Abe Hermes, Medina fight back to finish 3rd as Edison charges toward team title

COLUMBUS — Edison standout wrestlers Abe Hermes and Marcus Medina could've pouted on Sunday. Instead, they won. As individuals and as part of a team. Hermes and Medina, who both had state title aspirations, lost in Saturday night's semifinal round at the state wrestling tournament at the Schottenstein Center. They responded with wins Sunday morning in the consolation semifinals, then secured third-place finishes that put the Chargers in great position to win a team championship during the finals. "Our kids did a great job gutting these matches out," Edison coach Davy Hermes said. "They know we needed it for the team. To rebound shows their character. I told them today would be about them as people and what they can do for the team. "Nobody likes to lose but you're not gonna win every win. They did a great job of fighting back." Abe Hermes recorded a pin Sunday morning then took the mat for third place against Perry's Riley Rowan, who Hermes edged 3-2 in an ultimate rideout quarterfinals victory at 126 pounds in Division III. Hermes, a junior, took a 2-0 lead with a quick reversal that showed off his improvisational skills. "Just being funky. You gotta have a feel for things," he said. "We play-wrestle in practice all the time and get in weird positions. Both guys let loose and don't worry about scoring. Just get in weird positions so when you get them in a match you have a feel for what to do." Hermes, who finished fourth as a freshman and was a state champion last year, led 3-2 after two periods and started on top in the third. A day earlier, he rode out Rowan for 30 seconds to win, Hermes did the same things for an active last two minutes of his season. "It felt good the first match riding him out so I knew this would be a big factor in this match," he said. "We're both good on our feet and hard to score on. "Third period just gotta get tough and ride it out." Hermes (53-6) limped off the match favoring his left foot. "Saturday I fell short, lost 3-2, so I knew coming back I had to get tough and do it for my team," he said. "Just do what I can." Before Hermes and Medina took the mat, the Chargers also got important points from freshman Mason Hermes, who finished eighth at 106, and sophomore Xander Gfell-King, who took sixth at 113. Medina, a standout three-sport athlete, had the same viewpoint as Hermes. The senior, who suffered a meniscus tear in December, had a heavy wrap on his left knee. But he was dominant on the last day of his wrestling career. Medina won 5-0 in the consolation semifinals before dominating Northmor's Carson Campbell 10-3 to take third place. "Realistically there's two guys in front of me. I was projected third and got what I got," Medina said. "I'm a three-sport athlete so I don't put in the effort some of these guys do year round. I get down here and it kind of disappoints me and makes me second guess myself. Could I put in a little more and be at the top?" Medina finished the season 29-4 and won sectional and district titles after skipping the SBC championships to rest his knee. "I had a lot of adversity this year with my knee," Medina said. "I didn't everything I could and still had a pretty successful outcome. It takes a lot of grit. It was hard getting knocked out, but we had a team state title on the line. That's where my mind's been since this morning — to do it for the guys next to me so we can win it as a team for the first time in school history." Medina, who missed most of his sophomore season with a meniscus tear, was seventh at state as a freshman, fifth as a junior and third as a senior, which means he won his final match all three seasons. "It's a blessing that I'm even here," Medina said. "I didn't know if I was going to be able to wrestle the rest of the year. It felt good and only locked up on me once or twice." Medina said he has surgery scheduled for next week but hopes to get back on the baseball diamond this spring. "We decided to just snip out the part that's torn," he said. "There's a lot of meniscus there. Luckily I didn't tear it that much. "It's my senior year and I realize that I'll never be able to play high school baseball or wrestling ever again. You only live once so you might as well experience everything." Medina plans to play college football next fall, likely at a school in the NCAA Division II Great Midwest Conference. "Amazing kid," Davy Hermes said. "He blows his knee out and misses sophomore season and tears it again in the middle of December and wrestles through it. For him to do what's he's doing is amazing. "He's super talented; he's as good as anybody out there. The kids on the podium, there are very few three-sport athletes. A lot of these kids are year-round wrestlers. He's does this four months a year and he's still right there with everybody in the state of Ohio."