COLUMBUS – Mason Bauer and Budda Martin left all their nerves somewhere in 2025.
Both wrestled for state podium placements Sunday at Ohio State’s Jerome Schottenstein Center – Bauer for third at 138 and Martin for seventh at 215. The veteran approach was as clear as their winning scores.
The talented Ashland duo combined to win all three of their matches on day three of the tournament – all by decision after hard-to-swallow decision losses on Saturday.
Their wins helped the Arrows lock in the best Division I team finish (at least 10th) in program history with the championship bouts still to take place.
“It’s not the result I wanted, but I’m proud of it,” said Bauer, now a three-time state placer, who took third for the second consecutive season. “I feel like (the last two years) I’ve maybe been a little bit nervous before, so I tried to just do everything I possibly could right, to where there’s no way to feel nervous.
“That’s what I was most happy with. I felt so prepared because I’ve done all the extra work and put 100 percent into everything. There were no nerves in any of those matches; I knew I belonged and I proved that to myself.”
Still just a junior, Bauer joins 2019 state champion Josh Bever as just the second three-time state placer in Ashland history.
His 4-1 victory in Sunday’s third-place match over Massillon Perry junior Seth Cavazos also was the 150th of his career.
Bauer had topped Cavazos for a district title in their only other previous meeting and the shoulder injury that Cavazos had in that match returned in the rematch Sunday.
Bauer’s third-period takedown made it 4-1 before Cavazos was forced to default after a second injury stoppage.
“I was just kind of looking for my offense,” Bauer said, “trying to just stay composed throughout the match. He’s tough to score on.”
That win followed Bauer’s 4-2 triumph earlier Sunday against Louisville junior Kaiden Barker, who went on to place fifth.
It was the second straight season the AHS junior went 4-1 at state, where he’s now 11-4 for his career after taking fifth as a freshman.
On Saturday, he lost for the second time this season to Perrysburg sophomore Urijah Lopez, 4-1, in a match that would have qualified him to the 138-pound championship bout.
“I felt like I had a lot of good offensive shots and attacks and the hand-fighting was good,” he said. “I felt like I was the better wrestler, but I didn’t come out on top.”
Martin was the victim of a few close defeats Saturday himself, dropping a 4-2 decision to Harrison’s fifth-place Grant Dallio and a 5-4 outcome to Dublin Coffman’s sixth-place Mason Parrill.
But he got the best of Normandy’s James Moore on Sunday for seventh, 5-3, keyed by a second-period takedown.
“Last year the nerves got to me a lot,” said Martin, who was 1-2 in his first trip to state as a junior. “This year I was ready to go. I wanted to come out here and fight – my last big push my senior year.”
“I definitely could have placed higher,” he said, “but my first time placing here my senior year, it feels good.”
Committed to Ashland University to play football, Martin finished off his season with a 48-8 record that included 25 pins. He also had 129 career wins.
Alongside Bauer and junior Guardian Miller – who was wrestling for the 150-pound state championship Sunday night – Martin helped give the Arrows three state placers in the same season for just the third time ever.
It’s the first time the program has been able to pull it off in Division I.
“I knew I could hang, I just had to come down here with the right mindset and I needed to quit stalling,” Martin said. “… I kinda had to switch up my (approach) this year and kinda slow it down.”
Ashland finished the tournament combining to wrestle in 20 matches among its five state qualifiers.
That group also included senior Talon Boyd (1-2 at 165) and junior Max Ohl (1-2 at 120) – both of whom lost to a pair of eventual state placers.
Boyd won his opener via medical forfeit, then lost just 1-0 in the second round. Ohl dropped two decisions.
“(Boyd) competed tough and he wasn’t just satisfied to be here,” Ashland head coach Tommy Bauer said. “He just fell on the bad side of the bracket, and that’s what Max did, too.”
It was a jolt up the team standings for the Arrows, who placed 16th in Division I in 2025 with 28 total points. With Miller’s title match still to go Sunday night, Ashland had nearly doubled that at 52.5 points, putting the Arrows in ninth.
“Last year, 40 points was in the Top 10 and now you’ve gotta score 50 to hold Top 10,” coach Bauer said. “It’s challenging down here; the field is thick and Ohio wrestling is deep.”
While he was frustrated with not getting a spot on the Sunday night stage, Mason Bauer knows he’s still got a monster senior season ahead.
His 52-3 mark this year gave him the third-most wins ever for an Arrow in a single season. He had 37 pins as a junior and now has 85 for his career.
Next year he’ll have a chance to become just the second Ashlander ever to qualify to state all four seasons (also 2023 graduate Jon Metzger) and the first to ever place four times.
Bauer also could finish as the all-time wins leader at AHS.
“Wins are fun, but at the end of the day, the pain I feel from not making the finals and not getting that (title) shot, that’s gonna hurt and keep me going.
“Everything that has happened has come to me because I’m chasing something bigger.”
In the coming months, Bauer plans to meet some college coaches while taking plenty of visits to explore his options for the next level.
He said the NCAA Division I stage is his goal.
“I want to go somewhere where everybody’s chasing the top of the mountain,” Bauer said.
Below are photos from the final day of the state wrestling tournament. Credit: Curt Conrad
