Magical Title Runs at the OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament
Out of the 42 crowned champions, some had to overcome significant hurdles to earn their titles. Below, we highlight four wrestlers who defied the odds to achieve their magical championship runs. What’s particularly impressive is that none of these wrestlers won their district championships.
Probability of winning each match based on their Elo Ratings prior to the match
| Wrestler | Champ Rd 1 | Champ Quarters | Champ Semi | 1st Place Final | Prob Win Title |
| Trent Fulgham (Circleville) | 13% | 54% | 18% | 47% | 1% |
| Karson Brown (St Edward) | 44% | 42% | 30% | 32% | 2% |
| Tyler Shellenbarger (Mogadore) | 40% | 55% | 36% | 36% | 3% |
| Eugene Harney (Sycamore) | 55% | 22% | 53% | 59% | 4% |
Trent Fulgham (1% probability)
Up first is Trent Fulgham, a senior heavyweight from Circleville who placed fourth at his district. His probability of winning the title stood at 1 percent! He had a Cinderella run to the title, pulling off upsets in the first round over DubStat’s #4 Allen (Buckeye), then toppling #11 Burch (Bowling Green) and #1 Baldridge (West Holmes) before exacting revenge on #5 Pletcher (New Lexington) in the finals.
(Fulgham is also featured in “Unleashing the Underdogs”)
Karson Brown (2%)
Karson Brown also had a tough path to his championship, taking down #8 Lambers (Elder), #1 Rohr (Massillon Perry), and #3 McKinney (Elyria). However, Brown may have been underrated coming into the tournament due to the Elo Rating system’s failure to properly account for his out-of-state matches. This is something I hope to address in future iterations of the system.
Tyler Shellenbarger (3%)
Tyler Shellenbarger of Mogadore also strung together an impressive series of victories, earning four straight decisions over #5 Hitchcock (Mechanicsburg), #8 Fox (Coldwater), #1 Nzekwe (Beachwood), finishing with a dramatic two-point overtime win over #3 Thomas (Harrison Central) in the finals.
Eugene Harney (4%)
And last but certainly not least, Eugene Harney (Sycamore) drew #1 Wynton Denkins (Perrysburg) in the quarterfinals after losing to #3 Kleinberg (Springboro) in the district finals. Although bloody and bruised, Harney emerged victorious and went on to win his final two matches of the tournament against #6 Glitz (Massillon Perry) and #5 Eaton (St. Eds).
Fulgham and Harney’s Unique Runs
The below graphic highlights the title runs of Trent Fulgham and Eugene Harney.
On the other end of the scale…
….Joey Blaze, Marcus Blaze, Jaxon Joy, and Max Shulaw entered the State tournament with the highest probability of clinching titles.
Incidentally, these four wrestlers also found themselves atop the 2023 Most Dominant Wrestlers leaderboards.