Staff photo / Greg Macafee South Range’s Raymond Cmil trains with teammate Michael Markulin during a practice earlier this year. Cmil is one of eight South Range wrestlers competing at the OHSAA state wrestling tournament this weekend.

At the end of last year, South Range’s Raymond Cmil started to find newfound confidence in himself.

He had always dreamed of winning a wrestling state title, but after a fifth-place finish as a junior, the 132-pounder started to think his dream could become a reality.

After winning his first district title this past weekend, Cmil is entering the OHSAA state tournament this weekend with a lot of confidence and is ready to take another step.

“Beating a kid that got third place last year and then beating another highly ranked kid last weekend gives me a lot of confidence that I am capable of going out there and contending for a state title this weekend,” Cmil said. “That was probably like the biggest tournament that I have ever won personally so it gave me quite a bit of confidence for this weekend.”

After moving to South Range from Boardman ahead of his junior year, Cmil said he’s taken a huge step as a wrestler, and a lot of it has to do with the teammates he has in the room with him. In total, the Raiders are sending eight total state qualifiers which include Michael Markulin, Jacob Richardson, Logan Cormell, Hunter Newell, Jake Starkey, Clayton Kramer, and Chris Colucci. Cmil, who committed to wrestle at the Virginia Military Institute, said all of them have helped him become the wrestler he is.

“It’s been everything to me,” Cmil said. “Having 25 guys who push me every single day and are guys that I can go to if I’m having a rough practice or if I need something. The coaches and my teammates have taken my wrestling to the next level and I credit all of my success to them. It’s really been a difference maker in my wrestling career I think.”

With an overall record of 38-1 this season, Cmil has done a lot of things right and he said that his standup game has led to a lot of his success this season but he’s also just been trying to focus on what he can control.

“I’ve just been trying to focus on myself a lot rather than the guys I’m wrestling,” Cmil said. “I just want to go out there and wrestle to win and not wrestle not to lose. I want to just control the match and be aggressive and I think if I do that I’m capable of beating everybody.”

Cmil will start off his tournament run by facing off with Joey Manley (29-13) from Otsego on Friday in the first round of the tournament. But at this point in the season, the best 16 wrestlers in the state are left and Cmil believes anyone can beat anyone so he’s just staying focused on whoever is standing across from him each match.

“You don’t just get to the state tournament on a fluke, so all of these kids are going to be good,” Cmil said. “So I’m just going to go out there and put my toe on the line and wrestle whoever puts their toe on the line across from me.”

“It’s my last high school tournament ever this weekend so I’m just going to let it fly and give it everything I have one more time.”

Along with the South Range wrestlers, 10 other wrestlers from around the Mahoning Valley qualified for the state tournament this weekend and six earned alternate spots after placing 5th in their respective weight classes at their respective district tournaments.

Chalker’s Landen Duncan was the only other Mahoning Valley wrestle to capture a district title, winning the 120-pound weight class this past weekend.

Sean O’Horo is the only representative from Boardman while Austintown Fitch’s Tyler Lintner and Jacob Ferguson also earned automatic bids. David Shannon and Aric Smith, also from Fitch, took 5th place at the district tournament and were listed as alternates.

Canfield’s Tyler and Jimmy Scharrer earned 4th place finishes at their district tournaments to earn a spot at the state tournament while teammate Caden Kohut finished 5th. Poland’s Dillon Smith also picked up a 3rd place finish to earn a spot in this weekend’s tournament.

Heavyweight Gage Gibson from Howland earned a runner-up finish at the district tournament while teammates Adam Heckman and Carter Mock picked up 5th place finishes.

Liberty’s Dom Leone and Jackson-Milton’s Owen McDevitt also automatically qualified for the tournament after battling for 3rd place at 113 pounds.

Wrestling starts this afternoon at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center at 3 p.m. and will carry throughout the weekend with five different sessions. Session 2 begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Session 4 begins at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The championship matches will begin after the parade of champions at 5 p.m. on Sunday.