High school wrestling: Medina's Taegan Gilmore enjoys the journey, but has eyes on the prize

Medina senior Taegan Gilmore has been a man on a mission, but the destination isn't as important as the journey. Gilmore has won 126-pound titles at Milan Edison and Marengo Highland's Jeremy Ammons Kilted Klassic to begin the season. Completing it at the state tournament in Columbus is the only option after finishing the past two winters as an alternate. As a sophomore, Gilmore dropped a 1-0 decision to Westlake's Brad Cerankosky in the blood round of the Perrysburg Division I District. Last winter, a controversial 4-3 decision against Toledo Whitmer's A.J. Dubendorfer left Gilmore one win shy. It also changed his mindset. "After not making the state tournament last season, it flipped something in me," he said. "I've got to work harder. I didn't take any days off. I did the right things and trained with the right people. I didn't take shortcuts. I was always looking to wrestle that best kid." While getting to Columbus in his senior year would be an accomplishment in and of itself, that's far from the end goal. That is why taking all the right steps is incredibly important to Gilmore. "My main goal is to get to the top of the podium at state," he said. "It's going to take a lot of work to get there and to make sacrifices to be able to do it physically and mentally." After that loss to Dubendorfer, Gilmore went to work and overcompeted in Fargo and Milwaukee as a member of the national Greco team over the summer. He also competed in a number of fall tournaments. That all led into this season, where Gilmore opened with a 5-0 weekend at the Edison Invitational. He pinned his first three opponents and earned bonus points in every match except the final, where he beat Buckeye's Brenden McKee 10-4. Last weekend, Gilmore won all five matches by technical fall or pin to help the Bees win the Kilted Klassic by a half-point over host Marengo Highland. Gilmore and fellow senior Cliff Nicholson (285) are the only Bees to win titles at their first two tournaments this season. Medina looks to continue that success today and Saturday at the Hudson Holiday Tournament. "We've been going hard at practice," Gilmore said. "We've picked up our pace a bunch and are focusing on all the little things we need to do. We've all been wrestling well and just hope to keep it up for the rest of the year." Along with the work, another big change for Taegan Gilmore has been his father and coach, Chad, coaching from the corner during his matches this season. Prior to this season, father and son opted to let assistant coaches take the lead, prioritizing the father-son relationship over the wrestler-coach. Both realized their bond was strong enough, and Chad Gilmore returned to his son's corner. "Watching all through youth, you see dads go crazy and put so much pressure on kids that it ruins relationships," Chad Gilmore said. "I never wanted our relationship to be ruined by wrestling. For a long time, I was really standoff-ish. I let other people coach him and was never in his corner. "Right now it's been working well. I hope it can lead to some good success this year." Still, Chad Gilmore is careful about striking the right balance. "When we're at tournaments, I'm Coach, but when we're home, I'm Dad," he said. "I tried to never bring things up unless he did. Taking that step back has built our relationship to where we can have honest conversations about what's going on in wrestling." Taegan welcomes the input and opportunity to share the sport they love. His father, now in his 20th season coaching the Bees, taking him to practices first struck up an interest. "I got started when I was little from my dad taking me to the practices," Taegan Gilmore said. "Eventually, I wanted to throw on a pair of shoes and get at it with everyone. I love grinding with my best friends every single day. You're getting through hard practices together, pushing each other past your limits." Working hard is the only way father and son know how to do things. "I can see all the extra work that he does," Chad Gilmore said. "It's out of a pure love for the sport. He's dedicated, doing extra practices, wrestling all summer long, doing stuff in our basement. "The growth of his mindset these last couple of years has helped him become the wrestler he is today." That paired with Taegan Gilmore's year-round approach and willingness to never run from tough defeats gives him the chance to end up on the podium in Columbus in March. "From all of his national experience and the exposure to different types of wrestling, he can adapt to a lot of things," Chad Gilmore said. "I actually think catching some of the big losses he has that have kept him from accomplishing some of his goals has given him the ability to bounce back and not give up on himself." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.