Rootstown High School's Tristan McKibben shows 'big heart' to place at OHSAA state wrestling

COLUMBUS — His nose was bandaged.

There was some discoloration under one eye.

And that was just Saturday after Tristan McKibben had clinched his first state podium appearance. With two more matches to go, the Rootstown junior had been through a lot.

"He's definitely been in some battles this weekend," Rovers coach Anthony Anderson said. "Black eye, the bridge of our nose busted up, elbow is a little tore up and wearing a brace on that, but battling hard. The kid's got a big heart."

Riding that big heart, McKibben pushed his way up the podium, finishing fifth in Division III at 157 pounds.

While his injuries were significant, they were actually an improvement from past years. Last season, McKibben broke a growth plate in his knuckle. As a freshman, he broke his thumb before the district tournament. Given all that, this weekend's injuries weren't going to stop McKibben.

"It feels amazing, especially battling through the injuries the first two years, three years," McKibben said. "It honestly just feels great to actually be able to compete at a level that I want to compete at."

Rootstown's Tristan McKibben has proven he's highly competitive at the state level

Tristan McKibben has now wrestled nine state matches over the past two years.

His 5-4 record tells just part of the story. Three of his four losses are by three points or fewer, including a 6-5 loss in this year's consolation semifinals in which he arguably should've received mat points that could have turned the match around. His lone lopsided loss came in this year's quarterfinals to Barnesville senior Skyler King, who went on to win the state championship.

Otherwise, McKibben has proven that he can compete with just about anyone in the state.

Per Anderson, "When he's on his attack mode, and he's the one putting the pressure on, he's just a hard kid to beat when he's wrestling well."

McKibben a funky yet fundamental wrestler for Rootstown

McKibben certainly had his share of "wow" moments this year in Columbus, including a Peterson in the consolation quarterfinals. After the match, McKibben compared the distinctive roll to pulling a "bunny out of the hat."

"I mean it's definitely pretty tough to find moves like that at the start," McKibben said, "but it feels amazing that I was able to."

"He catches that Peterson pretty well," Anderson added. "He's just funky. He's fun to coach. You just never know what he might do."

McKibben's full repertoire showed throughout the tournament, including a nifty reversal to take control of his consolation second-round match.

"He gets himself into positions that are a little bit funky for a lot of kids that he's wrestling against," Anderson said. "He just has a great way of knowing his hip position and where the kid's weight is on him, and so his reversals are sometimes hard to explain, but he always manages to make it happen, that's for sure."

If he took over his consolation quarterfinal with the less conventional Peterson, McKibben won his fifth-place match Sunday by emerging from the bottom position slowly but surely to get on top of Union Local freshman Brody Perzanowski.

Once on top, McKibben, with his considerable length and athleticism, was unmovable for a 5-point swing.

"You stay solid down there," Anderson said. "You battle hands and get the weight off of you and just keep moving until that opportunity presents itself and he's really good at finding that."

And after he surged ahead, McKibben was able to ride out nearly the entire third period — until there were just 12 seconds left.

"He's got a good top ride, good with the legs and he wears kids out," Anderson said. "That's a huge advantage for him for sure."

Big goals remain for McKibben, Rovers

A year ago, McKibben battled through his knuckle injury to make his first state appearance, going 1-2.

"Battling through those injuries was definitely pretty tough for a lot of people," McKibben said, "but it just makes that win just more meaningful."

This year, McKibben improved to 4-2 at state and ensured that Rootstown had someone on the podium for the second straight season after Cody Coontz was a state runner-up a year ago.

"If I can place high, that shows that Rootstown is definitely one of the better programs," McKibben said.

Of course, the climb is just beginning for McKibben and the Rovers, who are set to return four of this year's five state qualifiers (with Nathan Lee, Dominic Duvall and Nick Malek also part of their powerful Class of 2025).

"Making it down here was a big deal last year for him," Anderson said. "Obviously, you want to come back here every year that you can and try to do better than what you did the prior year, so this is just a steppingstone for him and I'm sure he's going to be putting in twice the work next year to come down here and do even better."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Tristan McKibben places at OHSAA state wrestling despite injuries