According to Crestwood Red Devils’ junior Tye Berquist, he knew that he needed to be much better after winning only one match at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III Independence district tournament last year. Berquist made good on his resolution, taking sixth place with a 2-3 record at the OHSAA Division III state meet last weekend at The Ohio State University’s Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
“It feels good that I at least got there,” Berquist said. “I have to be better next year. I have been here, and I know what the bar is, and I have to finish it next year.”
In addition to making his Division III state meet debut, Berquist entered the meet alongside teammate 126-pound junior Rocco Wrobel, who finished in sixth place.
After a disappointing debut at the OHSAA Division III Independence district meet in his sophomore season, Berquist underwent a significant offseason of training.
“It was just putting in a lot of work in the offseason,” said Berquist. “Especially drilling with Coach Connor Nemec now, that helps a lot.”
On Friday, Berquist captured his first state meet victory when he powered his way to a 10-0 major decision against Mechanicsburg sophomore Aidan O’Neal to earn a berth in the quarterfinal.
Berquist set the tone early, with a three-point takedown in the first period and claimed a wire-to-wire victory.
In addition to clinching his first career state meet victory, it also marked Berquist’s 100th career victory wrestling for the Red Devils.
As much as he relished achieving a significant milestone, Berquist showed a cool head.
“It is just another win,” he said. “I don’t think that there is anything special behind it. It just feels good to be here and win a match.”
On Saturday, Berquist made a thrilling comeback against senior Bryson Doran from Preble Shawnee by securing a match-winning pin with 1:04 remaining in the second period despite trailing by a 12-2 margin.
After Doran built a comfortable 5-0 lead in the first period with a three-point takedown and two-point near fall, it appeared that victory was not going to be in Berquist’s grasp.
In a mad scramble during the second period where Berquist scored two points on a reversal and Doran recorded four more points on a near fall, Berquist pinned Doran, clinching a state placement and vaulting to the semifinal round.
Although things seemed bleak for Berquist, his confidence never wavered.
“I wasn’t in my head,” he added. “When I was down, I was like ‘I got this. I just need to come back.”
Later in the evening, Berquist was ousted from the championship bracket when he lost to Delta sophomore Marcus Nagel 6-3.
On Sunday, Berquist dueled in a tightly contested match against Garaway junior Matt Frey in the consolation semifinal bout. With the score was knotted at 1-1 in the final seconds, Frey executed a last-second takedown, scoring three points to win by a 4-1 decision and send Berquist to the fifth-place championship match.
“Things happen,” Berquist said. “I came up too high and he had a shot on me. I just got lazy.”
Berquist fell in the fifth-place championship match against junior Kaden Bish from Mohawk when he was disqualified from the match after accumulating too many technical violations.
Although Berquist’s state debut ended on a low note with three straight losses, he said that accomplished several of his goals this season, including earning redemption after a bitter ending to his sophomore season.
In addition to earning a state placement, Berquist relished having the chance to compete alongside Wrobel, whom he has been teammates with since they were children competing in youth wrestling.
“It feels great especially because how close Rocco and I am,” said Berquist. “I could not ask for anything better than coming here with Rocco.”
As Berquist hopes to build off of his career year, he added that he also plans to use this experience to lead the Crestwood wrestling program next year alongside Wrobel to help push several more teammates to take the next step and propel themselves to the OHSAA Division III state tournament.
“It is an individual sport, but I love my teammates and I want to try to get them all here,” said Berquist.
