One year after ‘very scary’ injury, Northwestern’s Snyder wins title

Northwestern High School senior Nathan Snyder stood tall atop the podium during the Central Buckeye Conference wrestling awards ceremony on Saturday. A season ago Snyder was happy to simply be standing.

Last season Snyder was thrown while wrestling Bellefontaine’s Garrett Gross, also his opponent in Saturday’s 195-pound championship match at the CBC tournament. The throw pinched a nerve in Snyder’s back.

»RELATED: Saturday’s high school roundup

»RELATED: Saturday’s high school scoreboard

“I was paralyzed for a couple days. It was very, very scary,” Snyder said. “It was just a freak accident. I know he didn’t mean to do it. We’re good friends now. But it was scary.”

Snyder missed last season’s CBC meet but recovered in time to make a run to the Division II state tournament. On Saturday at Bellefontaine High School, Snyder displayed the offense he hopes will get him a few wins at the state tournament.

Snyder beat Gross 7-1 for his CBC title. He led 2-1 to start the third period.

“I wanted a little payback, I’m not going to lie,” Snyder said. “A couple of times he almost got me with the throws. But I kept my position and waited for my moment to get a takedown.

“I’m working on my offense more this year. That’s what I’ve needed the past couple of years because my defense has been okay. My offense has been really good this year.”

Snyder said he spent about a week in the hospital after his injury. The feeling in his legs returned a little at a time.

“Millions of things (go through your mind),” Snyder said of laying on the mat unable to move. “Just imagining what’s happening next. The future. Just very scary. Very scary.

“Hopefully this time I’ll be able to place at state. I was scared to take shots because of what happened to me. The confidence is definitely helping. I’ll definitely be able to do better this year. I want to place. That’s my goal.”

Snyder claimed one of three individual CBC titles not captured by Graham wrestlers. Urbana’s Trevor Stewart won at 182 and Bellefontaine’s Jordan Crace won at 145.

The Falcons won the other 11 individual titles to repeat as CBC overall champions. Graham won the title with 318.5 points to runner-up London’s 176. Graham also won the Mad River division and London the Kenton Trail.

Stewart’s victory came when he pinned Benjamin Logan’s Noah Clark in 1:53. The freshman normally wrestles at 170 but was sick this week and couldn’t make weight, so he wrestled up a class.

“I just thought I’d hang in there and I came in hoping to pull off an upset this week,” Stewart said. “My coaches push me every day in the room and they expect me to get better. They knew coming in how I was and they expected good things out of me.”

Winning CBC titles for Graham were Nolan Gessler (106), Trace Braun (113), Dawson Show (120), Chris Kelly (126), Nick Moore (132), Alek Martin (138), Jeffrey Thomas (152), Isaiah Stickley (160), Eric Thomas (170), Trey Pence (220) and Johnny Shafer (285).

Reaching the finals from area schools were Urbana’s Gavyn Grim (132), Tecumseh’s Cyle Wells (138), Shawnee’s Nick Humphreys (152), Northwestern’s Austin Monroe (170) and Tecumseh’s Alex Mills (285).

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