High school wrestling: Buckeye has pair of champs at Medina Invitational

MEDINA — Buckeye wrestler Ryan Wilhelm knows how to pick his moments. The senior won the 190-pound championship at the Medina Invitational Tournament on Tuesday. After a career battling injuries and other setbacks, it was his first tournament victory. Of course, Wilhelm couldn't make it easy on himself, going to overtime with Toledo Whitmer's Brock DuVall in the final. After nothing happened in the sudden victory period, Wilhelm rode out DuVall in the next period and escaped with seven seconds left in his period to secure a 3-2 win. He did it all while battling multiple blood stoppages to deal with injuries to his nose and wrist. "This means a lot to get my first high school (tournament) victory as a senior coming off a couple injuries," Wilhelm said. "I never thought I was going to win a big tournament like the M.I.T., but I came out, wrestled and had some fun doing it." Wilhelm also needed a last-second takedown to beat Oregon Clay's Carter Whaley 5-4 in the semifinals. The cherry on top of the sundae was that Wilhelm, along with fellow champion Blake Bartos (138), led the Bucks back to the top of the M.I.T. leaderboard for Buckeye's third win in four years at the tournament. The Bucks (141.5) held off Clarkston (Mich.) for the eight-point victory. "As Coach (Mike) Tecco was saying earlier in the year, there's some bigger teams that we weren't supposed to compete with," Wilhelm said. "We showed we can hang with them and beat them at any tournament at any time." Bartos beat Louisville's Kaiden Barker 10-8 after jumping to a 7-0 lead after one period. The 2024 state champion, two-time state finalist and three-time placer had to hang on as he battled abdominal issues that have hampered him early this season. "I felt good the first couple periods," Bartos said. "This is really my first competition all year. I wrestled one match at Ironman because I thought I had a flu, but turns out I've got a mini ulcer. I've been fighting through some health problems, but overall I felt really confident." Buckeye also had placers in Brenden McKee (5th, 126), Collin Bartos (6th, 120), Logan Letner (6th, 144), Justin Augustine (6th, 215) and Brody Zoul (7th, 165). While it was Wilhelm's first high school tournament win, it was the first M.I.T. win for Blake Bartos and Medina's Cliff Nicholson (285). Nicholson pinned Avon's Eian Englehart in 3:23 after the two were tied 4-4. Just before the pin, Nicholson was awarded four nearfall points and then had them taken away after a lengthy discussion between referees and coaches. Despite the potential distraction, Nicholson stayed focused on the job at hand. "It feels good to get it done my senior year," he said. "I fell short in second in a pretty bitter way last year and it's just relieving to put it on my résumé. I'm feeling under the weather, so I just pushed through." Medina's Taegan Gilmore, who won at the M.I.T. last year, finished third at 126 with an 11-6 win over Toledo Whitmer's A.J. Dubendorfer. Dominic DiFilippo also reached the consolation final before taking fourth at 113 to help the Bees (106) finish seventh out of 48 teams. Travis Latta (157) and Carter Wickes (165) finished second for Brunswick after wild semifinal wins to start the day. Latta trailed 13-3 in the second period before rallying for a 15-14 win over Casstown Miami East's Riggins Hansgen. Wickes was tied 4-4 in the third period and got two takedowns, two nearfall points and an escape in the final 57 seconds to earn a 13-7 win. Wickes lost his final 10-3 against returning state finalist Tyson Seesholtz of South Range, while Latta was beaten 11-0 by Lake's Lukas Jordan, an M.I.T. runner-up last year. "I had some good matches, but I've got to get better," Wickes said. "I'm not a finished product. It's not March yet. I've just got to keep getting better." Medina County's final placer was Cloverleaf's Caleb Burke (157), who took seventh. The county began the day with nine semifinalists, but saw four of those wrestlers take defeats in their first matches of the day. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results Standings: 1. Buckeye 141.5, 2. Clarkston (Mich.) 133.5, 3. New Lexington 124.5, 4. Austintown Fitch 122.5, 5. Toledo Whitmer 114.5, 6. Avon Lake 108.5, 7. Medina 106, 8. Mayfield 103.5, 9. Louisville 102.5, 10. Genoa 98, 10. Sandusky Perkins 98, 12. Columbia 90, 13. Wauseon 89.5, 14. Hilliard Darby 85, 15. Upper Arlington 81, 16. Brunswick 80.5, 17. Casstown Miami East 80, 18. Uniontown Lake 78, 19. Aurora 74.5, 20. North Canton Hoover 74, 21. Liberty Center 73, 22. South Range, 23. Mentor 68.5, 24. Oregon Clay 67, 25. Elyria Catholic 66.5, 26. Newark Licking Valley 64, 27. Padua Franciscan 57, 28. Avon 55, 29. Beavercreek 54, 30. Pickerington North 52, 31. Copley 41.5, 32. Berea-Midpark 41, 33. Clearview 37.5, 33. Lewis Center Olentangy 37.5, 33. Norwalk Catholic 37.5, 36. St. Mary Central Catholic 35.5, 37. Olmsted Falls 33, 37. Firelands 33, 39. Olentangy Orange 32.5, 39. Granville 32.5, 41. Midview 25, 42. Springfield 24, 43. Tallmadge 23.5, 44. Green 20, 45. Cloverleaf 17, 46. Hughes 16.5, 47. Oak Harbor 14, 48. Holy Name 3. 106 — Constantinos Paxos (Hoov) d. Joseph Hahn (Clark), 6-0. 113 — Bodey Gibbs (Col) d. Ethan Powell (Gen), 2-1; THIRD: Braedyn Tammarine (Lib Cent) d. Dominic DiFilippo (Med), 7-3. 120 — Spencer Shore (ME) d. Asilbek Anvarov (May), 3-2; FIFTH: Xavier Pollard (Lou) d. Collin Bartos (Buc), 8-3. 126 — Scotty Fuller (Gen) d. Joseph Curry (LV), 3-2; THIRD: Taegan Gilmore (Med) d. A.J. Dubendorfer (Whit), 11-6; FIFTH: Brenden McKee (Buc) m.d. Nicolas Turba (Aur), 9-1. 132 — Gavin Culloty (Clark) d. Carter Stucky (Waus), 7-3. 138 — Blake Bartos (Buc) d. Kaiden Barker (Lou), 10-8. 144 — Nathaniel Carter (Clark) d. Tyson Spicer (NL), 11-6; FIFTH: Joseph Lugabihl (Waus) d. Logan Letner (Buc), 6-0. 150 — Benjamin James (SMCC) d. Harrison Ratliff (NL), 6-1. 157 — Lukas Jordan (Lake) m.d. Travis Latta (Bru), 11-0; SEVENTH — Caleb Burke (Clov) d. Michael Kennedy (Aur), 9-5. 165 — Tyson Seesholtz (SR) d. Carter Wickes (Bru), 10-3; SEVENTH — Brody Zoul (Buc) d. AZ Hicks (Waus), 1-0. 175 — Drake Brasiel (Aur) d. Kahle Albright (Waus), 4-1. 190 — Ryan Wilhelm (Buc) d. Brock DuVall (Whit), 3-2 (OT). 215 — Logan Krooner (Darby) d. John Harris (May), 7-2; FIFTH: Justin Augustine (Buc) dbl. fft. DeShawn Harper (Perk). 285 — Cliff Nicholson (Med) p. Eian Englehart (Avon), 3:23.