Wrestling: Allen East wins another county title

LIMA – Last year, Allen East’s Kade Wireman made a stellar run through the postseason wrestling tournament, which culminated in a third-place finish at the Division III state tournament in the 150-pound weight class.

That impressive finish at last year’s state tournament added more fuel to Wireman’s burning passion to be a state champion.

Ever since last year’s state tournament, Wireman has been focused on one goal – to win a state title.

At Saturday’s Allen County Tournament at Lima Central Catholic’s Msgr. Edward C. Herr Gymnasium, Wireman demonstrated his strong desire to make a run to state as he crushed his opponents, en route to winning the Allen County title in the 157-pound weight class.

Wireman pinned all five of his opponents in his pool on Saturday. All of Wireman’s pins came in the first period.

With his stellar performance Saturday, Wireman was voted the most valuable wrestler of the tournament.

In Wireman’s final match of the day, he pinned Spencerville’s Emerson Layman, just 44 seconds into the match.

“I was planning on (getting) five takedowns every match,” Wireman said. “But the finals match, I kind of did my normal moves, put him on his back and kept him there. … I just wanted to get it over with.”

Wireman said Saturday’s tournament is a stepping stone for him.

“I’m out here, working every day. … Even on Sundays, we’re in the wrestling room,” Wireman said. “I’m grinding as hard as I can, just trying to make everyone else better by making myself better. I want to be on top of that (awards) podium this year (at the state tournament). … I don’t have any other goals but that.”

Wireman, a senior, is well on his way to notching 150 career wins this season. He is on track to break the school record in both wins and takedowns. Wireman was also a standout at linebacker on the football team.

As a team on Saturday, Allen East came away with its fourth consecutive county title.

In the final team standings, Allen East won the tournament with 262 points. Shawnee was a distant second with 206 points. Spencerville (197), Delphos St. John’s (161) and Bath (158) rounded out the top five squads in the 11-team field.

“This is our first tournament of the season,” longtime Allen East head coach Mike Abbey said. “We just had our first dual on Wednesday. We had a really good football team again this year. … We (the football team) played up to the regional final. So, we’re just now kind of getting started. We’re a little rusty, out of shape and so forth. But we got better as the day went on. We had a great final round. There are bigger and better things to come.”

Other champions for Allen East on Saturday included Aizik Myers (106), Jacob Pinks (150), Trenton Gatchell (165) and Eli Criblez (285).

Kade Wireman’s twin brother, Gage, notched his 100th career victory Saturday. Gage Wireman eventually finished second in the 190-pound weight class.

Last season, Gage Wireman missed qualifying for the state tournament.

“At districts, I was a little hurt. But that’s not an excuse to make when you wrestle good kids,” Gage Wireman said. “I made some mistakes, got beat and didn’t make it to state.

“Obviously, I want to make it to state. That would be a cool thing to do. I’ve watched my brother do it. Now, I want to be down there on the floor (of Ohio State’s Jerome Schottenstein Center) with him this year.”

Allen East sophomore Jacob Pinks won his pool at 150 pounds Saturday to record his first Allen County title.

“I came in confident and ready to go,” Pinks said. “I put my moves together and ended up on top. “I would like to get more mat time, but I just wanted to keep it safe with a pin.”

Spencerville senior Nyah Hodge-Miller won the title at 113 pounds on Saturday.

Hodge-Miller said he set high goals for this season.

“I was two matches away from qualifying for state (last season),” Hodge-Miller said. “It was a real bummer, but I still have this year left.”

P-G’s Blank finishes first

Pandora-Gilboa High School is not located in Allen County.

However, P-G senior Mitchell Blank is now an Allen County champion.

Due to the fact that P-G has just one athlete on the wrestling team, Blank was invited to compete in the tournament. Blank practices with the Bluffton team throughout the season. His father, Robert, is his coach.

Blank ran the table in his five matches Saturday, en route to winning the title in the 175-pound weight class.

“The Bluffton guys really help us out,” Blank said. “Over the last four years, they’ve kind of taken me in. … That is huge.”

Other champions Saturday included Bath’s Carter Deppe (120), Austin Shafer from Delphos St. John’s (126), Elida’s Shanndon Smith (138) and Parker Guth (144), Spencerville’s Carder Miller (132), Maddox Jurek (190) and Logan Johnson (215).

Results

Allen County Tournament

Team Scores: 1. Allen East 262, 2. Shawnee 206, 3. Spencerville 197, 4. St. John’s 161, 5. Bath 158, 6. Elida 155.5, 7. Lima Senior 96, 8. Jefferson 95, 9. Bluffton 81, 10. Pandora-Gilboa 32, 11. LCC 23.

Top Four Finishers

106: 1. Aizik Myers (AE), 2. Brayden Thompson (DJ). 3. Grady Holdgreve (DSJ), 4. Zvyen Smith (Bl)

113: 1. Nyah Hodge-Miller (Sp), 2. Sam Burkholder (Ba), 3. Parker Will (DSJ), 4. Wyatt Knauss (Bl)

120: 1. Carter Deppe (Ba), 2. Donovyn Campbell (Sh), 3. Tyler Sherard (AE), 4. Logan Miller (DJ)

126: 1. Austin Shafer (DSJ), 2. Alejandro Reyes (Sh), 3. Dylan Maus (E), 4. Austin Owczarzak (Ba)

132: 1. Carder Miller (Sp), 2. Edward Kessen (DSJ), 3. Ethan Lawson (E), 4. Kayden Chandler (E)

138: 1. Shanndon Smith (E), 2. Ethan Morgan (Sh), 3. Riley Mueller (DSJ), 4. Jayden Shaw (Ba)

144: 1. Parker Guth (E), 2. Sir Horrison (LS), 3. Josh Unland (DSJ), 4. Blake Wagoner (DJ)

150: 1. Jacob Pinks (AE), 2. Camden Gable (DSJ), 3. Isaac Leppert (LCC), 4. Josh Grothjan (Sp)

157: 1. Kade Wireman (AE), 2. Emerson Layman (Sp), 3. Landon Gallegos (Sh), 4. Evan Grothause (Bl)

165: 1. Trenton Gatchell (AE), 2. Nolan Deppe (Ba), 3. Davion Browning (LS), 4. Ben Bullock (Sh)

175: 1. Mitchell Blank (P-G), 2. Drew Neidemire (Sh), 3. Nick Zellmann (AE), 4. RJ Davies (AE)

190: 1. Maddox Jurek (Sp), 2. Gage Wireman (AE), 3. Jamarius Hobson (LS), 4. Javier Franco (Sp)

215: 1. Logan Johnson (Sp), 2. Preston Coppler (Sh), 3. Dejuan Jones (E), 4. Alex Waithe (LS)

285: 1. Eli Criblez (AE), 2. Brody Paxson (AE), 3. John Raines (AE), 4. Michael Keysor (Sh)

Mark Altstaetter wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.