December 30, 2000

Sandusky Perkins captures Wendy's Invitational

By Alexius Tomaszewski
Sports Writer

When the official raised Leo Hoerig's arm in triumpth, never has a an individual championship meant so much to a team.

"Our kids were behind him 100%," Columbian head coach Les Delong said. "It gives our kids something to aim for-success breeds success."

Columbian's lone champion helped the Tornadoes solidify 13th place (62 points) in the 18th Annual Wendy's Invitational held at Columbian gymnasium yesterday.

Sandusky Perkins, the first-day leader, captured its sixth Wendy's Invitational title with 199 1/2 points. The Pirates capitalized in the semi-final round, winning seven out of eight matches.

"We had to do it all in the semi's," Perkins head coach Steve Finn said. "That really set us up for the finals." Perkins finished with three individual champions, Jeff Schmidt (119), Ryan Finn (130) and Brian Stephenson (135). Finn, a state runner-up last year, won his third straight Wendy's championship.

Maumee (178 1/2) finished second, while a strong Lexington (135) squad rounded out the top three. The remaining field finished as followed: St. Francis (113 1/2), Toledo Central Catholic (104), Elida (102 1/2), Hilliard Darby (97), Celina (91 1/2), Toledo Whitmer (74 1/2), Swanton (73 1/2), Fremont Ross (73 1/2), Groveport Madison (73 1/2), Lancaster (61), Columbus Brookhaven (58), Maysville (40), Lima Shawnee (38) and Defiance (31).

Hoerig (171), the fourth seed, defeated Maumee's Tim Carpenter 5-1 to claim the lone championship for the Tornadoes.

"It will be a big boost for our team, to encourage us to improve and get better," Hoerig said of his victory.

En route to the championship bout, Hoerig knocked off second-seeded Chad Finn of Swanton 5-1 in the semi-finals.

Heavyweight Anthony Beeby was the other Tornado to join Hoerig on the victory stand. Beeby pinned Bobby Moore of St. Francis in 4:29 to capture fifth place.

"I was real pleased with Anthony," said Delong. "He works real hard and has improved each week."

Beeby won his first two matches of the day, putting him in the consolation semi-finals. He pinned Lima Shawnee's Jim Ketterer (4:38) and then edged Swanton's Matt Brazeau, 1-1 in double overtime criteria. Maumee's Brett Boggs downed Beeby 8-2 in the semi-final bout.

Many of the youthful Tornadoes made strides, but it wasn't enough to fend off tournament elimination. Kris Adams (135) edged Swanton's Adam Foster in double overtime, 7-5. In the consolation quarterfinal, Adams fell to Lexington's Brian Gould, 5-2. Lone senior Matt Murphy (145) advanced to the quarterfinals by pinning Groveport Madison's Eric Litz (3:30), but failed to move on to medal contention. Defiance's Markus Black defeated Murphy 12-2.

In the opening round of the consolations, Scott Ardner (119) lost to Hilliard Darby's Brendon Moody, 14-3. Hilliard Darby's Jared Port outlasted Columbian's Cory Hess (125) in double overtime, 9-8 and Maumee's Matt Norman pinned Rob Murphy (140) in 2:42. At 189, Toledo Whitmer's Brent Maldonado pinned Jeremy Siebenaller (:56). Similarly, Lancaster's Mickey Reid pinned Jeremy Smith (215) in 2:00.

Team runner-up Maumee began the finals well as Lief Gilsdorf claimed the 103 championship. Gildorf, who recorded three pins and a technical fall in the tournament, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Panther Andy Hill (125) joined Gilsdorf as a champion.

Lexington had a pair of champions, Matt Glorioso (145) and Ryan Kirst (189).

Several teams claimed a Wendy's champion, such as Whitmer's Eric Herman (140), Swanton's Joel Slachta (112), St. Francis' Chad Marzec (152), Brookhaven's Ahmad Stephens (160), Fremont Ross' Rick Legg (215) and Toledo Central Catholic's Bill Verhelst (275).

Columbian's squad gained more than the points on the scoreboard. Facing Napoleon next week and beginning league competition, experience is catching.

"I saw improvement in all of our kids," said Delong. "We're not where we want to be, but we're improving with each tournament."