualifier in CHS history and will be joined next week by first-time Mapleton qualifiers Taren Kramer and Skylar Hopstetter. Credit: Photo courtesy of Megan Kibler

MARYSVILLE – It was a history-making day Sunday at Marysville High School for Ashland-area wrestling.

For the first time, Crestview and Mapleton qualified individuals to the girls state tournament, as the Cougars’ Naomi Gearheart and the Mounties’ Taren Kramer and Skylar Hopstetter all advanced out of their respective brackets at the Marysville Regional.

It is the fifth season of an official girls-only wrestling state tournament in Ohio – the second sanctioned by the Ohio High School Athletic Association – and the area trio will contend for titles next weekend at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center.

Gearheart continued to tear through her freshman season at 155 pounds. After a 2-0, two-pin day at pre-regionals a week ago, the No. 9-ranked Cougar pinned all four of her opponents Sunday to earn a regional championship.

Skylar Hopstetter (left) and Taren Kramer became the first-ever girls state qualifiers for Mapleton on Sunday at Marysville. (Photo courtesy of Derek Durbin)

Her title match against Fostoria’s 12th-ranked Ariana Espinoza concluded with a pin in 5:25 and was nothing new for Gearheart.

She is now a dominant 27-3 with 26 pins and five tournament titles this season.

Mapleton, meanwhile, celebrated its first two girls state qualifiers as well.

Hopstetter went 3-1 with three pins Sunday at 145 before falling in her title bout by a 6-3 decision to Fremont Ross’ Emma Gutierrez.

The Mountie sophomore, who was third at pre-regionals, is 35-15 this season and has 33 pins.

Kramer, a junior, will join her in Columbus after placing fourth Sunday at 140.

She went 4-2 for the tournament with four pins, battling back through the consolation bracket before eventually falling by pin in the third-place match against Marysville’s 9th-ranked Cara Leng.

Ranked 13th at her weight, Kramer increased her school-record total for pins to 36 a week after winning her pre-regional.

The first Ashland-area girl to qualify to the OHSAA state tournament was Hillsdale’s Lauryn Davis in 2023. She went 1-2 in the 120-pound class.

Beginning in February 2020, the first three seasons of girls state wrestling were sponsored by the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association.

Last year’s first OHSAA state tournament marked the first time the all-girls event was held at the Schottenstein Center.

Doug Haidet is a 20-year resident of Ashland. He wrote sports in some capacity for the Ashland T-G from 2006 to 2018 and has been with the Source since 2023. He and his wife, Christy, are big fans of their...