Nothing in baseball can match an ace pitcher, not even the weight of history.
FORT WAYNE – Snider senior Mason Meling sat wearily against the wall of the Carroll gymnasium; his feet out and head back. Although his left eye was blackened from a previous close encounter, his pride and his record remained spotless. By winning the championship among a field of eight 126-pounders, he was the only undefeated survivor of the Carroll wrestling regional Saturday.
Meling was one of eight Panthers who advanced into Saturday’s 9 a.m. semistate at Memorial Coliseum, where the top four finishers at the Carroll, Goshen, Jay County and Peru regionals will compete for state finals berths.
“I’m pretty happy,” Snider coach Dave Mohr said. “I would’ve liked to have taken all 13, but with the kind of wrestling in the area, it was impossible.”
The host Chargers had seven advance, while Leo had five.
Had it been a team event rather than a meet for individuals only, Snider would have won the competition. Including Meling, it had three first-place finishers and a pair of runners-up.
Only North Side and Leo had multiple champions, with two each. And there was a time when it looked as though North Side wouldn’t get its second.
In the afternoon’s final championship match, the Redskins’ once-beaten 285-pounder Ta’Quan Walker was taken down by Eastside’s Matt Beard, who was also awarded three near-fall points for a quick 5-0 lead.
“I was so surprised,” Walker said. “I was scared. I didn’t know what to do at all.”
It didn’t take long for Walker (29-1) to figure it out, as he pinned Beard with 36 seconds left in the first period.
“That woke me up because that told me there’s somebody out there that’s better me and they’re going to put me on my back, so don’t get too big-headed and don’t think nobody’s going to come out here and wrestle with you,” Walker said. “There’s competition out here.”
Meling found that out in the 5-1 title-match victory over Homestead’s Nolan Appel.
“It’s not as easy as it has been,” said Meling, who won in the first round with a pin and 7-1 in the semifinals.
“It’s not that he invites people in, but he’s good on a defensive takedown,” Mohr said. “It makes him tough to control and tough to take down. There have been only four people who have scored on him all year long – takedowns or reversals. Only four kids have done it.”
In addition to Walker, four wrestlers kept their once-beaten status: Bishop Dwenger’s Michael Nix at 138 (35-1); Woodlan’s Cody Zink at 145 (30-1); Leo’s Isaac Steury at 160 (33-1); and Carroll’s 195-pound Spencer Raypole (34-1).
