Bryce Wheatley finished last year with a great run that took him to the OHSAA state wrestling tournament.
Match photos click here.
Bryce Wheatley finished last year with a great run that took him to the OHSAA state wrestling tournament.
At the 175-pound mark last season, Wheatley was the first NDCL wrestler to qualify for the state tournament since 2010.
Now Wheatley looks to return to states this year in the 190-pound weight class, and is currently ranked seventh in the state with a 33-3 record this year.
Wheatley continued his great season, and reached 33-3, Feb. 2 in a tri-match with Central Catholic and Geneva.
In his first match against Cleveland Central Catholic, Wheatley obtained a forfeit. In his second bout against Geneva, Wheatley got a first-period pin.
Wheatley was on the offensive from the start of the match, looking to end it quickly.
“My whole game plan coming in was to be on offense, and it ended up working out,” he said. “I ended up taking him down, got behind him, and then was looking to turn him.”
Wheatley ended the match on a Blair ride move: he pinned the opponent facing the opposite direction of the opponent while on his stomach and holding both of his opponents’ elbows to the mat with a double-arm bar.
With his opposite hand, Wheatley held down the opponent’s foot.
It was an amazing pin to view from one of the state’s best wrestlers.
“I wasn’t able to turn him the first time I wanted to,” Wheatley said. “And then ended up getting him in my Blair ride, and I was able to run my Blair ride over — went to double elbows, and from there I was able to sit through and stick him.”
NDCL Head Wrestling Coach Michael Fleeman discussed about the excellent match against Geneva.
“Bryce had the right mindset today,” he said. “He wrestled smart, he wrestled hard, and he ended up catching the kid and picked up the pin there in the first.”
And as Wheatley continues to rack up the victories, he is also approaching a major milestone: “that big 100-win mark,” as his coach called it.
“That will definitely be a milestone especially as a junior achieving that,” Fleeman said. “If everything goes right, he is going to hit that one right before sectionals. We’re really excited about it.”
In addition to Wheatley obtaining victory in the tri-match, other winning matches for the Lions included Greg Bores, Tucker Pason, Ryan Reginelli and Andreas Reider.
Reider talked about his performance during his final bout of the tri-match.
“We started off a little slow on my second match,” he said. “He took me down, I ended up rolling him over, and ended up getting him in a headlock, and then I pinned him.
“Overall, I am really happy with what I did today.”
The Lions would return to the mat next Feb. 9 with a tri-match against Independence and St. Ignatius.
