NEW MARKET — The Southmont Mounties left no doubt who is king of the county this season in wrestling at the 2019 Montgomery County Wrestling Championship on Saturday . For the first time since 2015, Southmont claimed the title with convincing wins over Crawfordsville and North Montgomery.
Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said he had satisfaction watching his team on Saturday to gain the title for the first time in four years.
“For the first time all season we had the lineup we wanted,” Welliever said. “We have had to switch things around and do a lot of bumping, so this feels good.”
The veteran Mountie coach said the county meet had been on this team’s mind and was a topic of discussion in the practice room.
“We talked about this meet with our kids and we had a good team effort,” Welliever said. “When we get to host the meet with a pretty good team, our effort was to go out and win it.”
Southmont started the championship quest with a 55-21 victory over the three-time defending champs, North Montgomery. The Mounties had 37 points on the board after seven bouts before the Chargers finally tallied their first win.
It was a similar effort in the tournament’s last match against Crawfordsville when the Mounties scored the first 32 points before winning 60-11.
Crawfordsville claimed second place with an exciting 38-35 victory over North Montgomery. The final score was not decided until the last match when Athenian Alex Brown won by fall over Charger James McClerklin in the 126 pound class.
Crawfordsville coach Chris Ervin said his team performed well the entire day and it was nice to get a win over a county rival.
“We got a county win and that was the first one in several years,” Ervin said. “I was proud of the effort our kids gave today. We were down three to four regulars for different reasons, but our kids stepped up and competed hard. They battled for every point.”
“I have been pleased with this bunch of kids. We do not have a lot of experience but we keep improving and that is what makes coaching fun”, Ervin added.
After placing third, North Montgomery coach Bryce McCoy said his team did not perform as he was hoping and he took the blame.
“We obviously did not show up today and that is on me”, McCoy said. “Crawfordsville and South came ready to wrestle and we didn’t. I felt both matches would be close but we just didn’t do what we needed to do.”
Southmont ended the meet with eight individual champions. They were Kion Cornelius (106), Clayton Downey (113), Dillon Lauy (132), Takeshi Greiner (138), Evan Lowe (145), Evan Francis (152), Isaiah McMasters (160) and Ty Welliever (170).
Crawfordsville champions were Alex Brown (126) and Moises Mora (195)
Placing first for North Montgomery were Baydin Hall (120), Dawson McCloud (182), Jacob Braun (195) and Drew Webster (285).
