After winning his first Greater Miami Conference wrestling championship Saturday night at Lakota East, Middletown senior LaTrell Davis couldn’t even carry home his award.

Davis suffered a leg injury in the second period of his 152-pound championship bout against Princeton’s A.J. Kowal, and he left the gym on crutches as he headed to the hospital for an x-ray.

“Hopefully it’s nothing, but the trainer said it could be a cracked tibia,” Davis said after being carried off the awards podium. “I pray to God it’s not. I’m in severe pain right now, but either way – cracked, broken, whatever – it doesn’t matter. I’m going to tape it up and keep going. It’s my senior year, and I’ve got goals.”

Davis finished fourth as a freshman and second as a sophomore and junior before finally breaking through with a 3-2 victory against Kowal for his first league championship.

“It was a huge goal,” he said. “My goal coming in was actually to go undefeated form here on out and take a GMC title, a sectional title, a district title and a state title.”

Sophomore Anthony Jagel (106) also won a GMC title in upset fashion with a 4-3 victory against defending champion Patrick Kearney, of Mason.

The win avenged a 7-2 loss to Kearney in last year’s district tournament that ended Jagel’s season.

“I was pretty upset; my season was over,” Jagel said. “I said I was going to work harder, get better and get to state next year. Avenging that loss is the first step.”

Senior Jacob Globke finished second after dropping a 12-3 major decision in the 160-pound title bout against Colerain’s Detuan Smith, who was voted the league’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Cody Black finished fourth at 120 for the Middies, who finished eighth in the team standings after competing with a roster of only a handful of wrestlers all year.

“These guys have adapted to me as a new coach and risen to the occasion every time,” said Nick Reiter, a former Eaton assistant in his first season at the helm of the Middletown program. “I push them to the limits every week. I have something we call a ‘break day,’ every week, where I physically or mentally break them.

“They never know when it’s coming, and they’re doing a great job with it and rising above.”