COLUMBUS, Ohio — The tears began flowing before the referee had raised Drew Kasper’s left arm and intensified as Lexington coach Brent Rastetter hung the gold medal around his senior 182-pounder’s neck.
An unlikely journey to the top of the state podium brought an emotional end to a season fraught with challenges. The enormity of the moment began to settle in even before the final seconds of Kasper’s 9-3 win over Urbana’s Jack Harris had ticked off the clock Saturday evening inside Ohio State’s Value City Arena for the Division II state wrestling tournament.
“It means everything. It means everything for my family,” Kasper said through tears. “I just honestly fed off of everything that happened to me in the past and everything I’ve been through and just all the hard work I’ve put in. … It’s everything I wanted.
“I dreamed about it as a kid every night. I’d lay in my bed crying about it wanting it so bad. And I did it.”
It didn’t come easy.
Kasper (43-1) was clinging to a 4-3 lead late in the third period against the top-ranked Harris. With time running out, a desperate Harris tried a throw that Kasper turned into a five-point move. The two had met three previous times with Harris twice pinning Kasper on the same throw he attempted Saturday night. Kasper earned a one-point win at the Disney Duals in Orlando, Fla., last summer.
“That’s the only thing he uses. I knew he was going to try it so I was just waiting for it,” Kasper said. “He tried it on my twice and pinned me twice then I came back and beat him by a point and we wrestled a fourth time and I beat him again.”
The meeting almost never took place. Kasper had surgery to remove part of the meniscus in his left knee just weeks before the postseason began.
“From knee surgery at the beginning of February to a state title in March is pretty amazing,” Rastetter said.
So Close: The news wasn’t quite as good for Kasper’s teammate, 195-pounder Bailey Faust. The senior pinned his way to the championship match, but suffered a 3-2 ultimate tie-breaker loss to Perry’s Kyle Kremiller in the finals.
Kremiller was able to escape early in the final 30-second overtime period for the victory.
“It’s heart-breaking,” Faust (46-4) said. “I’ve worked for that for four years and I was a point away.
“It kind of came down to a rookie mistake on my part. I deferred in the second and I should have chosen down so I could get my point (for an escape). If I choose down, I get my point first, then I have choice in (the ultimate tie-breaker). He scored first and he chose down. If I score first and choose down, then I’m the state champion.”
Agonizing Loss: Like Faust, Galion 285-pounder Deaken McCoy suffered a 3-2 ultimate tie-breaker loss to Jonathan Alder’s Troy Caldwell in the finals. McCoy scored first and chose down in the ultimate tie-breaker. McCoy made it to his feet, but Caldwell held on long enough to prevent the escape before time expired.
“It turned out ultimately the way we wanted it to happen, to have our choice at the end of the match,” Galion coach Brent Tyrrell said. “It just didn’t work out. That’s about as close as you can get to a state championship right there.”
Strong Finish: Mansfield Senior’s Jesse Palser rebounded from a 4-2 semifinal loss to eventual state champ Andrew McNally of Uniontown Lake to take third. He won a pair of matches Saturday and finished the season 47-2.
“I was pretty heart-broken (after the semifinal loss),” Palser said. “Talking to my coaches got me back to where I needed to be.”
Palser was runner-up at 170 last year and a third-place finisher this year. He will graduate as one of the most celebrated wrestlers in Senior High history.
“He’ll end with a career record of 151 and 14,” Mansfield Senior coach Billy Stevens said. “He’s had a brilliant career.”
Added Palser: “It would have been a lot more special with a state championship. I can’t complain. It was a good run.”
State Placers: Lexington’s Brandon Leynaud finished fourth at 132 pounds, while Jon Watkins was seventh at 145 and Nate Temple was eighth at 285.
Other area wrestlers included Madison’s LeConte Merrell (1-2 at 126 pounds) and Clear Fork’s Drew Kinzel (1-2 at 138 pounds).
“It means everything. It means everything for my family,” Drew Kasper said through tears. “I just honestly fed off of everything that happened to me in the past and everything I’ve been through and just all the hard work I’ve put in. … It’s everything I wanted.
