During a year unlike no other in recent memory, six Bethel-Tate High School wrestlers made memories that will last a lifetime last week.
Six students traveled to Harrison High School to compete in the program’s first all-girl tournament, the Shelly Ruberg Classic. The Lady Tigers placed fifth in the 12-team tournament with 64 points. Miami East won the title with 195, followed by Marysville (123) and Western Brown (112).
Tom Donahue, Bethel-Tate’s wrestling coach, said simply getting into tournaments has been difficult this year.
“The tournaments, especially on the boys side, have been canceled because they’re trying to limit the number of competitors and number of schools,” Donahue said. “Girls wrestling has taken off like crazy, but even so, to limit an event to like four schools, you’re not going to have very many girl wrestlers. To try to match them up by weight classes is difficult as it is already.”
Bethel-Tate at one point counted as many as 15 potential wrestlers ready to make an impact, numbers bolstered for numerous reasons including the success of a pair of Bethel-Tate wrestlers last season.
“My two girls wrestled last year and the success they had plus the fact that it is grown across the country…we had a lot of interest,” Donahue said. “I think we had originally 15 girls signed up, probably would have ended up with 13 if it would have been for COVID. The six that we have are all coming in every day and working really hard, they’re excited and they’re learning and it makes it fun.”
Last season, Bethel-Tate had two Lady Tigers place at the girls state tournament. Alexa Donahue finished fifth, defeating Miami East’s Bella Lewis 4-1 in her final match.
Trinity Donahue finished third at 111 pounds, falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Olivia Shore of Miami East. She rebounded in the third-place match, pinning Reynoldsburg’s Peighton Irish-Arnett to take third place.
Alexa Donahue is back on the mats for the team this season. She is the sole wrestler on Bethel-Tate’s girls team with previous experience in competitions.
”For five of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever competed,” Tom Donahue said. “There were a lot of nerves and a lot of excitement. A lot of emotional rollercoasters, ups and downs. They handled it all well, it was pretty great.”
Alexa Donahue finished 3-1 in the tournament at Harrison, taking third place in her weight class. She defeated Miamisburg’s Aubrey Garrison 8-4 in her first bout, then pinned Marysville’s Annabelle price in 48 seconds to improve to 2-0.
Her lone loss came in her third match. Western Brown’s Dakota Propeck won that contest via pin in 3:39.
“She dropped a match she probably shouldn’t have lost but it’s all good experience,” Tom Donahue said. “She had the girl on from Western brown on her back early and in the match and could have ended it, ended up getting reversed, flipped and pinned.”
She rallied in her final match, pinning Harrison’s Paige King in 58 seconds. Alexa is also a candidate to fill in on the Bethel-Tate boys wrestling team, something that could help her as she prepares for the girls state tournament.
“It’s going to give her a little bit more experience and it’ll be good for her, give her a little bit more confidence when she gets ready to wrestle at the girls state tournament,” Tom Donahue said.
Bethel-Tate’s Jill Dick wrestled for the Lady Tigers at 101 pounds despite being roughly 15 pounds underweight. She finished fourth in the tournament with an 0-3 record, but Coach Donahue saw some bright spots.
“She’s giving up a good bit of size to pretty much everybody she wrestles, but she’s a scrapper, she fights hard and she’s gonna be really good,” Tom Donahue said. “I mean, she went 0-3 but she did score a couple takedowns and a reversal. There are small wins to build off of, things that we’re going over and practice that you can see that she’s learning.”
Sam Hazenfield wrestled at 137 pounds for Bethel-Tate, and like Dick she finished the tournament with three losses in three matches.
“She is working her tail off,” Tom Donahue said. “She’s studying videos and getting in extra workouts and sending me links and things and asking, ‘Can we add extra mat time?’ She’s 100 percent bought in and being the senior, she’s the one that’s keeping them all together. Just the team aspect of the six girls, it’s fun to watch.”
Sallie Wesselman placed third for the Lady Tigers in the 150-pound class. Wesselman droped matches to Marysville’s Sophia Smegal and Miami East’s Erin Hamby, but the freshman closed out her tournament with a pin of Miamisburg’s Lizzie Winters in 1:37.
“[Wesselman is] probably the most aggressive, and she said it’s due to having older brothers,” Tom Donahue said. :She’s got a lot of upside, she’s got a ton of potential. She’s also the strongest one that we have on a team…I’m anxious to see how much better she can get over the year.”
Jade Hartness placed second for Bethel-Tate at 160 pounds. Hartness won her fist match, pinning Miami East’s Kylie Haught in 3:30. Harrison’s Molly Hudler pinned Hartness in 54 seconds to take first place.
Hartness, according to Coach Donahue, enters the program with some interesting prior experience.
“She’s the nicest girl you ever want to meet, but you can tell that she loves mixing it up,” Tom Donahue said. “She loves what she’s doing. I’m coming to find out this past week that she has a little bit of a background in some form of martial arts, some type of karate. She hadn’t done in years, but when she was younger, she would go to karate tournaments.”
Donahue also discussed the feeling following certain events during the tournament.
“When [Hartness] won her first match, she was jumping up and down,” Tom Donahue said. “All these girls were scared to death. They were nervous. To see these girls get their first wins or score first points and all that stuff. It’s pretty exciting, pretty rewarding.”
Bethel-Tate’s sixth wrestler, Chloe Vining, finished third at 189 pounds. Vining pinned Marysville’s Caelan Mccullough in 2:20 to win one of her matches in the tournament.
“First experience, ever,” Tom Donahue said. “She’s a cheerleader also, and she just went out and overcame these nerves and battled hard.”
The nerves were a common theme for the Lady Tigers as they faced off against squads from Western Brown, West Union and Piqua, among others.
“They had never been to an event like that before, most of them,” Donahue said. “For them to see that there are a bunch of other girls from all over the state…I think they were excited to be a part of it and excited to get their first competition on under their belt.”
Late last week, the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association had a pair of announcements. In addition to the host sites for the boys state duals, the OHSWCA announced the creation of regional tournaments for the girls state tournament.
Those regionals will be held in locations to be released early next month. Three regional tournaments will be held on Sunday, February 14, with four qualifiers from each region advancing to the state tournament on Sunday, February 21.