Galer second at regionals, making return trip to state
Senior Zack Galer, one of two Onaway High School wrestlers to advance to Saturday’s regional tournament at Ithaca, earned the right to compete at state by finishing second at 189 pounds. The trip to state is the third straight for Galer, who finished sixth at 189 pounds last year. The senior will try to better that at this year’s state tourney, next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Galer, 29-2 on the season, dropped Saturday’s regional championship at 189, 6-5 to Wes Hunter of Montague. His only other loss this season came by a score of 4-0 at a mid-season tournament in Hesperia. Four of the eight wrestlers who placed in the state at 189 are back in this year’s field. The competition will be fierce, but Cardinal coach Mark Grant thinks Galer has a chance to compete for the top prize.
“When the competition is this tight, whoever has the best day will leave the winner,” Grant said. “I think we got a pretty good draw, and I think Zack has a good chance to advance to the medal round.” If Galer wins his first match, he could face the wrestler who beat him last year in the match for fifth place. A mistake cost Galer that match, and Grant said the senior has a score to settle should the two meet again. Galer won his opener in Saturday’s regional by pinning Bryan Coleman of Breckinridge in 1:13. He then defeated Rogers City’s Chris Rhode by technical fall, 18-2, to advance to the championship.
In that match, the senior found himself down 6-2 to Hunter after two periods, but, after choosing down to start period three, got an escape to cut the gap to 6-3. He then got a take down that resulted in Hunter landing on his back, but Hunter got out of bounds, eliminating Galer’s chances to get the near fall that would have given him a regional championship.
“Zack started to really pick it up at the end of that match, but he ran out of time,” Grant said. “I don’t think we’ll lose to him again if we see him at the state tournament.” Senior Eric Behm very nearly made it two-for-two for OHS, but he lost a 3-2 heartbreaker in the match that would have propelled him into the state tournament, ending his season at 21-7.
Behm, wrestling at 140 pounds, started his day by pinning Andrew Dennert of Hart in 5:41. He then lost
Behm escaped to cut the gap to 2-1, but, starting on top in the third, was whistled for jumping the gun three straight times, which cost him a point and put him down 3-1. In the closing seconds, Gaines was called for stalling, which allowed Behm to pull within 3-2, but the senior couldn’t get the points he needed for the win before the buzzer sounded, ending the match.
“Eric wrestled a little too reserved and it cost him,” Grant said. “But he wrestled strong kids. The two that beat him finished second and third at 140. He has nothing to hang his head about. It was great competition.” Galer will wrestle one match on Thursday, then will attempt to get to the medal round Friday. His goal is to be wrestling Saturday, when the championships are decided.