One of the area’s most decorated wrestlers and one of its fastest track and field athletes are the latest selections for the OVAC Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.

Cameron’s R.C. Anderson and Barnesville’s Ryan Grear have been voted into the hall of fame to represent the decade of the 1990s and will be formally inducted on Saturday, Aug. 15 at WesBanco Arena.

Here is a capsule look at the honorees:

R.C ANDERSON

Cameron (Class of 1992)

This Dragon was a multi-sport athlete, but it was on the wrestling mat where Anderson left his biggest mark.

As a wrestler for legendary coach Jim Potts, Anderson helped establish the Dragons as one of the premier small-school powers in the state of West Virginia. He finished his prep career with a 138-8-1 record.

Anderson won four state championships during his career and his final title capped a 34-0 senior season.

Along with the state titles, Anderson won two OVAC titles. When he prevailed, as a sophomore, he became the first individual conference wrestling champion in Dragons history.

Anderson’s only loss as a junior came in the OVAC title match, but he rebounded to go on to help fuel the Dragons to the Class A/AA team title, which was the first in school history.

As a senior, Anderson pulled the sweep. He won the OVAC title and was voted as the recipient of the Dave Bierkortte Award, which is given to the tourney’s most outstanding wrestler.

He then completed the sweep of state titles and was voted the recipient of the Bob Dutton Award, which is given to the West Virginia state tournament’s most outstanding wrestler, regardless of class. Cameron also won repeated as team champions.

Anderson also shined on the football field for Cameron. He earned both First Team All-State and All-OVAC as a senior where he shined at linebacker. He was a second-team All-OVAC pick as a junior and helped lead the Dragons to the Class A playoffs for the first time in school history.

R.C. died in 2024, at the age of 50, after a battle with GIST cancer. To continue his legacy and honor the impact he made on the sport of wrestling, an OVAC scholarship was instituted bearing his name in 2025.

RYAN GREAR,

Barnesville (Class of 1997)

It didn’t matter if it was at the local, district, regional, state level, this Shamrock speedster did a lot of winning during his track and field career.

It was in the hurdles where Grear made his mark during his time with the Shamrocks. He racked up an astounding two state championships, four regional crowns, five district titles and 10 OVAC championships.

As a senior, Grear put forth a campaign to remember. He was undefeated in the high and intermediate hurdles. He brought home the state championship in both events . He also won the district and regional titles.

He also earned the right to compete in the prestigious Midwest Meet of Champions in the high hurdles. He was also named Eastern District’s Division II Athlete of the Year as well as OVAC Track Athlete of the Year.

As a junior, Grear was twice an All-Ohioan. He placed fourth in the highs and seventh in the intermediates. He was the district and regional champion in both and also won the OVAC in the 100 meters as well as the two hurdling events.

He etched his name into Barnesville track and field history by setting school records in the high hurdles (14.06), intermediate hurdles (37.84), 100 meter dash (10.86) and 200 meter dash (22.24).

After his prep career, Grear took his talents to Columbus to continue his track career at Ohio State University. He didn’t slow down by any means. He was an All-Big Ten performer nine times, including six during the outdoor campaign.

He was Big 10 runnerup in the 60M hurdles indoor both as a sophomore and junior and was the outdoor runnerup as a junior. He also placed as high as fourth in the conference 100 meters.

With the Buckeyes, Grear posted career-best times of 13.84 in the highs, which ranked fifth in OSU history; 10.41 in the 100, 21.11 in the 200, 6.87 in the 60 meters and 7.95 in the 60 hurdles.