Nemec loses final match of her career at Division II state championships

COLUMBUS:  Paige Nemec of Crestwood lost 3-1 to Sean Fee of Mentor Lake Catholic  in the second round of consolations matches at the Division II state championships at Value City Arena.

Trailing 2-0 in the second period, it appeared Nemec might have a 2-point reversal to tie the match, but after conferring the referees denied her the two points. The loss knocked her out of the 103-pound weight class, just one win shy of being guaranteed a spot on the medals podium and finishing anywhere from third to eighth place.

"I thought I had it," Nemec said quietly after the match.

In the third period, Nemec had to give up a 1-point escape or she would not have been able to score points except for a near fall. With :08 left in the third period, the senior tried to get a 2-point takedown on Fee, but time ran out.

Nemec, who won 115 matches in her career, took her headgear off and teared up after the crowd gave her a standing ovation in appreciation of her historic accomplishment.

"It has sunken it yet," Nemec told a press conference after.

Fee had defeated Nemec last week for third place at the Akron Division II district at Firestone High School.

Nemec is not quite down with wrestling, as she will be wrestling in several non-high school tournaments in the next month or so.

She did not rule out the possibility of trying to go out for the United States women's wrestling team. She says she will continue her soccer career at Lake Erie College, a Division II school in Painesville.