North Montgomery girls wrestling has been a staple here in the state of Indiana. Saturday morning the Chargers got the post-season started as Crawfordsville hosted the Regional. When all the wrestling was done, North Montgomery had a very successful showing with the team placing second overall with 108 points finishing just behind champion Hamilton Southeastern who scored 125 points. Overall the Chargers will send eight girls to next week’s semi-state. Both Sophia Shea (130) and Hailey Kunz (145) highlighted the day for the Chargers as both were Regional champions.
“I was super proud of how the girls competed,” Charger coach Lincoln Kyle said. “For a lot of them this is their first year wrestling and there was a lot excitement leading up to this. With it being a first for a lot of them I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to go but every one of them came out, competed hard and got the job done.”
Along with Shea and Kunz finishing in first place, Ash Koons (120) placed second, Jovie Simpkins (135) third, Paige Yarger (140) fourth, Hannah Kincaid (145) third, Chloe Douglas (170) third, and Julia Shea (190) second as those six other girls will join Kunz and Shea at the semi-state which is a new to this year’s girls wrestling post-season. In previous years girls advanced straight to the state finals after the Regional. This year’s semi-state will take place on Friday in Muncie.
“It’s special that we get to send this many girls on to the semi-state round,” Kyle said. “It gives all of these girls another week of practice and I know they’ll all be excited to go wrestle at the semi-state.”We’ve had girls like Hailey and Chloe wrestle in some high pressure situations so those two we’ll look to as leaders this week. We need all these girls to stay focused and be calm. Semi-state is obviously a big deal but it comes down it being just another wrestling match.”
The Charger girls have strategically built their schedule so that they would be competing against a variety of great competition and the results have showed. Sophia heads into the semi-state with a 15-12 mark, Simpkins 15-14, Yarger 14-10, Kunz 22-3, Douglas 12-10, and Julia Shea 14-11. It’s been a season of preparation and now the North Montgomery seems to be saving their best wrestling for when they needed it most.
“With our schedule we made sure that we competed in plenty of tournaments and wrestled a lot of different girls this year, “ Kyle added. “Our girls came in as prepared as they could be and were mentally ready from the get go.”
Crawfordsville also had a great showing from its only wrestler competing with Kassidy Richmond. Richmond also advanced to the semi-state with a second place finish at 135 lbs. After suffering an injury that cost her a chance at last year’s Regional, Richmond made the most of this chance.
“Kassidy had a great day of wrestling,” Cville coach Aaron Keller said. “She pinned her way to the finals which was great. After getting hurt last year at Regionals she has been cautious on the mat. After that first pin she felt more comfortable on the mat and it showed the rest of the day. I’m proud that her hard work is paying off. I know she’s excited to compete at Semi-State.”
The eight Chargers and Richmond will now vie for a spot at the State Finals at the Muncie Central Field house on Friday.
