CINCINNATI- The 2010 Junior Olympics Ohio state boxing
tournament finished Sunday with two Zanesville athletes winning gold medals.
Travis
Jerig defeated Dominique Jones of Lima in his intermediate division 125-pound
final.Jerig took command early and
continued cinching up the power scoring two standing eight counts before the
referee was forced to stop it in the third round for the state championship by
technical knockout.
PAL
Zanesville’s head coach T. J. Hartmeyer reported that Jerig had probably his
best effort in his four plus years and almost sixty fight amateur record in the
tournament.“Travis used more skills,
more speed and more power than I have ever seen him put into one fight for
this.His dedication and hard work in
training and at school are among the best I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Dylan
Eitnier was unopposed at 154-pounds in the senior division earning him the
state championship gold.Eitnier was
disappointed in the withdrawal of opponents in his division but pleased with
the prospect of representing Ohio at upcoming regional competition.
Zanesville’s
only other senior division boxer Michael Roark was heavily contested at 165
pounds.He defeated Fremont’s Edward
Chavez in the semifinals 5-0 and met Dante Witcher of Toledo in his final.Roark took an early lead over Witcher only to
get hung up in the ropes several times in the third ending on the wrong end of
a split decision.The effort earned him
the silver medal.
The rest
of Zanesville’s team that finished with silver were Zakery Rollins at 106
pounds, Jacob Harper at 119 pounds, Akeem Mayle at 101 pounds and Jeshua
Luckett at 101 pounds.Bronze medals
were won by Chris Hasten at 90 pounds and Marques McPeck at 132 pounds.
The
Great Lakes Regional Junior Olympic Tournament will be at Steger, Illinois
(outside Chicago) beginning on May 29.Travis Jerig and Dylan Eitnier will represent Ohio in their respective
divisions along with Michael Roark and Zakery Rollins as alternates.Roark will move up to the 176-pound division
for the event while Rollins will stay at 106 pounds if the gold medalist- Alex
Barrientos of Defiance is unable to compete.
