MECHANICSBURG – Versailles finished as the Region 24 runner up in the Ohio High School Athletic Association wrestling dual team tournament on Wednesday at Mechanicsburg.
Versailles beat Coldwater 49-20 in the regional semifinals Wednesday night before losing 42-25 to Mechanicsburg, who had beaten Miami East 53-18 in the other regional semifinal.
“I thought we wrestled pretty well,” Versailles coach A.J. Bey said. “They’re just a tough team. A few of the matches, a couple were kind of swing matches and they were pretty tight, and we won some tight ones.”
Versailles led throughout its semifinal matchup with Coldwater after taking a 6-0 lead when Coldwater forfeited the 106 pound match to Cael Bey.
Coldwater’s Brian Chmielewski beat Nick Monnier in a 12-2 major decision in the 113 pound match before Versailles won the next five matches.
Jacob Poling beat Koby Boggs 7-2 in the 120 pound match, Preston Platfoot beat Justin Sigler in a 9-0 major decision in the 126 pound match, Steven Mangen won the 132 pound match by forfeit, Kyle Wuebker pinned T.J. Burroughs in 1:20 in the 138 pound match and Tanner Bey pinned Reece Thomas in 30 seconds in the 145 pound match, giving Versailles a 31-7 lead midway through the regional semifinal.
Coldwater got back-to-back victories with Seth Obringer defeating Derek Cavin 6-1 in the 152 pound match and Andrew Meyer defeating Tyler Gigandet in a 9-1 major decision in the 160 pound match, bringing the score to 31-11.
Versailles’ Jonathan Moorman then pinned Tyler Hemmelgarn five minutes into the 170 pound match, putting the Tigers up 37-11 and securing the team victory.
Versailles won the next two matches by pins as well with Bo Bey pinning Ryan Leugers in 3:24 in the 182 pound match and Jacob Rismiller pinning Desmond Brown in 3:35 in the 195 pound match, giving the Tigers a 49-11 advantage.
Coldwater won the final two matches with Zach Klosterman pinning Isaac Grilliot in 1:50 in the 220 pound match and Thomas Schwieterman getting a last-second take down to defeat Jeffrey Ware 3-1 in the 285 pound match.
In the finals Versailles again took an early lead with Cael Bey defeating Dakota Lay in a 10-1 major decision in the 106 pound match and Monnier pinning Gabby Terry in 3:15 in the 120 pound match, putting the Tigers up 10-0.
Mechanicsburg then won the next three matches to take an 11-10 lead with Ben Stroud defeating Poling 6-0 in the 120 pound match, Tyler Wetzel defeating Platfoot with a 21-6 technical fall in the 126 pound match and Alex Rhine defeating Mangen 4-2 in the 132 pound match.
Versailles regained the lead in the 138 pound match with Wuebker pinning Frank Magyar in 1:57, putting the Tigers up 16-11.
That was Versailles’ final lead of the night, however, as Mechanicsburg won the next four matches to go up 30-16. First Tanner Smith beat Tanner Bey in an 11-3 major decision in the 145 pound match, then Colt Yinger pinned Cavin in 51 seconds in the 152 pound match, then Corey Bogan beat Moorman 9-4 in the 160 pound match and finally Versailles forfeited the 170 pound match to three-time state champion Kaleb Romero.
Versailles got back into the win column when Bo Bey beat Dustin Knapp 3-1 in the 182 pound match. Then in the 195 pound match Rismiller pinned Alex Walton in 4:52, making the score 30-25 and keeping Versailles’ hopes alive.
But Mechanicsburg won the final two matches to end Versailles’ run in the team tournament. First Dylan Hartman won the 220 pound match when Grilliot was disqualified then Ware was pinned by Dylan Hartley in 22 seconds in the 285 pound match to make the final score 42-25.
“We’ll get back into the room and work tomorrow and start on the individual stuff,” Coach Bey said of his team ending its run in the team tournament.
