LEXINGTON – His teams have won three straight J.C. Gorman Wrestling Tournament titles and six of the last seven.
His team has 10 returning district qualifiers, including one state qualifier and one state alternate. Among those returning are eight wrestlers who placed at the Gorman last year.
His star performer is unbeaten in 26 matches this year and last weekend and pinned the field last weekend at the rugged Medina Invitational Tournament, aka “The Greatest Show in Wrestling.”
So why is Lexington coach Brent Rastetter so worried about the 52nd annual Gorman coming up Friday and Saturday at Mansfield Senior High School?
“The Gorman field has definitely been improved with the addition of seven new teams, including Sandusky Perkins, who beat us at the MIT last weekend and has a loaded lineup,” Rastetter said. “We are going to have to wrestle above the abilities we have shown thus far to win again. We are definitely going in as the underdog to Perkins this year.”
It was last Saturday at the MIT that has generated concerns for Rastetter, whose team has finished on the Division II leader board at the state meet for the last five years (something only national powerhouse St. Paris Graham has matched.)
“To be honest, I thought we looked strong at the beginning of our season and looked good at the MIT on Friday night,” Rastetter said. “On Saturday, we hit a bump in the road and lost consolation matches we should have won. I thought we should have been a top 5 team.”
Instead, Lexington finished ninth as a team with just two placers. Perkins finished eighth with four wrestlers among the top eight, eight points better than the Minutemen.
“We definitely need to wrestle better than that. We did not wrestle Saturday like Lexington teams have done in the past,” Rastetter said.
One wrestler who did his job was unbeaten junior Bailey Faust, who pinned all five of his opponents in the 195-pound class, including two state placers from last year. Coaches voted him the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.
The smiling, affable Faust (26-0 with 22 pins) takes on a different persona when wrestling, according to Rastetter.
“When he steps on the mat, Bailey is one of the nastiest kids I have ever coached. He is going to beat you up, then he is going to hurt you and then he is going to pin you. He doesn’t look at bracket sheets to see where he is and who his opponent is going to be. He just goes on the mat and does his own thing,” the veteran coach said.
Faust, a state qualifier last year, won the 220-pound title at the Gorman last year. But a repeat Gorman title is not the ultimate goal for the wrestler with a 106-13 career record.
“The match he wants to win is at the end of the year on the big stage (in Columbus),” Rastetter said. “That is the only match that matters to him at this point.”
The Gorman title is also not the ultimate team goal for Lexington.
“Obviously, this is the big area showcase every year,” Rastetter said. “It’s meaningful and a tournament I always wanted to win. But in terms of across the state and what we need to do to prepare to be at our best at the end of the season … this is just another opportunity to help us get better for when it really matters most.”
Among other Richland County schools competing, Rastetter points to the Madison Rams, which won its own Coke Invitational to start the season and who finished second at the 18-team Tiffin Columbian tournament last weekend.
“I think Madison has a great group of young wrestlers and is a team definitely headed in the right direction,” Rastetter said. “Every team in the county has at least a couple of standout stud wrestlers. This will be a good chance for our wrestlers to compete against the best in the area.”
The field also includes host Mansfield Senior and returning Gorman champion Jesse Palser at 160 pounds. Palser and teammate Traevon Dickerson both won individual titles at the 33-team North Canton Hoover Invitational in December.
Among area schools, Galion comes in off of a second-place finish last weekend at the 35-team Marion Harding Invitational.
