WIESBADEN ARMY AIRFIELD, Germany — Division I champion Patch crowned three gold medalists Saturday as the two-day DODDS-Europe wrestling championships wound up, but it was two finals the Panthers lost that produced the day’s most compelling matches.
Vicenza’s Kyle Kaus, at 171 pounds, and Ansbach’s Dominic Barrale, at 189, each downed previously unbeaten Patch wrestlers to claim the only title for their schools. Kaus wrested an 11-9 overtime victory from Jason Pinnow, and Barrale whipped a 10-3 domination on Marshall Haas.
Anyone who wants to know how sweet revenge is can talk to Barrale, who lost for the only time in two years in the previous week’s Eastern Sectional championship match, 4-3 to Haas.
"When you go two years without losing, it kind of weighs on you," Barrale said after starting fast and not stopping this time against Haas.
"I kept hearing ‘4-3, 4-3.’ I decided I’d have to bust my butt to beat him, so I busted my butt. I trained four hours a day to beat him."
Barrale said his wasn’t the only butt pushed to the breaking point in an attempt to even the score against Haas.
"Coach John [Wright] has three torn ligaments in his leg," Barrale said, "but he came out and wrestled with me every day to get me ready."
Barrale who pinned every opponent he faced in the tournament and was the only returning champ to win a title — he won at 171 in 2009 — opened with a takedown to go up 2-0, then took Haas down again in the second period to make it 4-1.
"We had three takedowns ready for him," Barrale said, "and they all worked."
Barrale, a senior who struck gold for the third straight season and was voted the meet’s outstanding wrestler, put the match away in the final two minutes with a reversal into two back points and a final reverse at the buzzer.
"We wrestled him differently this time," Barrale said. "Instead of trying to go away from him when he was on top, I tried to turn into him. He’s a great wrestler, but it worked."
Kaus, too, had a tough nut to crack in Pinnow, who led 6-4 at the end of two periods before the Cougar and the Panther unleashed a rousing final period. Kaus escaped to cut his gap to 6-5, then went up 9-8 with 1:19 left after getting Pinnow onto his back after a reversal before yielding a reversal himself.
Pinnow tied it when Kaus gave up a point for using a full nelson and nearly won the match when he had Kaus in a tight single leg for the final 30 seconds, only to see the eventual champ fight him off.
"I just started believing in myself," Kaus said about resisting a decisive takedown.
Kaus won the match in overtime with a takedown he made after countering Pinow’s attempt to throw him.
Patch easily won the D-I title, 63 points ahead of Lakenheath. The Lancers, whose Adam Carroll prevailed at 130 and Derek Franco won at 160, were among four teams to crown multiple champs.
Patch led the way with Octavio Otero at 125, Robert Davis at 135 and Calen Fields at 145. Crowning two champs each were Ramstein, with Adam Franz at 103 and Jonathan Sitter at 140, and Division II king Baumholder, which had Adrien Julien defeat Tyler Lloyd of Lakenheath 4-2 at 112, and Sean Ledbetter pin his way to the 285-pound crown. Ledbetter, like Barrale, pinned all seven opponents he faced in the tournament.
"The team title was important to us," Ledbetter said after decking Lakenheath’s Shae Emerton at 2:38 of the heavyweight finale, "because it’s our first in school history. But once you get here, you’ve got to take each match one at a time."
Although the Jaguars didn’t crown a champion, Sigonella’s feat in qualifying 12 wrestlers from a 175-student school earned it the Division III crown. The Jaguars’ 94.5 points placed eighth overall among all the schools here.
Bucs’ 103-pounder produces best finish by femaleBaumholder rolled out big guns in its successful quest for the European Division II team title — heavyweight favorite Sean Ledbetter, 2009 European champion Ethan Montang and unbeaten top seed Prince Owusu, among them — but got crucial points from an unexpected source.
"I’m so proud of her," Bucs coach Glen Pilarowski said Saturday after his 103-pounder, Melanie Real, grabbed the bronze medal by pinning Lakenheath’s Gunnar Smith. "I’m like a proud father."
Real is the first female wrestler to take the podium in the European championships, and she did so in style, pinning three male wrestlers and earning 17 team points for the Bucs by virtue of falls, advancements and placings.
"It feels really good," said Real, a senior who started wrestling last season. "It proves to the guys that girls can wrestle, too."
This girl sure can.
Real’s third pin, 51 seconds into her third-place match against Smith, was payback for Friday’s 9-4 loss to the Lancer in a pool match. She also flattened Patch’s David Kellet-Forsyth in 1:33 and Charles McGarrigle of Naples in 5:46.
"I thought I was going to lose again," Real, who finished the season 18-8, said of the rematch with Smith, "but my coaches got me through."
Pilarowski credited something else for Real’s historic third-place finish.
"Weight training," he said. "We worked on it all year. After all, she was going to be wrestling boys."
— Rusty Bryan
