Former Olentangy Liberty boys wrestling coach Mark Marinelli inflated wrestlers’ win-loss records for sectional seeding for at least eight seasons, from 2017-25, leading to better postseason starting spots for his athletes and boosting his team’s tournament scores, a school district investigation found.
Marinelli, who resigned April 10 after 19 seasons in which he built Liberty into a state power, denied cheating but admitted he did not stay on top of recordkeeping, forcing him to compile his wrestlers’ records from various online sites before the sectional seeding meeting.
The investigation, conducted by Olentangy Local Schools human resources officials, concluded Marinelli knew he reported inaccurate records “in a majority of instances” but failed to take steps to ensure accuracy, such as asking assistant coaches for help or learning how other high school programs kept records.
There is no standard recordkeeping procedure for Ohio high school wrestling. Marinelli told investigators that he was the only person responsible for keeping Liberty’s records and submitting them for sectional seeding.
For those eight seasons, 97 of 112 wrestlers (86.6%) “had wins reported as greater than they should have been,” according to the investigation report, which was emailed to The Dispatch on April 24.
“While Mr. Marinelli denies overt cheating, his lack of records, inability to reference accurate data to compile records for submission at Sectionals, and creation of records without merit, have resulted in athletes receiving a seeding advantage and overall team scores being inflated,” the report states.
Marinelli declined to comment via text.
Investigators interviewed 12 people, including Liberty assistant coaches.
Questions about Liberty wrestlers’ win-loss records first surfaced at the 2025 sectional seeding meeting at which coaches can challenge a record if they believe it’s incorrect.
Liberty officials, including athletic director Darin Meeker and principal Michael Starner, investigated. Marinelli admitted records were incorrect, according to the report, leading to him being suspended for the district tournament, the round that follows sectional and precedes state.
The school district began a broader investigation in March after cleveland.com reported Marinelli had been submitting incorrect records for sectional seeding for years, rather than a single season.
During an interview with investigators March 16, Marinelli said he “consistently relied on accessing stats available online at the end of the season” from sites such as DubStat, Baumspage and Trackwrestling and with paper records from Liberty’s dual matches.
“Mr. Marinelli said he would compile the records from these various sources on paper, adding up wins and losses at the end of the season,” the report reads. “He stated that recording wins and losses during the season was difficult to keep track of as the number of matches increased, and stated the online sources were not always updated as the use of those sites is optional, therefore the data used to compile records was incomplete.
“When asked where the records are, including any of the papers of wins and losses, or the papers documenting what was reported at Sectional meetings, Mr. Marinelli said he threw them away.”
According to the report, Marinelli was never questioned about recordkeeping until the 2025 sectional meeting, so “he assumed he was keeping records the correct way.”
A new recordkeeping process was started this past season, according to the report.
The report also singled out the six seasons from 2020-25, during which investigators said 73 Liberty wrestlers entered the postseason with inflated records – 14 in 2020, 13 in 2021, 12 in 2022, 11 in 2023, 12 in 2024 and 11 in 2025. There are 14 weight classes.
Among those 73 wrestlers, 50 (68.5%) received a seeding boost for sectional, according to the report.
“During the investigatory meeting, Mr. Marinelli admitted he made mistakes, and he knew the records were not accurate,” the report states. “He stated that he was not concerned about records or seeding and didn’t think it mattered, but rather developing student athletes was his focus. While Mr. Marinelli and several others interviewed maintained that the inaccurate reporting was simply a mistake and not intentional cheating, the data reviewed shows that records were repeatedly manipulated with the inaccuracies resulting in beneficial seeding outcomes for individual wrestlers in a large number of instances, across at least 8 seasons.”
Investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing by Liberty assistant coaches, but the report said “it would seem unlikely” that they would not have recognized the errors. Assistant coaches staying with the program should receive training in the MatBoss digital recordkeeping system, the report said.
Investigators recommended that at least two coaches review and verify wrestlers’ records, “with oversight by the athletic director.”
Marinelli won 12 sectional titles and three district championships at Liberty. He also coached eight individual state champions and guided the Patriots this winter to eighth place in the Division I state tournament, their 11th consecutive top-10 finish.
He was the coach at his alma mater, DeSales, from 1993-2007, leading the Stallions to Division II state runner-up finishes in 2000 and 2003.
As a wrestler, Marinelli won the Class AA state title at 119 pounds in 1986 as a senior before competing at Ohio State for four seasons.
He has taught industrial technology at Liberty since 2007.
Dispatch high school sportswriter Frank DiRenna contributed to this story.
High school sports editor Andy Resnik can be reached at aresnik@dispatch.com and at @DispatchPreps on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Liberty wrestling coach Marinelli ‘manipulated’ records, district finds
Reporting by Andy Resnik, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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