Highland sophomore Cael Gilmore finished second at 144 pounds in the Division II state wrestling meet.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
After placing eighth in the state meet as a freshman last year, Highland’s Cael Gilmore made a huge improvement at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center last weekend as a sophomore.
Gilmore (48-5) won his first three matches to advance to the finals, before losing 8-3 to junior three-time state champion Brogan Tucker of Graham Local.
“It means a lot,” said Gilmore of reaching the finals. “I got eighth last year. I spent a lot of time in the offseason. I’ve got a lot of people behind me. I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”
His father and coach, Adam, agreed that Gilmore’s work ethic played a big role in his dramatically-improved placement at the state meet.
“He’s put a lot of time into this,” he said. “I think he wrestled 75 freestyle and greco matches from the end of the state tournament to the end of Fargo last year. He put a lot of time in and a lot of training. He wrestled some high-caliber kids in regionals and nationals and learned a lot, so he has that to draw from.”
In each of his first three matches, Gilmore did what he had to do in order to outlast some tough opposition. He opened Friday with a 5-1 decision over Joey Kana of Salem and then had a pair of tightly-contested bouts to continue advancing through the bracket.
Against Louden Dixon of West Holmes, a late escape by his opponent sent the match to overtime tied at 3-3. However, Gilmore had spent a good deal of the match in control of his opponent, wearing him down, and was able to take advantage of that to get a quick takedown in the extra period to earn a 5-3 victory.
He then picked up a 3-1 win over Benicio Torres of Wauseon in the semifinals to advance to the championship bout. In another close match, the two wrestlers were tied 1-1 in the third period, but Gilmore was able to get a late takedown and hold on for a second straight grueling win.
Adam Gilmore said that a big key for his son was simply to maintain his focus throughout the tournament.
“This state tournament is nutty,” he said. “One round is completely different from the next. You might wrestle amazing in one round and horrible the next. You just have to be ready for the round you’re at and be focused on the match you’re on and not look ahead and I think he’s staying focused right now.”
Gilmore added that he trusted all the work he’d done in the offseason, along with his previous state meet experience, would play a big factor in his results this year.
“I trusted in my training more,” he said. “I wasn’t nervous, I’ve been here before. I just had fun and let loose.”
In his championship contest Sunday night, Gilmore was able to score another late takedown against Tucker, who had topped him by fall in the district finals. The problem was what had happened earlier in the match.
After taking a 2-0 lead midway through the first period, Tucker was able to get a pair of back points late in the period. Tucker also was able to record back points in the second period. Adam Gilmore noted that those two sets of back points gave the Graham wrestler a lot more margin for error than he would have had if the score was 4-3 late in the match.
Gilmore, while disappointed with the loss, stated that he was able to gain quality experience from his state meet that he’ll be able to use the next two years as he works towards reaching the top of the podium.
Two more Highland boys also competed at the state meet, but were unable to reach the podium.
Junior Konner Blaney (44-11) went 1-2 at 106 pounds in much the same way as he did the previous year as a sophomore. He opened with a quick pin of Cody Carpenter of Girard in 1:09 to get his tournament off to a great start.
However, in the quarterfinals, he would lose by a 14-1 major decision to eventual state champion Marius Garcia of Bexley to drop to the consolation bracket. There, he suffered a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Justuce Fisher of Beaver Local to end his season.
At 126 pounds, freshman Kasey Clark (42-10) lost by a 12-2 major decision to Leroy Steagall, who wound up placing second, in the opening round. In his consolation match, Clark was topped 7-1 by Napoleon’s Roman Cordoba.
Adam Gilmore noted that both of those wrestlers had successful years and have a great chance at improving their performances next year, adding that he currently has a team loaded with young talent who do a great job of pushing each other.
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
