2009 OHIO STATE FAIR NATIONAL TOURNAMENT
The 42nd annual national amateur boxing tournament at the Ohio State Fair concluded Saturday with Zanesville winning in four different divisions.
Travis Jerig defeated Caliph Smith Jr. of Cincinnati in the junior Olympic intermediate (13-14) division at 114 pounds to cinch his fourth national championship.
Jerig won 5-0 on the scorecards leaving no doubt of his desire to finish on top.
Michael Roark defeated Byron Washington of Dayton for the junior Olympic senior (15-16) division 154 pound title. His score was 5-0 but was far from
easy as Washington made it close. The victory marks Roark’s second national championship. He beat Dylan Ward of Columbus in his semifinal.
Jessi Dunlap made her first national event count by winning in the junior Olympic female senior division at 125 pounds. She was able to defeat the #2 ranked
nationally Cassandra Nieves of Cleveland by a score of 4-1. Nieves was fast but Dunlap was faster racking up the score late in the match for the championship.
Jacob Luckett made his first national championship in the junior Olympic bantam division at 65 pounds by defeating Camari Mays of Toledo. Luckett hit the
juice from the start for a score of 5-0 for the victory. He beat Shawn Ruiz of Indiana in his semifinal match.
Ken Todd Jr. and Akeem Mayle both made it to the final round trying to back up victories from the 2008 state fair. Todd at 132 pounds made it to the finals
by defeating Tony Thornton of Cincinnati only to lose by a split decision to Mikail Jones also of Cincinnati. Mayle defeated Kristian Wiggins of Cincinnati only to lose
his final against Juan Moreno of Toledo at 95 pounds.
Josh Newton defeated Jo Vonie McLendon of Dayton in men’s novice super heavyweight action only to be defeated in the semifinals by Ashwin Trail of
Philadelphia. Newton was third in the tournament when Trail went on to win in the finals.
David Lightfoot lost against Raymond Featherstone in men’s open 154 pound division to take third in the event when Featherstone went on to win. Lightfoot
marked his first entry into open men’s due to his age becoming 17. Lightfoot previously won the Ohio State Fair as a junior in 2006.
Also competing for the Zanesville team were Paul Ingle, Chris Hasten and Rashaan Johnson. They all competed for the first time at the fair and were defeated
in the preliminary rounds.
In all there were eleven from Zanesville PAL that competed making for the largest representation in the state fair tournament ever. There were 191 entries in the
boxing tournament sanctioned by USA Boxing.
