Staff file photo / Preston Byers South Range’s Tyson Seesholtz gets set during his state championship match on March 9 in Columbus.

As of Thursday, the high school wrestling season began across the state of Ohio, officially starting the countdown to the all-important state tournament in three months.

But while the event in Columbus will remain on the minds of many wrestlers between now and then, Mahoning Valley coaches are trying to mostly just focus on development in the short term.

“We’re further along this time of year than we typically are,” Canfield head coach Craig Shaw said. “We’re getting into a little more advanced stuff earlier than normal. … I just need to see progression, them doing what we’re drilling in the room and implementing it in matches. Whether it works or not, it’s not really a huge deal right now. It’s just a matter of getting better at it and just improving our skill set.”

Shaw enters the season with two of the area’s six returning state placers, Joey Pannunzio and Gabe Miller, the former of whom earned eighth place in the Division II 175-pound weight class, while Miller lost in the 190-pound state final in March.

Both are now upperclassmen, having achieved state success as sophomores, and, according to Shaw, they are ready to take the next step.

“They’re hungry. They want more,” Shaw said. “They’re asking more questions, are a little more focused right now this time of year.”

Miller, in particular, suffered a tough loss in the championship match to Archbishop Hoban’s Brydon Feister; Feister overcame a 3-0 first-period deficit and 5-3 third-period deficit with a late, go-ahead takedown to beat Miller.

“We talked a good bit [about the match] obviously, and he wrestled a lot of freestyle in the spring, and is just getting better at little things,” Shaw said of Miller. “I mean, he was right there with that kid. We beat him at districts. We lost a close one at state. He’s just right there. As heartbreaking as it was, we sit back and look at it like, ‘Hey, you’re sophomore. It’s OK. We still have two years to get this job done.’ And I’m pretty sure he will.”

South Range’s Tyson Seesholtz, the other returning state runner-up from the Valley, enters the season in a similar situation.

In the Division III 150-pound state final, Seesholtz nearly pulled off a remarkable upset of Caleb Greenwood, a standout from Beechwood who had soundly beaten Seesholtz 18-1 via technical fall just a week before their championship rematch.

However, Greenwood orchestrated a massive comeback in the third period, erasing a seven-point deficit with a winning takedown with 26 seconds remaining in the match.

Seesholtz, a senior who went 34-3 last season and committed to Drexel University during the offseason, does not have two more tries at a state title like Miller or Pannunzio.

Other local returning state placers include Poland’s Ella Thomas and Abbie Miller and Austintown Fitch’s Reghan Koch, all of whom will have two or attempts at improving on their most recent performances in Columbus.

Abbie Miller finished fourth in the girls 145-pound division, while Thomas got third at 100 pounds a year after she finished in fourth place in the same weight class.

Koch, whose start to last season was delayed due to a knee injury, earned seventh place at 155 pounds as a freshman. With a full offseason and preseason to prepare, Koch has transformed, according to Falcons head coach John Burd.

“She’s come in very focused. You can tell she’s grown, matured a lot,” Burd said. “She’s a leader in our room now, works continuously at practice every single day. Her focus is definitely at a higher level this year than it was last year. I think she has grown as a wrestler, as a person and a leader. And I’m just looking for her to have a really good year this year.”

Burd expects Koch to be one of several competitive wrestlers on Fitch’s girls team, which is among the largest and best in the area.

One of the first big tests for many of his girls will be at the second annual Fitch invitational on Jan. 2. Burd said he expects about 40 teams to travel to Austintown to compete at the event, which the Falcons started last season. Then, 34 teams made the trip, with two more canceling due to inclement weather.

The Fitch tournament will be just one of many holiday tournaments for teams from around; while some teams will be wrestling at Waterloo, Hudson and Brecksville, the Falcons’ boys team plans to once again go to the Medina Invitational Tournament (MIT), one of the largest wrestling tournaments in the country, in late December.

Meanwhile, Canfield will be making trips on back-to-back weekends over the holiday break. Shaw said the Cardinals will be traveling to take part in North Canton Hoover’s invitational on Dec. 19 and 20 before traveling to Wheeling, West Virginia, the following week.

“The North Canton one’s an individual tournament, and it’s pretty good competition. So it gives us a little measuring stick where we’re at, and we just get used to those individual big tournaments,” Shaw said. “And then the Wheeling one’s all dual meets, but we’ll get eight or nine matches in two days. That’s great team-bonding stuff. Everybody sticks together. It’s more of a team unit thing, which is important for me.”

The tournaments throughout December and January will, teams hope, sufficiently prepare them for the postseason, which begins in February.

Sectional tournaments will run during the week of Feb. 23, while districts will be held the following week. Based on the district results, the top 16 wrestlers from around the state will meet in Columbus for the OHSAA’s finale, which will emanate from the Schottenstein Center from March 13 to 15.