St. Marys’ Tate Hisey (front) pins Bath’s Sam Burkholder during Saturday’s Western Buckeye League tournament at Elida. See more high school wrestling photos at LimaScores.com.
ELIDA – Coming into this season, St. Marys had won the Western Buckeye League wrestling title the previous three campaigns.
With nine seniors on this year’s roster, the Roughriders were looking to make it four in a row.
After going 9-0 in the regular-season league duals, St. Marys came to Elida on Saturday poised to make it happen. The Roughriders needed to win Saturday’s Western Buckeye League Tournament to notch the outright WBL title.
The overall WBL team champion is determined partly on the regular-season dual record and the league tournament.
St. Marys put the final stamp on it Saturday as it won the WBL Tournament in decisive fashion.
The Roughriders ended the day with 187 points. Wapakoneta was second with 154.5 points, while Celina was a close third with 152. Van Wert (99) and Defiance (96) rounded out the top five squads in the 10-team field.
“This year has been really difficult,” longtime St. Marys head coach Larry Gruber said. “There’s been so many things that have happened during the season – with so many kids sick, injured and all those kinds of things popping up all the time.
“So, to finally put the group together at the end, so that we can do something, feels really good. But at the same time, we know some of them can do better than how they are doing, right now.”
St. Marys had five wrestlers win titles Saturday. Tate Hisey (113-pound weight class), Michael Crites (120), Bo Hertenstein (144), Jace Schaefer (215) and Braden Saeler (285) all took home the gold for the Roughriders.
Hisey, who placed fifth at last year’s Division II state tournament in the 106-pound weight class as a freshman, notched his second WBL title on Saturday.
In Saturday’s championship bout in the 113-pound weight class, Hisey defeated Wapakoneta’s Caden Mellott, 9-4.
Despite winning the WBL title, Hisey (31-0) was not satisfied at his performance on Saturday.
“I had a little more confidence in myself,” Hisey said. “I’m kind of disappointed in the way I performed. He (Mellott) wrestled really well and really took it to me. I expected more out of myself, for sure. I don’t think I performed like I should of. I got sloppy. … I got tired.”
Hisey was happy at the way his team performed, not just on Saturday, but during the entire regular season.
“It feels great. I’m proud of my teammates and how we all worked. I think it’s well-deserved to be four-time champs,” Hisey said.
Michael Crites, one of the nine seniors on the St. Marys squad, won the title at 120 on Saturday. He pinned Van Wert’s Xavier Leal in the championship match, late in the second period. That was Crites’ second WBL title of his career.
“He (Leal) was a little tougher than I expected,” Crites said. “He got a takedown on me. He’s tough on top. He rode me out in the first period. … It wasn’t what I wanted. When the second period started, it was a new period and a new me.”
Gruber places a great deal of importance on winning the WBL title.
“You want to win this (WBL title). You have to focus here (WBL Tournament) first, and forget about next week,” Gruber said. “If you don’t win here, this has an effect on your seeds for the sectional tournament.”
Gruber was named the coach of the year in the WBL.
Wapakoneta freshman Antwain Adams has been stellar all season. On Saturday, Adams won the title at 138. In his championship match, Adams recorded a 5-2 decision against Van Wert’s Keaton Sudduth.
“We’ve been working all week on just being mentally tough,” Adams said. “I think I did a good job at it, today. I think that was the difference maker.
“Our coaches are telling us to take it one tournament at a time. They told us to focus on being the WBL champ, then the sectional champ and then the district champ. I’m not looking ahead. I’m just looking at my next match.”
Elida junior Skyler Kirk notched his first WBL title on Saturday. In his championship match at 126 pounds, Kirk recorded a 6-3 decision over Defiance’s Viktor Jurcevich.
Kirk really wanted to push the pace in all of his matches.
“I was going to keep pushing the pace all three periods, and push the pace the whole time,” Kirk said. “My goal is to go in there and wear my opponent out.”
Other champions Saturday included: Bath’s Nolan Deppe (165), Celina’s Tyler Carlin (175), Defiance’s Mason Ducat (132), Wapakoneta’s Wyatt Buell (150), Corbin Mitchell (157) and Jace Knous (190), and Van Wert’s Joaquin Estrada (106).
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Mark Altstaetter wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
