Clermont County wrestlers officially began the season over the weekend, with five schools competing at the Bob Guy Invitational at Williamsburg High School.
In addition to the host Wildcats, competitors from Batavia, Bethel-Tate, CNE, and Goshen represented Clermont county, along with Celina, Deer Park, Loveland, McNicholas and West Union.
Bethel-Tate won the team title, collecting 279.5 points. CNE placed second with 235.5, and Williamsburg’s 167 were good for third. Goshen (125) placed sixth, while Batavia (110) finished seventh.
Batavia freshman Brandon Sauter won the title in the 113-pound class. Sauter pinned all five of his opponents, with the longest match lasting 2:08. Bethel-Tate’s Joe Reinert finished second with his lone loss coming to Sauter.
Junior Bryan Sauter won the title at 120. He finished pool play undefeated with all three wins coming via pin.
In the championship bracket, Sauter defeated CNE’s Isaiah Roberts 12-0 (major decision) to advance to the championship match against Williamsburg’s Dylan Rowland. The junior won the title with a 7-2 decision victory.
Roberts placed third, pinning Deer Park’s Kenzi Gibson in 2:35. Bethel-Tate’s Jacob Webb pinned Goshen’s Trey Mowry in 36 seconds to finish fifth.
Bethel-Tate’s Trey Sander won the title in the 126-pound class. Sander finished 4-0 in pool play, pinning three of his opponents in under two minutes. He won the fourth match via tech fall (20-4).
In the championship match, Sander earned a major decision victory (14-1) over Loveland’s Omar Atwan. Goshen’s Michael Reyes finished 3-1 in pool play, and defeated Celina’s Nathan Wilson via pin at 3:34 to place third. CNE’s Hunter Sparks finished sixth, falling to Loveland’s Parker Ashby.
In the 132-pound class, Bethel-Tate’s Donnie Harrison placed second, with his only defeat coming to McNicholas High School freshman Pierce Taylor. Williamsburg’s Stephanie Abrams placed fifth.
CNE’s Tyler Conley won the title in the 138-pound class. Conley won all five of his matches via pin, including a 21-second pin of Celina’s Corey Greber.
Batavia’s Brennan Bruner placed third, with Bethel-Tate’s Trent Riley in fourth. Bruner defeated Riley via pin in 1:15.
CNE’s Sam Patterson won the 145-pound title. Patterson rolled to a 4-0 record in pool play, pinning all four of his opponents.
In the championship round, Patterson defeated Celina’s Aric Gallimore via tech fall (21-6).
Bethel-Tate’s Robby Perkins placed third, defeating CNE’s Jacob Groeber 7-3. Another Tiger, Cole Grigsby, finished sixth.
Goshen’s Thomas Hill won the title in the 152-pound class. Hill won all three of his matches in pool play via pin, the longest taking 1:26. He matched up against Loveland’s Zach Rooks in the semifinals of the championship bracket, and came away with a pin in 32 seconds to advance to the finals.
On the other side of the bracket, Williamsburg’s Joseph Bechtol also finished undefeated in pool play, pinning all three of his foes in under a minute. However, Bethel-Tate’s hank Williams pinned Bechtol at the 2:56 mark of the semifinal match to advance to the finals agains Hill.
Hill won the match with a pin in 1:15. Bechtol pinned Rooks to place third. CNE’s Joey Putnam finished 1-2 in pool play, but he defeated West Union’s Harley Steed and Celina’s Austin Kundtz to finish fifth.
Three of the four finalists in the 160 pound class were Clermont County wrestlers. Bethel-Tate’s Mike Whittington and CNE’s Albert Corey both finished pool play undefeated, with Williamsburg’s George Paine falling to Whittington for his only defeat.
Whittington defeated Loveland’s Sean O’Donnell to advance to the finals against Corey, who had pinned Paine in 3:21. Whittington won the title with a pin in 1:32.
Paine fell in the third place match via pin in 1:06.
The 170 pound championship bracket was an all Clermont County affair. CNE’s Luke Rayburn and Goshen’s Dale King both finished pool play undefeated and drew matchups against Bethel-Tate’s Connor Glenn and Williamsburg’s Trent Kellerman, respectively. Rayburn pinned Glenn in 1:15, while Kellerman defeated King via pin in 5:35. Rayburn won the title with an 8-3 victory.
King defeated Glenn 13-2 for third place.
Bethel-Tate’s Mikey Malloy placed fifth. Malloy defeated teammate Dillyn Williams and Loveland’s Semi Ozerslan in bracket play.
In the 182-pound class, CNE’s David Pride emerged victorious in pool play, pinning all three of his opponents.
Bethel-Tate’s Joey Black and Williamsburg’s Andrew Hatter each advanced to the championship semifinals with 2-1 marks. Pride pinned Black in 32 seconds, but fell to McNicholas’ Ryan Gear 9-0 in the finals. Black defeated Hatter via pin at 3:03 in the third-place match.
In the 195-pound class, CNE’s Hayden Mattes pinned all three of his opponents to advance to the championship bracket. He then pinned Celina’s Nathan Fortkamp in 1:51 to earn a spot in the championship match, where he fell to McNick’s Chris Waiter in 4:18.
Williamsburg’s Josh McKibben went 0-3 in pool play, but he defeated McNick’s Thomas Ton 7-5 and West Union’s Brandon Cornell via pin in 1:18 to place fifth.
Four Clermont County wrestlers placed in the 220 pound class. Williamsburg’s Gavin Barnhart finished 3-0 in pool play, earning a match against Bethel-Tate’s Blake Reed in the semifinals. Barnhart pinned Reed in 26 seconds.
Batavia’s Issac Hattar finished second in his pool to Barnhart. He fell to Celina’s Cory Fortkamp in the semifinals in 1:37. Barnhart defeated Fortkamp 11-6 to win the title.
Hattar defeated Reed via pin at 4:26 to place third. Goshen’s Kyle Vanderhorst had a bye to the fifth-place match, which he won via pin over West Union’s Chris Davis.
Bethel-Tate’s Jayce Glenn won the title in the 285-pound class, finishing a perfect 5-0 in pool play. His longest match came in his final bout, a pin of Celina’s Gavin Nash in 5:39. Goshen’s Austin Grundy finished second, pinning all of his opponents except Glenn.