LINDEN — Every win and every pin counts in an individual wrestling tournament as the team points are tallied.
As Crawfordsville and Western Boone each battled for their first Sagamore Conference title in over three decades, it was the Stars who edged the Athenians 228.5-227.5 in the final conference championship.
“The day went pretty well, just a few spots where if we would have done a little bit here or there, but sometimes it just doesn’t fall your way in certain matches,” Crawfordsville coach Aaron Keller said.
The Athenians produced four individual champions on the day — Armando Munoz (126), Landon Vaught (144), Aiden Hutchison (150) and Braeden Hites (175).
The one-point win for Western Boone, who had just one champion in Kameron Mikesell at 157, secured the Stars first SAC title since 1991.
With champions Lukas Scott (106) and Camden Laney (138) — Southmont finished third with 182.5 points.
North Montgomery tied for seventh with 89 points.
The champions weren’t the only story for the Athenians, as Crawfordsville put eight total wrestlers in the finals.
Taiga Koyanagi was second at 106, Blayze Robbins second at 132, Noe Torres the runner-up at 157, and Keegan Cokel second at 285.
Carlos Gutierrez placed third at 113, Jaziel Gil-Hererra fourth at 165 and John Pennington fourth at 190.
“I harped on them all week, that even if you’re going for seventh, it matters,” Keller said.
For Southmont, Thomas Woods placed third at 126, Josh Elliott third at 144, Carlos Jimenez fourth at 150, Max Musick fourth at 175, Tyler Davis fourth at 215, and Kooper Charles third at 190.
“I love my three seniors in the lineup today, but 11 out of 14 are freshmen and sophomores. Those young kids are doing OK. We are heading in the right direction,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said.
The win at 106 was by freshman Scott (Lukas), and the win by Laney at 138 came after the sophomore was the runner-up as a freshman last season.
“He was the hunter last year, he didn’t have the bullseye on his back,” Welliever said. “A late change made him the no. 1 seed this year. The target was on him and he obviously handled that very well.”
North Montgomery put just one wrestler in the finals as Nolan Yarger was the runner-up at 138.
“I was overall happy with how we competed, considering we only had nine kids in the field,” North coach Lincoln Kyle said.
Kadyn Cohoe was third at 120, Jayden Thompson third at 165, and Gage Taylor fourth at 285.
“I was super happy with Jayden’s third-place match. That’s one he lost at county,” Kyle said. “Nolan had wrestled well, up to the finals, Kadyn Cohee wrestled well, Chase Welshimer (175) ended up getting a win which was awesome, and Gage Taylor has improved a ton from the beginning of the season.”
The three Montgomery County teams will now prepare for the sectional in two weeks.
“That’s another thing with the sectional coming up,” Keller said following the conference meet. “Winning conference is great, but I want a sectional, and that’s the main goal. We are going to get in the room and work on the stuff we are bad at.”
