LEXINGTON — Bailey Faust won his 100th career wrestling match Wednesday night. If not for an announcement from the PA announcer, no one would know the Lexington junior had reached the career milestone.
That’s because the real victory Faust seeks is still a few months away – hopefully in the state finals in Columbus. After losing two matches at the state tournament a year ago, Faust knows the biggest wins (and losses) come there.
“It’s a good milestone,” said Faust, whose dad, Lex assistant coach Brian Faust, filled in for veteran head coach Brent Rastetter, who missed Wednesday’s dual meet matches with the flu. And what did dad/coach say after win No. 100?
“Not much,” the younger Faust said. “He said ‘good job, go get another one.’ He knows the goal is to win the state tournament. I wouldn’t care if I only won 30 matches if I won the state title.”
Faust ran his record to 19-0 this season and 101-13 overall. He is the 17th Lexington wrestler to reach 100 career wins since the 2006-2007 season under Rastetter. One of those 17 is his older brother, Jake Faust, who posted a 170-25 mark for the Minutemen, winning a state title in 2011-2012.
That may be why Brian Faust didn’t get too excited to see Bailey post No. 100. “It’s a milestone, but there is a lot of work to do. Hopefully, that isn’t his only goal.”
Coach/Dad Bailey doesn’t compare his two wrestling sons, the oldest of which wrestles for Duke University. “Maybe when they get older and are all done. We still have mat down at home. Jake is coming home Sunday . I am sure they will go at it a little bit,” he said with a smile.
Winning matches was not a problem for any Lexington wrestlers on Wednesday, posting easy dual meet wins against Tiffin Columbian, 64-15, and Plymouth, 72-12. The Minutemen won 18 of the 19 matches they actually wrestled against the Tornadoes and Big Red.
Columbian won one decision and two forfeits against Lexington. Plymouth’s only wins against Lex came via forfeits. In the first match of the night, Columbian topped Plymouth, 60-18.
Lexington assistant Nick Confalone said the Minutemen came out aggressively.
“Tiffin Columbian is always good and a strong team. We told the kids they needed to attack and get them on their heels and that’s what they did. Plymouth has a young team and they wanted to come down here and get some experience. I give them a lot of credit for coming down here and fighting hard,” Confalone said.
Eleven Lexington wrestlers posted double victories, including 16 pins and two tech falls. Winning twice for the Minutemen were senior Jonah Schropp (14-5, 120 pounds), junior Max Baker (9-3, 126), senior Brandon Leynaud (16-3, 132), junior Jon Watkins (16-1, 138), junior Chuck Mikelait (16-3, 145), senior Jordan Dalton (14-5, 160), senior Gabe Benjamin (15-3, 170), junior Drew Kasper (17-2, 182), Faust (19-0, 195), senior Kendall Kuhn (16-2, 2220) and junior Nate Temple (15-3, 285).
Plymouth coach Jeremiah Balkin, in his 14th year with the Big Red, knew his wrestlers faced stiff challenges against both Lexington and Columbian.
“We graduated eight seniors from last year’s team and I have a very young team this year with eight freshmen and sophomores. I wanted to bring them down here so they could see what it will take to get into the upper echelon. It’s good to see great competition like this so we can see what we need to work on,” Balkin said.
Junior Trevor Arnold (285 pounds) pinned TC’s William Hurt for the only Big Red win on the mat. Plymouth picked up four other wins by forfeit, including junior Cristian Loera (182 pounds), senior Sean Bolen (195), Nathaniel Redden (106) and Anthony Kitts (113).
Plymouth junior Chance Butcher, a district qualifier last year, dropped a 3-1 decision to TC junior Tyler Mesnard in his only match. “Chase is under the weather, but he wanted to wrestle. He is probably my best wrestler. He is a tough kid,” Balkin said.
Lexington, 11-3 in dual matches this season, travels to Edison on Saturday for a tri-match involving the host team, Norwalk and Amherst Steele. Plymouth wrestles Friday/Saturday at the Marion Harding Classic.
