By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor

Four Clermont County schools sent wrestlers to Madeira on Jan. 6-7 to compete in the Madeira Invitational.

The Bethel-Tate Tigers fared the best out of the four, finishing the two-day event in fourth place overall. The Tigers had six total placers, with two advancing to the finals. Goshen finished sixth, tallying 108.5 points thanks to seven placers and a finalist.

Batavia also cracked the top-10, finishing in ninth. The Bulldogs had five wrestlers place in the meet. Clermont Northeastern finished 15th, scoring 47 points and placing three wrestlers on the podium.

In the 106-pound class, Goshen’s Chase Huff defeated Norwood’s Pippy Johnson via tech fall (17-0) in the finals to win the title. Batavia’s Bryan Sauter earned a 7-3 decision win over McNicholas’ Andrew Walsh to finish fifth.

In the 113-pound class, Goshen’s Michael Reyes dropped his first-round match to Point Pleasant’s George Smith. Reyes then defeated a pair of opponents via pin before falling to Boone County’s Cordell Vaske, forcing Reyes into the fifth-place match. Reyes won the match against Holmes’ Leshawn Simmons in a 12-7 decision.

Two locals made the podium in the 120-pound class. Batavia’s Elijah Waters fell to Reading’s Dustin Robins 5-2 in the opening-round of the bracket. Meanwhile, Clermont Northeastern’s Sam Patterson won his first match to advance to the semifinals. Patterson’s loss to Robins dropped the Rocket to the consolation bracket, where he faced off against Waters, who had won his previous two consolation matches.

Waters defeated Patterson 1-0 to advance to the third-place match, where a 5-2 victory over Point Pleasant’s Caleb Lane sent Waters to third place.

Patterson defeated Norwood’s Tyler Harkins 3-0 to finish fifth.

Goshen’s Thomas Hill won his first match via pin in 54 seconds to advance to the semifinals of the 126-pound class. Hill fell to Madeira’s Jackson Hugentobler in the semis, dropping him to the consolation bracket. He defeated Batavia’s Deven Williams in his first consolation match, then won a 9-3 decision over Indian Hill’s Jaden Anderson in the consolation finals to finish third. Williams pinned Purcell’s Owen Lewis in 2:42 to finish fifth.

Bethel-Tate’s first placer came in the 132-pound class. Mike Whittington fell to Norwood’s Casey Ragle in the first round, but Whittington fought his way back through the consolation bracket, winning four matches to advance to the third-place bout. One of those matches was a gainst Goshen’s Brice Briggs, which sent Briggs to the fifth-place match against North College Hill’s Willie Byrd. Briggs pinned Byrd in 2:50 to place fifth, while Holmes’ Diontae Rone earned an 8-4 decision win over Whittington, dropping the Tiger to fourth place.

In the 138-pound class, Bethel-Tate’s Matt Hall earned the individual title. Hall pinned two of his first three opponents to advance to the championship match against Blanchester’s Clayton Schirmer. Hall won that match 1-0 to win the title.

Goshen’s Jacob Kube was one of the three wrestlers Hall defeated on the way to the title match. Kube finished fourth after falling to Reading’s Issia Johnson 8-4 in the consolation finals. Batavia’s Dontae Tallarigo placed fifth, defeating Hughes’ Ronald Harris via pin in 3:52.

The only local to find the path to the podium in the 145-pound class was Goshen’s Collin Briggs. He fell to Point Pleasant’s Austin Wamsley in his opening match, then won back-to-back consolation matches to advance to the consolation semifinals. Indian Hill’s Jack Steuerwald defeated Collin Briggs via pin in 59 seconds, sending the Warrior to the fifth-place match, where he won by forfeit.

Clermont Northeastern’s David Pride placed sixth in the 152-pound class, defeating wrestlers from Mt. Healthy and Goshen before being pinned by North College Hill’s Dequan Adams in the fifth-place match.

Owen Holtke did not win any of his four matches by pin, but nonetheless the Tiger earned the title in the 170-pound class.

Holtke defeated Batavia’s Daniel Greiner via tech fall (22-6) in the first round. Greiner then pinned five straight opponents, the quickest in just 18 seconds, to place third in the weight class.

Wyatt O’neil placed fifth for Bethel-Tate in the 195-pound class. O’neil defeated Blanchester’s James Peters via pin in 3:40 to advance to the semifinals. McNicholas’ Jackson Gear defeated O’neil in a 10-2 major decision win.

In the consolation bracket, O’neil fell to Point Pleasant’s Andrew Roach in the consolation semifinals, sending him to the fifth-place match for a rematch with Peters. O’neil again pinned Peters, this time in 3:25, to finish fifth.

In the 220-pound class, Bethel-Tate’s Bradley Lewis won two consolation matches before falling to Reading’s Corey Frank in the consolation semifinals. Lewis faced off against Madeira’s Kyle Kimbrough in the fifth-place match, where he lost a 6-2 decision.

Three locals placed in the 285-pound class. Bethel-Tate’s Kermit Beckworth defeated Clermont Northeastern’s Joey Groeber via pin in 37 seconds to take third place. Goshen’s Andrew Arnold fell to Mount Healthy’s Darius Miller 4-2 in the fifth-place match.