Demas always trying to pin down perfection
Instead of reveling in his 51 wins and second state wrestling championship, Dublin Coffman senior Dom Demas groused about the ones that got away. He is, by nature, a perfectionist.
“I should have been undefeated,” Demas said in reference to a 51-3 record. “The season was great, but it should have been better. I missed four finals and that really eats at me.”
Demas’ pin of Olentangy Liberty’s Trey Grenier in 2:30 of the Division I 145-pound title bout capped a brilliant career during which he compiled a 170-13 record. He wrestled in state title bouts in each of his final three seasons, winning at 138 in 2015, and took sixth as a freshman.
In honor of the season he had and legacy he left, the Central District Coaches Association selected Demas as the winner of the Casey Fredericks Award as the Dispatch All-Metro team’s wrestler of the year. Voting took place after the state tournament.
“It was pretty exciting to end my career the way I did with a pin,” Demas said. “I didn’t want to be just a one-time champion. After taking runner-up my junior year, I worked really, really hard in the offseason to make sure that didn’t happen again. Winning two, at least I tied my brother and that’s something he can’t hold over me.”
Josh Demas was a two-time state champion at Westerville North and enjoyed a successful career at Ohio State. The brothers share a healthy sibling rivalry, but Dom is adamant that he never wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
Proving that he is, indeed, his own man, Demas signed to wrestle at national powerhouse Oklahoma next fall.
“I will miss my family being that far away from home, but I really wanted to go out on my own and experience something exciting,” he said.
Oklahoma has produced seven NCAA team championships and 67 individual titles. Demas hopes to join the list of 273 Sooners who have made All-America.
Demas said that Lou Rosselli began recruiting him as a junior while Rosselli was serving as a 10-year assistant at Ohio State. Rosselli was hired as Oklahoma coach on Aug. 30 and brought along former Buckeyes standout Hunter Stieber (a former teammate of Josh Demas) as an assistant. Rosselli’s son, Jordan, is an Olentangy Liberty junior who placed fourth in the state at 120 pounds.
“The wrestling community is pretty tight and I’ve had relationships with coach Rosselli and Jordan and coach Stieber for some time,” Demas said. “I can’t wait to get out to Oklahoma later in the summer.” In addition to the two Athletes of the Week, The Dispatch recognizes top performers in some sports in season: