Ashland ousts reigning champion Buckeye for J.C. Gorman team title

MANSFIELD - Ashland may have had just three individual champions at the JC Gorman, but five other placers pushed the Arrows to a team title dethroning three-time reigning champion Medina Buckeye.

"It's one of those boxes we like to check for the area and just the history and nostalgia of wrestling in Mansfield area, Richland County, Ashland County, Wayne County — it's up there," Ashland coach Tommy Bauer said. "It's probably a tick below the state tournament and districts, but those tournaments and our conference are some boxes we like to check."

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It marked the return of the JC Gorman trophy to Ashland after the Arrows won a record five consecutive in the years preceding Buckeye's recent dominance. And it took a total team effort to do so.

"It really was, and a coach victory as well," Bauer said. "It took all of our coaches dividing and conquering with six mats in two different gyms, we were running all over the place. Started off a little rough this morning in the blood round, we lost a few guys early, but our horses really stepped up on the front side and punched through the finals."

Junior Guardian Miller won his third consecutive JC Gorman title, this time at 150 pounds as he cruised through his competition. He opened with a win over Mansfield Senior's Nikolas Markel (F, 1:00) then took out Clear Fork's Sloan McGhee (TF 19-4, 3:09) in the quarterfinals. Olentangy Berlin's John Snuffer IV (F, 3:17) was next to fall, then Clyde's Michael Gessner (F, 3:32) put Miller atop the podium and in a position to become just the second four-time Gorman champion after Buckeye's Blake Bartos made history over the weekend.

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Sophomore Tyson Mateo won the 106-pound class taking down freshmen Aiden Williams of Cambridge (F, 0:29), Vincent Joy of Buckeye (TF 18-3, 2:09), Sebastian Cain of Shelby (MD 12-4), then Willard senior Jose Figueroa (MD 10-0) in the finals. And senior Drayston "Buddha" Martin capped off the day with gold in the 285-pound class making quick work of Crestview senior Josiah Freeewalt (F, 0:38) in the opener and Clear Fork sophomore Luke Remy (F, 3;39) in quarters. A tough win over Bucyrus junior Hayden Butcher (Dec. 2-1) in semifinals matched him with Elgin junior Henry Greenleaf (TF 20-4, 5:21) for an easy title bout.

MORE: JC Gorman titles still prestigious to four Richland County champs

"What we told them all weekend is that some of our guys just need to step up to the occasion, some of them need to step up and rise to the occasion it's time to win, and some of us just need to separate from the competition," Bauer said. "We've got a little bit of inexperience in some of these pressure situations, especially in a gym that gets really loud. We just gotta stay in better position some of those matches, and a lot of those matches we were winning then we just kind of let it slip through the back at the end. But at the end of the day, it was a total team victory."

Junior Mason Bauer was runner-up at 138 falling to Bartos (TB 4-2) as was sophomore Tristan Gibson at 175 losing by majority decision (14-6) to Mohawk's Kaden Bish. Senior Skyler Radeff lost in quarterfinals before battling back to take third place besting Madison's Alexander Thompson (F, 2:32). Senior Talon Boyd placed sixth falling to Cambridge's Marshall Laishley (Dec. 2-1) in the fifth place match, and junior Max Ohl was seventh winning his final match over Olentangy Berlin's Luca Meyers (F, 0:47).

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All that while still working back Tuff Hutcheson and Isaak Wickham from injury who were district qualifiers last season.

"We get through the holidays and just try to stay healthy, then get into the new year," Bauer said. "Now we really start to climb the mountain toward the end of the year to get the guys prepped for the end of the season.

"Our guys are nowhere near physically peaked yet or wrestling their best, so it's pretty scary how many more levels we could jump in a short amount of time."

Galion's Harding finally captures elusive title

Silver was starting to get old for the Buffalo-bound Galion senior.

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"Jacob Ohl, lost to him my first year, then sophomore year was Colyn Limbert, and last year (Mason) Bauer," Galion's Gradey Harding said. "This year, I finally got one."

Limbert won back-to-back state titles — one over Harding in 2024 — and is now wrestling at Pittsburgh, Bauer is a back-to-back state placer for Division I Ashland and was the program's first freshman placer, and Ohl was state runner-up as a sophomore in 2022.

It took THAT level of talent to keep Harding away from gold. But he was determined not to let it happen a fourth time taking out Chippewa freshman (F, 1:12), Olentangy Berlin junior Maddux Nauman (TF 17-1, 3:31), Buckeye junior Brenden McKee (MD 14-6), and Ontario sophomore Tyler Turnbaugh (Dec. 7-3) for the 132-pound title.

"It definitely feels good, but I have a lot of work to do," Harding said. "I saw a lot of stuff I need to work on, and all ultimately I'm chasing at state title. I haven't got it the past two years, so this year we're definitely going for it and today was a really good day to see what I need to work on and understand what I gotta fix."

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And that's what Harding is focused on most this season, improving slightly with each match until he reaches the ultimate prize.

"It's so much fun to wrestle here," he said. "We got this one and a couple other tournaments to see where your holes are at and (realize) I gotta lock this stuff in before postseason. That's basically what these tournaments are for me.

"I wrestle to learn, I don't really care about losing. I leave it all out there and just wrestle because right now it doesn't matter, postseason matters."

Galion placed ninth overall as a team with senior Ryder Albert third at 138 after losing to Bauer in semifinals, sophomore Kane Hay fourth at 144, and junior Brice McDaniel fourth at 175.

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Crestview was 12th as a team; senior Jack Stephens fifth at 175, junior Brayden Parrigan sixth at 138, classmates Kenneth McGregor and Bronson Rose seventh at 113 and 215 respectively.

Bucyrus 20th overall led by freshman Camden Redmon's third place finish in the 126-pound class falling to eventual JC Gorman champion Grady Lambdin of Chippewa (Dec. 4-0) in semifinals before bouncing back to beat Elgin's Landon Shrader (TF 15-0, 3:41) and Olentangy Berlin's Zayne Cassidy (Dec. 8-1). Butcher lost in semifinals to Ashland's Martin, then beat Mapleton's Lukas Jenkins (F 3:50) before falling to Clear Fork's Luke Remy (F 2:47) in the third place match to finish fourth.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland wrestling wins prestigious J.C. Gorman Invitational 2026