Vinton County’s Farmer, Swick Advance to Division II Southeast District

Two Vinton County High School wrestlers, Lucas Farmer and Kaiden Swick, advanced from the Division II sectional at Gallia Academy and will move on to the Southeast district tournament after strong placings at the Feb. 28 meet in Gallipolis. The Vikings scored 28.5 team points and placed eighth in the nine-team field at Gallia Academy High School.

Farmer, a 10th-grader, placed third in the 106-pound bracket, improving his season mark to the 6-6 shown on the sectional placers and recording a technical fall, 19-3, in his placer notation. Swick, an 11th-grader, claimed second place at 126 pounds and entered the district field with a 22-9 season record as listed on the sectional results.

The sectional meet at Gallia Academy produced lopsided team totals that underscored the competitive landscape Vinton County faces: New Lexington captured the team title with 237.5 points, Logan Elm scored 157.5 and Westfall posted 149.5. Behind those three programs, Miami Trace totaled 146.5, Chillicothe 116.5, Gallia Academy 102.0, Marietta 64.0, Vinton County 28.5 and Hillsboro 27.5, according to the Southeast District Division II sectional placers and scores.

The numerical gap—New Lexington’s 237.5 versus Vinton County’s 28.5—highlights a disparity in depth across programs at the district level. For rural programs like Vinton County, producing two district qualifiers, Farmer and Swick, represents a critical opportunity for student-athletes to compete beyond the sectional stage and to access the physical-activity and developmental benefits tied to high school athletics.

Officials and coaches who want to confirm brackets, match times and opponent pairings for the Southeast district should consult the district tournament schedule once it is posted; the sectional placers list is the primary record of who advanced. Note: official sectional placers list shows Farmer in the 106-pound grouping; earlier summaries that placed him at 113 pounds appear to be a mis-extraction and were reconciled in the sectional results.

Farmer and Swick will carry Vinton County’s postseason hopes into the Southeast district field, representing the Vikings at the next level of competition and offering a chance to build on the individual success recorded at Gallia Academy on Feb. 28.