Correspondent photo / Michael G. Taylor. Austintown Fitch’s Reghan Koch (left) wrestles in the seventh-place match of the 155-pound weight class at the OHSAA state wrestling championships on Sunday at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center in Columbus.

COLUMBUS — Reghan Koch’s season really only began two months ago.

The Austintown Fitch standout’s freshman season debut was delayed until early January after tearing her ACL and meniscus over the summer. In her first tournament, coincidentally at Fitch, she won the 155-pound title and began her year in a big way.

On Sunday, at the OHSAA state wrestling tournament, Koch also finished in a big way; she pinned Fremont Ross sophomore Brooklyn Koebel in the third period, earning seventh place at 155 pounds.

“She wrestled really hard. Really excited for her to be a freshman down here, getting on the podium,” Fitch coach John Burd said. “I know she had higher expectations. They get a little bit higher, but a lot to look forward to in the future. She’s worked really hard to get to this position. Placing as a freshman at the state tournament is no easy task, and [so is] just placing in general.”

Koch, who said she was initially projected to be cleared to return from injury in April, confirmed that she had higher expectations than the seventh-place finish with which she is walking away.

“Everyone wants to shoot for the finals, but realistically, as a freshman, I was kind of looking at third and fourth, but third for sure,” Koch said. “I had a hard time coming back from that loss yesterday.”

Koch pinned her first-round opponent, Sandusky’s Britoriah Rollison, in 45 seconds Friday before wrestling three times Saturday. In her first match, she lost 11-9 to eventual state champion Jada Weiss of Bellbrook. Koch responded with a quick pinfall win over Brush’s Brooklyn Baskin, and in her final match Saturday, surrendered a late takedown and eventually lost in overtime 8-5 to Fairmont’s Paige Russell.

“I’ve thought about it all day [yesterday] and all day today,” Koch said of the third-period takedown against Russell. “Just things you do that you’re gonna think about until you wrestle another match and you can fix it.”

Koch also admitted that her first experience at states was “overwhelming,” thanks to the large, loud crowd and the raised stakes.

But she said she will take with her some very valuable lessons.

“I definitely got to get my conditioning up,” Koch said with a laugh. “Don’t think ahead, because I was looking ahead, thinking two, three matches ahead of the one that I was about to go wrestle, and it threw me off.”

Burd said that he expects Koch to be a “very, very big contributor” to the Falcons’ girls wrestling program moving forward.

TRYING TO THE VERY END

Aiden Stecker needed something big.

The Salem senior was trailing Beaver Local’s Evan Ours late in the third period of the Division II 165-pound third-place match and needed multiple takedowns to send it to overtime.

Stecker pulled within two but, with limited time, had to let Ours back up in hopes of scoring one more takedown and sending the match to overtime.

In the dying seconds, Stecker went for it; he rushed in, wrapped his arms around Ours’s torso, lifted Ours off of the ground and quickly slammed him back down to it just as the official blew his whistle to signify the end of the third period.

The head official initially awarded three points to Stecker, which would have tied the match 8-8 and sent it into the sudden-victory overtime period.

However, after consulting with the other referee, the official waved off the takedown, which he said came after the period ended, and ruled that Ours, who ran to and leaned over a nearby trash can after the slam, had won 8-5 and earned third place.

“It was a great performance,” Salem head coach Drew Hart said. “I really thought we had him before the time went out. I hate to let it get that close. But I really think he picked up during that third period. And I think if we went to overtime, as I expected it with that takedown, I think we had him where we wanted him. We were gonna pull off the win there.”

Hart said Stecker’s late and nearly successful flurry, a relatively uncommon occurrence, is a testament to the Salem senior’s work ethic and attitude.

“That’s just Aiden,” Hart said. “He’s not a quitter. He’s in it from the beginning to the end, every day in the practice room, in every match. So you can never count him out.”

Stecker finished his senior season with a 49-6 record and the first state placing of his career, although he leaves behind a much more meaningful impact on the Quakers’ wrestling program.

It’s just the hard work… Every offseason, he’s been working nonstop. It’s year-round for him. This is his life,” Hart said of Stecker. “Even the other seniors in the room — we had four state qualifiers, which is the most ever in history for the school in a season — but all those guys just kind of get that aura from Aiden. They follow what he does.”

A PLACE ON THE PODIUM

Including Koch and Stecker, the area produced 10 state placers this year.

Howland’s Madison Burns (140) and Christopher Mijavec (190), Canfield’s Joey Pannunzio (175) and Hubbard’s Emily Flynn (130) finished in eighth place after losing their respective seventh-place matches Sunday afternoon. Poland girls underclassman duo Ella Thomas (100) and Abbie Miller (145) placed third and fourth, respectively. South Range’s Tyson Seesholtz (150) and Canfield’s Gabe Miller (190) each finished second after becoming the area’s only state finalists.

Flynn finishes her career with her name littered across OHSAA all-time lists in numerous statistical categories, including the second-most wins in girls wrestling state history (149). With her performance this weekend, she earned the third state placing of her career, having finished fourth at 125 pounds in 2022 and sixth a year ago at 130 pounds.

Seesholtz, Burns and Thomas each earned their second state placing; Seesholtz placed fourth at 150 pounds as a freshman in 2023, Burns finished fifth in the 135-pound weight class last year and Thomas got fourth at 100 pounds as a freshman a year ago.

This is the first state placing for Mijavec, Pannunzio, Abbie Miller and Gabe Miller, the latter three of whom are underclassmen.