Monday, February 14th, 2022
WBL Wrestling Tournament
Riders win third straight title
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' Trevor Hisey, right, locks up Defiance's Treven Rittenhouse during the 126-pound championship match at the WBL Wrestling Tournament on Saturday in Celina. Hisey picked up the victory to earn his fourth WBL title.
CELINA - Three is a perfect number for the St. Marys wrestling team, and especially the Hisey family.
The Roughriders locked up a third-straight Western Buckeye League championship in winning the league tournament on Saturday at the Celina Fieldhouse. St. Marys is 8-0 in league dual matches with a match on Tuesday with Elida that would secure an undefeated regular season.
St. Marys finished with 232 points, 65 1/2 points ahead of runner-up Wapakoneta. Host Celina finished third with 159 1/2 points.
"We had 12 in the finals (going for a top four finish)," said Roughriders coach Larry Gruber, who earned the Coach of the Year award for leading the team to the title. "There were some matches we were concerned about, but we hung in there and picked up a few wins we didn't know we were going to get."
"We knew it would be close. It's tough because we're voiding two weight classes (113 and 285)," said Celina coach James Miracle. "St. Marys was the only team to have a full lineup. Wapak had 13 (out of 14) and we had 12. You can't score in two weight classes, that's the result when you're facing two really good teams."
For the Hiseys, it was a championship day three times over.
Senior Trevor Hisey won a 17-2 technical fall over Defiance's Treven Rittenhouse in the 126-pound title bout to become a four-time league champion.
Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' Tyler Hisey keeps Defiance's Gavino Martinez from escaping during the 120-pound title match at the WBL Wrestling Tournament on Saturday in Celina.
One bout before at 120, twin brother Tyler Hisey became a three-time league champ in scoring a 15-6 major decision over Defiance's Gavino Martinez.
Then to start the championship bouts, freshman Tate Hisey had the best performance of the brothers, needing just 27 seconds to win the 106 title via pin over Wapakoneta's Caden Mellott.
The victory parade was just getting started for St. Marys, which had nine of their 14 weight classes wrestling for first place and another three going for third place on the day.
Next up for the Roughriders for a championship was Garret Donovan at 160 pounds. Donovan pinned Defiance's Spencer Thompson in 1:47.
At 175 was the first battle between Celina and St. Marys for a title as Roughrider Stashu Patterson, who dropped down in weight after winning the WBL title at 182 pounds last season, faced Bulldog Tyler Carlin, who was the 170 pound league champ last season. Carlin scored a reversal right before the end of the third period to tie the match at 6-all. In the overtime, Patterson was able to get around Carlin for the takedown to claim the title.
The other Bulldog-Roughrider battle also went St. Marys' way at 190 as Jace Schaefer scored an 18-2 technical fall to win the title.
The final St. Marys title came at 215 as Carter Sharpe became a two-time league champ with a 6-1 win over Wapakoneta's Trevor Houts in a tight battle that was 1-1 in the final minute of regulation before Sharpe, last season's 195 champ, got a reversal and three back points to get the victory.
Finishing runner-up for St. Marys was a pair of 2021 champs looking for another title. Michael Crites, last year's 106 champ, lost via a 20-5 tech fall to Defiance's Mason Ducat at 113 pounds. In the last final of the day, Braden Saeler looked to defend his 285 title against Wapakoneta's Cael Rostorfer. Rostorfer got an early advantage and never looked back in beating Saeler via 20-8 major decision.
Bo Hertenstein finished third at 132 for the Roughriders, as did Keegan Sharpe at 150. Isaac Torsell was fourth at 144.
The Bulldogs captured three titles on the day. Zack King picked up a win over Kenton's Logan Brown at the 4:49 mark of the match to win at 132 pounds. At 138, Landon Engle earned his third league title in winning the 138 title with a pin on Kenton's Anthony Hunt in 4:53.
Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard
Celina's Landon Engle, left, tries to take down Kenton's Anthony Hunt in the WBL 138-pound championship match. Engle won to earn his third WBL title.
Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard
Celina's Jaden King, right, locks up Elida's Ayden Dailey during the 157-pound final at the WBL Wrestling Tournament.
Jaden King made it a perfect day for the King family in winning the 157 title with a pin in 2:45 over Elida's Ayden Dailey.
"We really thought we'd get six guys into the (championship matches) and fell short by one," said Miracle. "We had a couple matches go either way. To place 10 guys out of 12 and still come up third … goes to show how dominant St. Marys is this year."
Landin Wallace finished third at 120 with Brycen Miracle taking third at 126 for Celina. Reece Rutledge finished fourth at 215 while Grant Adams did likewise at 106.
The postseason gets underway Feb. 26 with both Celina and St. Marys traveling to Defiance for the Division II sectional tournament.
