Edison senior star Logan Lloyd happy he stuck with wrestling

MILAN TWP. — Logan Lloyd had his doubts about wrestling when he was in the sixth grade. He gave a lot of thought to quitting the rugged sport. His dad, Tim, preached patience. Turns out, that was a good move. "I talked to my dad every single day, I didn't want to do it anymore," Lloyd said this week during a break from training at Edison High School. "He told me one more year in seventh grade, and if I didn't like it then I could quit. We had a bunch of kids come out and it was nice to have kids my age wrestling with me." Lloyd has turned into one of the state's best high school wrestlers. The Edison senior won his first district championship last weekend and will be a No. 1 seed at 190 pounds in the Division III state tournament that starts Friday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. He's come a long way from almost quitting. Lloyd has steadily improved through the years. He lost 24 matches as a freshman but has dropped a total of 21 in the last three years. Lloyd's career record is 176-47 and he has 119 career pins. That means nearly seven of every 10 wins comes with a slap to the mat by an official. "If you would've told me Logan Lloyd would win 176 matches and pin 119 kids, I probably would've said he would be good, and we'll make him better, but those stats are unbelievable," Edison coach Davy Hermes said when asked to assess Lloyd when he first stepped into the Edison wrestling room. "Those are going to go down in Ohio record book history." Lloyd is 51-6 this season with 39 pins. He wrestled much of this season at 175 pounds after finishing fourth at state last year at 182. He thinks his best chance to win a state title this weekend is at 190, so he'll hit the mats at Ohio State University as an undersized Charger. "If you're a senior and you've been fourth, you have one goal and that's the state finals," Hermes said. "You have to look at which of these weight classes you have the best shot. He's gonna be way undersized, but we felt looking at the depth of both weight classes that 190 was best for him." Lloyd said he weighs about 180 pounds (176 after a tough practice) so he'll be giving up weight and strength. But his strategy has its plusses. "I'm quicker than some of the 190s, so it's to my advantage. It's quickness versus strength," he said. "It helps because I maybe get underestimated. Everyone sees me at weigh-ins and I'm under weight and get comments. By the time the tournament's over it's like, 'oh.' " Lloyd isn't big and burly, and he looks even skinnier with his floppy hair. But he's very athletic. The heaviest he's ever weighed, he said, was 195 for football. "Quickness will be his advantage at that weight. The bigger you get the less athletic kids are," Hermes said. "He's strong, very good grip. He gets a hold of somebody's leg and they can't break his grip and he takes them down. He's very good on the mat, top and bottom, and that works to his advantage." Lloyd's favorite move is the cradle. He's 6-foot-2 and has an imposing 6-5 wingspan, which helps him control matches. Chargers assistant coach Jude Michel showed Lloyd the cradle in junior high, and it's led to a lot of 6-point matches in favor of Edison. "Coach Michel developed the move when I was in seventh grade. He showed it to me and it's been my main thing ever since," Lloyd said. "You have to use your whole body and stretch. It's a lot of pressure on the other kid. Some kids can't hit it because their arms aren't long enough, but mine are 6-foot-5 in length." Lloyd drills with good buddy Remington Bauer, who qualified for state at 157, in practice. The two seniors don't take it easy on each other, either. "Me and him get heated sometimes in practice, but after practice we're close," Lloyd said. "Being mad at each other brings you closer together after practice." Lloyd and Bauer are both members of the National Honor Society. Lloyd, a two-time Academic All-Ohio wrestler, is headed back to Ohio State in the fall as a student. He plans on studying occupational therapy. He'll also probably look for some fishing holes. Lloyd often fishes for bass with former Edison star Casey Barnett and Oak Harbor wrestlers Owen and Bode Miller. His largest catch was a 7-pound largemouth he landed last year. "There's a ton of ponds in Oak Harbor we'll go to, and a couple around here and Willard," he said. "We go everywhere." This weekend, he hopes to go to the top of the podium. He credits the competitive Edison wrestling room with pushing him to state contender status. Six Chargers qualified for the state tourney and Lloyd was a key performer on Edison teams that won state duals championships in 2020 and 2021. The Chargers were D-III runners-up this year. "If you're in an environment like this you're bound to get better," he said. Hermes said Lloyd is one of the Chargers' leaders. "He's a great kid," Hermes said. "He's done everything right and deserves everything he's getting." Whether that translates into a state title remains to be seen. The line between champion and placing can be extremely thin this time of year. "He's gonna be small, so we're not trying to outmuscle kids at this weight," Hermes said. "He needs to be a better wrestler and use his strengths to his advantage. "I think he's just as good as anyone at 190. Whoever has the best weekend will win it." ----- Logan Lloyd's career record Year&emsp;&emsp;W-L&emsp;&emsp;PinsFreshman&emsp;&emsp;37-26&emsp;&emsp;24Sophomore&emsp;&emsp;48-9&emsp;&emsp;28Junior&emsp;&emsp;40-6&emsp;&emsp;28Senior&emsp;&emsp;51-6&emsp;&emsp;39Total&emsp;&emsp;176-47&emsp;&emsp;119