High school wrestling: Vermilion's Chris Bennett dedicates himself to sport to honor little brother who died

Wrestlers find a variety of ways to inspire themselves but the two biggest motivational moments in the career of Vermilion senior Chris Bennett centered on his shoes. "Sophomore year, Coach (Gary) Howell, it was his first year as an assistant coach, and he worked with me every Sunday during the summer during football," Bennett said. "He bought me a pair of wrestling shoes, I had just met him, and he said I could only wear them in championship-round matches. That's what really got me into gear, and then I just found the love for (the sport) and kept going." But it was at the end of Bennett's junior season, when greater motivation and inspiration were born out of personal tragedy. Bennett's 14-month-old brother, Robert Eugene Bennett Jr., died in February 2020, just days before the Division II sectional tournament. "I wrote it on my shoes, I'll never forget it," Bennett said. "I wrote his birthday and I wrote the last day I saw him on my shoes … so every time I stepped on the mat I had him with me. "After I lost my little brother, it was hard, because I was doing it for him and I wanted to set a high standard for him. I didn't know what to do and I just went in a different place and I realized that's not what he would want. He would want me to continue even though he's not here, he'd want me to push myself every day." Bennett refocused and recommitted to wrestling. His father, Robert Sr., bought him a weight set so he could continue to lift during the pandemic, he wrestled freestyle and Greco-Roman during the spring and summer and sacrificed time with friends so he could continue to improve. "Chris has put in the time. He chose this year," Sailors coach Brandon Gilbert said. "He does not play football any more. His favorite season of the year is freestyle and Greco. He committed himself to those disciplines and summer and spring wrestling, and it's evolved and changed him. If you want to be successful in the sport, it has to be year-round. You have to commit yourself. It can't be just one season of the year, it just doesn't work that way." Bennett said the alternate styles of freestyle and Greco have paid benefits during the folkstyle discipline used in high school, and vice versa. "Freestyle and Greco (are good) for knowing where your hips are, your back and mat positioning helps with folkstyle, with your tilts and mat awareness if you have a single leg up instead of driving forward to try and get them to push back to kick a leg out or something. It helps your mat awareness," he said. "Then folkstyle is about staying solid with your defense — that is for me at least — and conditioning." The work has paid off. Bennett is 32-5 and ranked No. 16 in the state at 195 pounds in Division II per borofanohio.net. Among those 32 victories are several that have come against other state-ranked opponents. Vermilion competed in a pair of recent events — the Jim McCumber Invitational at Rossford High and the Chuck Forward Duals at Archbold — where Bennett knocked off a trio of state-ranked wrestlers, including an 8-3 win over Ashland Crestview's Ayden Godsey (ranked No. 19 in Division III) and a 13-3 major decision over Bryan's Dylan McCandless (ranked No. 24 in Division II). But the spotlight win came against Archbold senior Carson Meyer, who was the projected state runner-up at 182 pounds in Division III before Bennett handed him a 2-1 loss in tiebreaker overtime. "They didn't even flinch when we asked if we could have that match for our 195-pounder. They said absolutely and bumped their kid up," Gilbert said. "That match, I felt like, it was dominated positionally by Chris. If you're talking a freestyle match, there was probably six force outs by Chris, shooting him out, marching him out of bounds." Bennett didn't learn that Meyer was ranked No. 2 in the state until after the match. He knew who was ranked at 195 pounds going into the event and wasn't expecting a tough match against Archbold. "I knew it was a team dual tournament but I didn't know Archbold had a ranked kid. My coach came up to me and was like you've got a big one with Archbold. I was like OK," Bennett said. "After I beat him they told me he was No. 2 and I was a bit surprised. He was gassed by the middle of the second period. This kid is supposed to be this top-tier state kid and he's breathing heavy and bending over and I'm bouncing in the center, waiting for him." It was just the latest in a series of moments that have boosted Bennett's confidence during his final high school season. The Sandusky Bay Conference meet is around the corner, then it's his last postseason, where he expects to break through for a berth at the state tournament. With that end goal within sight, Bennett was asked if he's champing at the bit to get to the postseason or just enjoying the ride during the final weeks of his wrestling career? "I'm enjoying the ride and champing … I'm doing both," said Bennett, who has already enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corps and will leave June 7 for boot camp. "It's crazy with the pandemic and stuff, the no fans, that's weird. I didn't envision my senior year with no fans. So that's odd but I kind of prefer it. I can hear my coaches better. But the winning, beating top-ranked kids in the state, that's something I've envisioned. I knew I could win if I just put the work in and really trusted myself." Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.