Led by pins from eighth grader Mason Reiniche (113) and senior Cayman Seagraves (170), the state's top ranked Baylor Red Raiders defeated crosstown rival McCallie, 41-16, Friday night in Baylor's Duke Arena in a D-II East/Middle Region wrestling match.
Wrestling before a cheering, standing room only crowd, the Red Raiders improved to 22-1 and enter next week's state duals as the East/Middle Region champion and the favorite to win the title.
McCallie is 5-8.
Starting at 132, McCallie gained its only lead of the night as Brock Herring posted a major decision against Andy Atchley, but Baylor then won six of the next seven matches for a 26-7 lead after state champ Ryan Parker had decisoned Trel Phillips, 9-3, at 195 in a battle of state champs.
Other state champs to win were Baylor's Michael Murphy (138), Blake Sutherland (160) and Cole Holloway (182).
The Blue Tornado then won three of the next five matches with a pair of overtime wins (at 220 and 120) sandwiched around an 11-5 triumph by eighth grader Thomas Sell (106), to make it Baylor 35-16 and the young Reiniche closed out the match with his fall at 113.
McCallie overtime winners were Jay Roberts (220) who use an escape in the fourth overtime period for a 3-2 victory and Ryan Ward gained a takedown in the first overtime period at 120 for a 5-3 triumph.
Baylor now leads the series, 51-40 and has won 12 straight meetings between the two schools. McCallie holds the series record for consecutive wins at 16.
"I think we wrestled well and we are getting some of guys back in shape as we head to the state duals next week," said Baylor coach Ben Nelson.
"We won most of the matches we were favored in and McCallie won some of the toss up matches."
McCallie coach Mike Newman said, "Baylor has a solid team from top to bottom, but I am proud of our guys who fought really hard.
"Give Baylor credit for having more bonus points (14-1) as you can't afford to give up that many against a real good team. But we won some close matches, including both overtime matches which was great."
More Details to Follow ,..
Baylor 41, McCallie 16
132 Brock Herring (McCallie) major dec. Andy Atchley, 10-2 … McCallie, 4-0
138 Michael Murphy (Baylor) tech fall Stanton Davis, 17-1 Baylor, 5-4
145 Caleb Powell (Baylor) dec. Sam Harrelson, 6-3 … Baylor, 8-4
152 Will Patton (McCallie) dec. Caleb Canada, 6-4 … Baylor, 8-7
160 Blake Sutherland (Baylor) tech fall Thomas Rowland, 16-0, 4:58 … Baylor, 13-7
170 Cayman Seagraves (Baylor) pinned Walker Robinson, :22 … Baylor, 19-7
182 Cole Holloway (Baylor) major dec. Ariel Bong 8-0 … Baylor, 23-7
195 Ryan Parker (Baylor) dec. Trel Phillips, 9-3 .. Baylor, 26-7
220 Jay Roberts (McCallie) dec. Jon Schmissrauter, 3-2 4th OT period … Baylor, 26-10
285 Cooper Reiniche (Baylor) dec River Henry 3-2 … Baylor, 29-10
106 Thomas Sell (McCallie) dec. Hayden Hartline, 11-5 Baylor, 29-13
113 Trev Milling (Baylor) forfeit win … Baylor, 35-13
120 Ryan Ward (McCallie) dec. Jack Reynolds, 5-3 OT .. Baylor 35-16
126 Mason Reiniche (Baylor) pinned Jonathon Barnes, 1:16 Baylor, 41-16
** It's McCallie-Baylor Wrestling
Teenagers worry, fret and plan all week in anticipation of walking to the center of the mat for hand-to-hand combat for six minutes in hopes of having their hand raised in victory in one of the South's best wrestling rivalry... great to see former state champ Cole Holloway back on the mat for his senior year ...
once elementary kids who watched and learned from older brothers a few years ago who battled in the great rivalry which goes back to the 1940s and tonight it was their turn to write their name in the McCallie-Baylor wrestling history books ...
late takedowns or escapes kept the crowd on their feet cheering and yelling for their wrestler as parents wrestled every second, every minute of their son's match and will wrestle it over and over again until the next Baylor McCallie encounter .... one fan said, "it's the only sport you have to be in shape for to watch."
a pair of eighth graders won (Mason Reiniche (Bay) and Thomas Sell (McC) )... the Reiniche brothers posted wins ... four state champs won ..
"He's in 8th Grade ... He's in 8th Grade.."
A pair of 8th graders, both age 14 and who started wrestling before they could spell t-a-k-e-d-o-w-n, walked to center mat for their first taste of McCallie-Baylor .. and both won ...
at 106, McCallie's Thomas Sell (who started wrestling at age 5) has been on varsity all of eight days and felt the importance of the moment.
at 126, Mason Reiniche (who started wrestling at age 3) has been on varsity all season (18-3), was nevous at first, but thought it (his first Baylor-McCallie match) "was an awesome experience".
Trailing 5-0 and fighting off his back in the first period against Hayden Hartline, Sell re-grouped, gained composure and confidence and posted an 11-5 win ...
"Waiting for my match (11th of the 14 matches) was nerve wracking," said Sell after the match. "Being part of the Baylor McCallie match made me speechless, excited and I got all choked up.
"After being down 5-0 (lost the takedown and Hartline gained a 3-point near fall) I thought 'what was going to happen next', but I got used to being in front of the big crowd and got on the offense to get a lead.
"I thought I had a pin at the end of the second period and that deflated me (when it was determined the horn had sounded before the official hit the mat) for a short time but I regrouped and got the win."
"Wrestling in a McCallie-Baylor varsity match is much different than middle school," Sell said with a smile.
At 126, Reiniche gained an early takedown against Jonathon Barnes and registered the first period fall in the last match of the day.
A winner of eight or nine national tournaments, he started in the sport by watching his older brother Cooper wrestle in youth tourneys.
"At age 3 he wanted to come along with us to watch Cooper wrestle and the deal was that if he got bored or wanted to go home he would not make any more wrestling trips with us," said Mason's dad who was a high school wrestler in high school.
Mason took to the sport right away, makes A's and B's in the classroom, and said "it was pretty cool to wrestle in front of a large crowd."
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net