Boys district wrestling: Medina's Taegan Gilmore finally breaks through for state berth

WADSWORTH — Medina senior Taegan Gilmore had reached the threshold of the state tournament the previous two seasons, but Saturday he finally crossed through to the other side. Gilmore won the 120-pound championship at the Wadsworth Division I District to advance to the state tournament at Value City Arena in Columbus beginning Friday. He finished his title with a 13-6 decision over Mayfield's Asilbek Anvaroz. Now that he's reached state, Gilmore is determined to climb the podium. "It feels good (to qualify for state), but the job's not done," he said. "The last two years being an alternate put a toll on me, and I knew I needed to work harder in the room and get my mental focused. This year I focused on everything right." Prior to the championship match, Gilmore qualified for state with a 5-4 decision over Ashland's Max Ohl. Gilmore was joined by teammates Dominic DiFilippo (113) and Cliff Nicholson (285) as district champions as the Bees (101) finished fourth. Massillon Perry (241) ran away from the field to win the title thanks to five champions. Wadsworth (99.5) finished right behind Medina and qualified district champion Kyle Jardine (157), along with runners-up Blake Frantz (132), Kolten Mellon (144) and Jacob Earnest (285). Brunswick's Brayden Miles (2nd, 150) and Carter Wickes (3rd, 165) joined Gilmore as first-time state qualifiers for the Blue Devils (52.5). Nicholson's title secured the Bees a spot ahead of the host Grizzlies and could have significant ramifications at state. Nicholson entered the weekend projected to finish third in the state, behind Earnest, before he recorded a pin 11 seconds into the third period. Dublin Coffman's Braylon Wright, who returned for the postseason, is projected to win by Matscouts' Josh Lowe. The district title was Nicholson's first after finishing runner-up the previous two seasons. "I've been denied (district titles) twice, but not this year," Nicholson said. "From my sophomore year and junior to now I'm a senior and getting it done the right way, it's a little revenge over a local rival. I'll be ready to go every week. "I've got momentum going into state, and I'm not stopping." Nicholson secured his state spot one match earlier when Walsh Jesuit's Joey Ma defaulted due to injury in the semifinals. Earnest secured his with a 16-1 technical fall over Painesville Harvey's Marvin Guerra. DiFilippo got the Bees' title train rolling when he pinned Barberton's Gaspar Raymundo-Marcos in 3:53. DiFilippo had been trailing 3-1 pin when it looked like he had secured a takedown, but none was awarded. He quickly shook off the decision and got to the state tournament for a second straight year. "I feel good, like I did my part getting the wins I needed," DiFilippo said. "In the finals, I got taken down early. I think I should have had three on that one (call), but I just had to push the pace on him. "I just had to think forward and get down about how (that call) could mess up my match." Jardine was the only one of Wadsworth's four finalists to come away with a title, beating Uniontown Lake's Lukas Jordan by 8-5 in sudden death. He entered the final period down 5-4, chose down and got an escape to force overtime before getting the winning takedown with 28 seconds left in OT. "It's been a really rough two weeks," Jardine said. "Two weeks ago, the disc in my spine flared up and I didn't even know if this was going to happen. My doctor told me not to wrestle, but I sat down and thought it was worth a try. "This week I don't know what sickness I got, but it beat me up. I weighed out seven pounds under. It feels great to go out on a win against a good opponent in a good match." Frantz and Mellon lost their title matches by fairly narrow decisions against projected state champions. Frantz won 10-8 against Brush's Josiah Sims to qualify, while Mellon beat Louisville's Aric Criss 8-3. Miles earned a 10-3 decision over Walsh Jesuit's Tyler Tirabassi in the semifinals to earn his state berth before losing a 7-2 decision to returning state placer Guardian Miller of Ashland. Wickes battled back from being pinned in his first match of the day to beat Perry's Brandon Veno and Ashland's Talon Boyd by decision to climb to third. "I lost to a kid in the semis that I know I can beat, but he's tough," Wickes said. "I bounced back and showed I can take a bad loss and come back." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results Standings: 1. Massillon Perry 241, 2. Louisville 175, 3. Ashland 153, 4. Medina 101, 5. Wadsworth 99.5, 6. Austintown Fitch 95, 7. Walsh Jesuit 93.5, 8. North Royalton 66, 9. North Canton Hoover 55,5, 9. Aurora 55.5, 11. Uniontown Lake 54.5, 12. Mayfield 53.5, 13. Brunswick 52.5, 14. Elyria 47.5, 14. Barberton 47.5, 16. Strongsville 44, 17. Avon 43, 18. Valley Forge 38, 19. Fremont Ross 37.5, 20. Canton McKinley 31, 21. Hudson 24.5, 22. Painesville Riverside 20, 23. Brush 19.5, 24. Canton GlenOak 19, 24. Massillon 19, 26. New Philadelphia 17.5, 27. St. Ignatius 15, 28. Painesville Harvey 13, 29. Berea-Midpark 11.5, 30. Wooster 10, 31. Eastlake North 8, 32. Lakewood 7, 33. Amherst 4.5, 34. Cleveland Rhodes 4, 35. Cleveland Heights 3.5, 36. Nordonia 3, 36. Bedford 3, 38. Euclid 2.5, 39. Stow 1, 40. Garfield Heights 40. 106 — Constantinos Paxos (Hoov) d. Bennett Wachter (Ely), 1-0. 113 — Dominic DiFilippo (Med) p. Gaspar Raymundo-Marcos (Barb), 3:52. 120 — Taegan Gilmore (Med) d. Asilbek Anvaroz (May), 13-6. 126 — Lincoln Rohr (Per) t.f. Michael Rusinko (Str), 18-0. 132 — Liston Seibert (Per) d. Blake Frantz (Wad), 7-2; FIFTH: Liam Montgomery (Lou) m.d. Tyler Bradshaw (Med), 17-3. 138 — Mason Bauer (Ash) inj. def. Seth Cavazos (Per). 144 — Mason Rohr (Per) p. Kolten Mellon (Wad), 4:50. 150 — Guardian Miller (Ash) d. Brayden Miles (Bru), 7-2. 157 — Kyle Jardine (Wad) d. Lukas Jordan (Lake), 8-5 (SV). 165 — Tyler Rowles (NR) d. Adonis Kelley (McK), 8-4; THIRD: Carter Wickes (Bru) m.d. Talon Boyd (Ash), 11-2. 175 — Brennan Warwick (Per) p. Drake Brasiel (Aur), 3:26. 190 — Caige Horak (Per) t.f. Frankie Salvino (Mass), 17-2. 215 — Eian Englehart (Avon) d. Drayston Martin (Ash), 5-0. 285 — Cliff Nicholson (Med) p. Jacob Earnest (Wad), 4:11.