Start's Jones will miss state tourney

2/27/2007

Start senior Roshawn Jones will not comptete in the state wrestling tournament this weekend after suffering an injury during his district championship match Saturday at Mentor.

Early in his 145-pound championship match against Lakewood St. Edward's Dan Gonsor, Jones and Gonsor went down hard onto the mat while Gonsor was applying a spiral half, a move that puts pressure on the neck and shoulder.

Gonsor eventually pinned Jones in 2:29.

According to Start wrestling coach Marc Contos, when Jones returned to Toledo, his father took him to the emergency room at St. Anne Mercy Hospital. Doctors indicated Jones needed surgery. Yesterday afternoon he underwent surgery to remove two discs from his neck.

Doctors told Contos that the expected recovery time from the surgery is at least eight months. Jones, who finished sixth in Division I at 119 last year and seventh in the state at 112 two years ago, finished this season at 39-3.

Bowling Green's Rudy Hen-

don, who finished fifth at the Mentor Regional, will take Jones' spot in the Division I state tournament.

- John Wagner