Wapak places 15th at GMVA
VANDALIA — The Wapakoneta wrestling team came away with what has to been termed a successful tournament at the annual two-day Greater Miami Valley Association tournament at Vandalia Butler High School.
The Redskins placed 8th in the 28 team small school standings, and 15th overall out of the 53 teams in the competition. Three local grapplers finished in the top seven, and three more were within one more win of finishing no worse than eighth.
Wapak’s top finisher was 106-pounder Caden Mellott. The Redskin freshman won his first two matches by pin, before falling into the consolation bracket with a tough 11-9 overtime loss to Julian Kleiv of Hillard Bradley, but he picked up right where he left off on Tuesday morning, with three straight pins at 32 seconds, 3:28, and 4:02 to advance to the thirdplace match.
He certainly earned his way there too, especially in his consolation quarterfinal match against Johah Mccluskey of Simon Kenton. Mccluskey took a 4-0 lead into the third period, but Mellott recorded a takedown and put his opponent on his back. The official slapped the mat at 3:28 for the come-from-behind win.
“That’s not the way we draw it up,” Wapak head coach Jason Rostorfer said with a smile, “but that’s why I like tournaments like this. It gives the kids a chance to face adversity. Not every match is going to be a cake walk and Caden did a nice job of not giving up, and as I said last night, he (Caden) can see how much he has improved in two weeks.”
Rostorfer was referring to Mellott’s final match which was another truth is better than fiction finish. He faced Kleiv once again with third place at stake. Having lost by a technical fall two weeks ago, and an overtime decision on Monday, revenge was surely on his mind and he got that in spades. He dominated his nemesis from the
opening whistle and pulled out to a convincing 14-8 decision.
157 pounder Corbin Mitchell had a long path back from an opening match loss, but once on track, he blitzed through his next six matches, winning, 4-3, 2:20, 106, 8-3, 2:02, and 8-2 in the consolation quarter finals, before falling to Kane Epperly of Versailles by fall (:32). He dropped his match for fifth place 11-5 to Brandon Burchett of Fairdale, but still finished with an impressive 6-3 record. The nine matches was the most wrestled by Wapakoneta during the tournament.
Senior heavyweight Cael Rostorfer also had to try and wrestle back following an opening match loss, and he too went on a winning jag taking the next four matches, :33, 2:10, 3-1, and 2:56 in the quarter final, but dropped his semifinal match to fall to the match for seventh place. He used his usual aggressive style to pin Ethan Taylor of Tecumseh at the 2:22 point of the contest.
Three other Redskins came within one win of finishing no worse than eighth, but lost the all important place advancement match. Gavin Hall (138) finished 3-2, Jace Knouse (175) also finished 3-2, while Trevor Houts (215) finished the tournament with a 2-2 record.
Zach Steinke (126) and Nate Buell (150) both competed well and both earned a win, but finished 1-2.
“This kind of competition is what we come down here for,” said Rostorfer. “Experience is one, getting into adverse situation so they know how to react to it. You just have to gut one out sometimes and find a way to win or make excuses. You like to see that mental toughness.”
“Three placers is the most we’ve had here since the 2016-17 season,” Rostorfer continued. “We’re proud of this group here. We only brought nine guys and we wrestled well. It’s hard to wrestle when you have a 32 man bracket and finish in the top eight so it’s an accomplishment. We still have things to work on, but you can see the improvement. This experience over the past two days has been huge for our team.”
Wapak will take another extended break, not hitting the mats again until January 6th, when they will host Western Buckeye League rival Van Wert, with action getting underway at 6 pm.