The Miami Trace Panthers wrestling team made it a three-peat in the Frontier Athletic Conference Saturday when they won the conference tournament after going 5-0 in the regular season dual meets.
Miami Trace won the conference tournament with 198.5 points.
Jackson was second with 145 points, followed by Washington in third with 144 points.
McClain was fourth with 73.5 points, followed by Chillicothe with 40.5 points and Hillsboro with 24 points.
That leaves the final FAC standings as follows: Miami Trace, 10-0; Jackson, 8-2; Washington, 6-4; McClain, 4-6 and Hillsboro and Chillicothe tie for fifth place at 3-7.
Miami Trace had five weight class champions: Titus Lehr, 106; Weston Melvin, 113; Graham Carson, 152; Bryce Bennett, 195 and Grant DeBruin, 285.
Washington had three weight class champions: Branton Dawes, 120; Kalub Wilkerson, 160 and Collier Brown, 220.
“The heavyweight match was a barn-burner,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Fondale said. “(Mason) Mustain is just a tough wrestler. He’s got a great record. He’s well-coached. He’s always just been tough. He and Grant have been going at it the last couple of years.
“It was a fun match to watch,” Fondale said. “There were a lot of close calls; a lot of intensity in that final match.
“We had a couple guys who won the FAC for the first time,” Fondale said, referring to Titus Lehr, Bryce Bennett and Grant DeBruin.
“I’m proud of our younger guys for stepping up,” Fondale said. “Some of our guys just had really tough weight classes. They still managed to find a way to either make it to the finals or score some team points.
“This was just an all-around team effort,” Fondale said. “We had every weight class filled. Everybody made weight, everybody stayed healthy and everybody wrestled hard. We’re just proud of these guys. They showed up ready to wrestle. We were fairly confident coming into the tournament, but we wanted to make a statement. We just wanted to completely take care of business. We’re happy with the effort we put forth.”
“We thought we could get five weight class champs,” Washington head coach Louis Reid said. “We ended up with three. Two seniors, Collier Brown and Kalub Wilkerson, wrestled their tails off. Kalub beat a kid that pinned him earlier in Kylan Knapp. He wrestled smart.
“Collier beat a returning State-qualifier in Kade Rawlins,” Reid said. “It was a really good match between those two. They’ll see each other next week (at the Sectionals).
“At 120, Branton Dawes repeated as a champion,” Reid said. “(Austin VanAllen) wrestled him a lot tougher. Even though we ended up winning big, it was a tough match. That kid wrestled us pretty smart. Dawes has great mat awareness. He was smart enough to put himself in good position to come out with the win.
“We had a wrestler out and Jenna Kuhn stepped in and finished second at 106,” Reid said. “At 113, Bryce Warner was third. At 132, Josiah Whitt beat a kid and made it to the finals and took second.
“At 145, Connor Day ended up third,” Reid said. “At 170, Jared Kuhn placed third. At 182, Dylan Moore made the finals and placed second. At 195, Trevor Crocker was fourth. At 285, Mason Mustain ended up second. He was second last year at 220. Last year, DeBruin pinned us. This year, we went to overtime. It was a great match. We’ve got to make some adjustments. DeBruin wrestled really smart.
“We’ve got to get back into the room and get back to work,” Reid said. “We’ve got to keep our kids healthy.”
“At this point in the season, there are no new techniques you can teach,” Fondale said. “There might have been some things happen during the matches today that we can talk to our kids (about), maybe they can tighten up on.
“We need to get our mind set ready as we go into Sectionals,” Fondale said. “It starts to become an individual-type of sport now. We can wrestle with anybody. We’ve been training all season just as hard as anybody else. There’s no reason we can’t go out and have a couple of upsets. Just get in the correct mindset. You need to wrestle like your season depends on it. For the seniors, they need to wrestle like it’s their last hoorah.”
1st Place match results:
106 – Titus Lehr, MT (11-24) pinned Jenna Kuhn, W (2-9), :30
113 – Weston Melvin, MT (40-7) injury default Gavin Malone, J (24-13)
120 – Brandon Dawes, W (44-1) 9-1 maj. dec. Austin VanAllen, J (33-7)
126 – Blake Sheeter, J (22-15) 5-4 dec. Atraylyew Howard, C (11-14)
132 – Lucas Jansen, Mc (25-12) pinned Josiah Whitt, W (17-23), :24
138 – Caleb Lake, C (27-3) 6-2 dec. Storm Duffy, MT (17-8)
145 – Joey Richison, J (36-6) 10-6 dec. Vincent Munro (21-10)
152 – Graham Carson, MT (40-8) 15-0 tech fall Quinton Smith, Mc (26-10)
160 – Kalub Wilkerson, W (31-10) 8-2 dec. Kylan Knapp, MT (24-10)
170 – Brice Parks, J (41-1) 21-5 tech fall Jayden LeBeau, MT (25-12)
182 – Anthony Parks, J (41-2) pinned Dylan Moore, W (9-6), :48
195 – Bryce Bennett, MT (35-14) 2-1 dec. Phil Waters, Mc (27-8)
220 – Collier Brown, W (37-7) 4-3 SV-1 dec. Kade Rawlins, Mc (10-3)
285 – Grant DeBruin, MT (38-8) 5-3 SV-3 dec. Mason Mustain, W (39-5)
FAC weight class champions:
106 – Titus Lehr, Miami Trace
113 – Weston Melvin, Miami Trace
120 – Branton Dawes, Washington
126 – Blake Sheeter, Jackson
132 – Lucas Jansen, McClain
138 – Caleb Lake, Chillicothe
145 – Joey Richison, Jackson
152 – Graham Carson, Miami Trace
160 – Kalub Wilkerson, Wsahington
170 – Brice Parks, Jackson
182 – Anthony Parks, Jackson
195 – Bryce Bennett, Miami Trace
220 – Collier Brown, Washington
285 – Grant DeBruin, Miami Trace
