On Friday, Wagner won a state indoor track and field championship in the shot put. On Sunday, he helped Wayne win a Division I district basketball title and later this spring he wants to win another shot put crown at the state outdoor meet.
“Notre Dame really was a draw to leave early,” he said. “But I really thought about it, and basketball and track were part of my life. So having an opportunity to finish up my sports and help my team anyway I could, was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Wagner, who has played sports with some of his teammates since the fourth grade, starts at center for the Warriors and averages 4.8 points and 6.6 rebounds. He scored nine and seven points in the Warriors’ two most recent games. Wayne plays Fairfield at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the regional semifinals at Xavier’s Cintas Center.
“It just speaks volumes of who he is,” Wayne coach Nate Martindale said. “It’s never about him. It’s about his brothers. And he’s a giver, he’s not a taker. This is just beautiful to see, especially a young man with that type of character and being that humble.”
Wayne (18-7) lost in the district final last year with a veteran team. The graduation losses didn’t put the Warriors in the preseason or even early-season conversation of being a team that would still be playing. But Martindale said his team never gave in to those predictions – even after a stunning late-season loss to Springfield – and relied on the leadership of Wagner, fellow senior Adam Trick and junior guards R.J. Mukes and Lawrent Rice.
“All along in our locker room and as a coaching staff and as a team, we believed that this is where we would be,” Martindale said.
Trick, who will play football at Miami University, has stuck with the team through injuries the past three years. He missed his sophomore and junior seasons because of football injuries. A broken tibia late in football season held him back again this year. After he got on the court, an ankle sprain set him back again. Then on Sunday he was too sick to play. Trick has played in six games this season and will be ready to come off the bench against Fairfield.
“It just speaks volumes of who he is and the type of leader he is and the character he has,” Martindale said.
Mukes is also a Division I football recruit. So none of the football players have to play basketball, but Martindale is glad to have them for their leadership and character as much as their skill to complement Rice.
Rice is Wayne’s best player, the GWOC’s leading scorer and a Division I recruit. Georgetown coach and playing legend Patrick Ewing was at Sunday’s game to watch Rice.
“They’re just a special group of young men when it comes to character,” Martindale said. “Anytime you have those guys around, and your culture is that way, with those types of guys building that, it makes a huge difference.”
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