'Put it all out there': Harrison's Dearwester seals legacy with 4th girls wrestling title

After winning her fourth straight state title, two under the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association and the two most recent under Ohio High School Athletic Association, Harrison senior Chloe Dearwester was clear.

She worked hard for her accomplishments.

"The legacy (me and my family) really want to leave behind is just, put it all out there. We grind and nobody works harder than us. We may lose matches, but nobody works harder than us and that's the legacy we want to leave," she said.

And Dearwester did work hard for this final high school championship. From the first week of the season until now, Dearwester sought out matches and opportunities to challenge herself.

"We went to the (Walsh) Ironman the first week of the season, and I had Rianne Murphy from Wyoming Seminary. That was the toughest match I've probably wrestled my whole entire high school career. So it was a great grinder for the first week of the season," Dearwester said about how she approached her senior season. "Then throughout the season, I practiced my shots and just prepared myself for this tournament."

Dearwester's hard work and impressive resume ‒ she won the 105 bracket at the Walsh Womens Ironman ‒ mean the wrestling community knows who Dearwester is before she steps foot on the mat.

This notoriety can be met with a range of reactions. Dearwester's teammate and training partner Raegan Briggs told the Enquirer that she has had people thank her and Dearwester for bringing a spotlight to girls wrestling in Ohio.

Others, like Dearwester's opponent on Sunday night Lauren Ficker, use Dearwester's success as a measuring stick.

"(Ficker) had talked that she was gonna come for my title and unfortunately (for her), she fell short of those goals, but I overcame (my goals)," Dearwester said.

Dearwester gave a small shrug as she talked about being called out and said she just tries to stick to her plans and stay focused.

Her focus and planning showed in her match against Ficker. Dearwester was relentless in her pursuit, scoring a takedown in less than 20 seconds.

"Before the match, I had to flush out all those nerves, remember who I am and just have fun with it."

For all the hype and pressure surrounding it, the match itself was a short affair.

After her early takedown, Dearwester stayed on her opponent, controlling her movements and forcing Ficker into a pinning predicament.

"In that moment (trying for the pin), my nerves were starting to kick up. I just had to assure myself, I'm gonna get this pin. I'm gonna end it in the first period because I knew time was ticking and I just needed to get this fall."

Now with her four-year sweep goal complete, Dearwester reflected on how it feels to say goodbye to high school wrestling.

"It's definitely sad to think about. I mean, looking at my Harrison High School team, (the team) came from a program we built from when I was 10 years old, Athena Wrestling Club. I was so grateful to have the Harrison community build a girls wrestling program eight years ago. Because in my mind (I thought) that would never happen."

But it did happen, and now Dearwester is just the third girls wrestler to win four state titles.

She will continue her wrestling career at Presbyterian College.

Elizabeth Madison goes 2-for-2 at the Schottenstein

It is common in sports for people to talk about a "sophomore slump." Sometimes an all-star rookie has a hard time recreating that success in their second year and they must deal with the letdown.

That didn't happen to Loveland's Elizabeth Madison.

The sophomore won her second state title on Sunday after pinning Taylor's Meghan Werbrich early in the second period of the championship match.

Madison almost closed it out in the first period, getting Werbrich in a near fall in the waning seconds but Werbrich was able to hold out.

Werbrich made a few creative counters while trapped, including a dramatic kick-over that had Madison considering the worst.

"I was just like, oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. I'm gonna lose it. I'm gonna lose it," Madison said.

However, the period ended and allowed Madison to reset.

"I've wrestled (Werbrich) previous times and I knew she was going to keep trying. So I looked to my coaches because in my semis match, I didn't look to them enough and I really wanted make up for that last match and they really helped me out here."

One of her coaches, Josh Sears, said after the match that Madison's ability to hyper-focus and stay determined in the moment is what sets her apart in his view.

Sears continued to praise Madison, all the while with tears running down his face.

"She's a puppy, but she's been wrestling her whole life. And she works her butt off to find the best people to (compete against)."

Sears acknowledged, though, that as the girls field grows each year and gets tougher, Madison will have to grow with it if she wants to keep winning titles. On a night when a fellow Cincinnati wrestler won her fourth title, Sears and Madison both said that's the mark they want to hit.

"That was my plan since I won last year. I'm going all four. All four no matter what," she said.

Cincinnati's 2024 girls wrestling state placers

100 – Brianne Graves (Oak Hills), second; Camryn Gresham (Lakota East), fifth

105 – Chloe Dearwester (Harrison), first

110 – Charley Jones (New Richmond), third

115 – Leah Willen (Harrison), fifth; Caroline Davis (Ross), eighth

120 – Raegan Briggs (Harrison), third; Kaylee Ramsey (Clinton-Massie), seventh

135 – Lilly Kinsel (Harrison), eighth

145 – Jesse Foebar (Clermont Northeastern), third

155 – Natalie Carlisle (Lebanon), eighth

170 – Elizabeth Madison (Loveland), first; Meghan Werbrich (Taylor), second; Audrey Garcia (Ross), sixth.

190 – Sydney Hall (Lakota East), seventh

Team results

1. Olentangy Orange 95, 2. Harrison 83, 3. Vermilion 65.5, 4. Marysville 60, 5. Warren 41