NEW MARKET — For a second-straight season Southmont dominated its way to the Montgomery County wrestling title.
The Mounties defeated North Montgomery 76-5, and Crawfordsville 78-6. Southmont also picked up a Sagamore Conference win over Lebanon 52-27 on Saturday. North Montgomery defeated Crawfordsville 54-12 and fell to Lebanon 55-12, while the Tigers beat Crawfordsville 66-3.
Southmont took home 12 of the 14 individual titles, winning 11 of the 13 contested matches, while collecting 15 more forfeits.
Against North Montgomery, Marlin Williams pinned Cailin Campbell at 120 pounds, while Noah Benge won by fall over Marisa Moffitt at 126. At 132 Gerald Hutson earned a major decision win 12-2 over Catie Campbell, while Dillan Lauy pinned Christian Hall at 138 and Evan Francis won by fall over Lane Dildine at 160. Isaiah McMasters earned a first period fall over Jacob Rice at 170, while Riley Woodall pinned Todd Laffoon at 182 and Wyatt Woodall pinned Colin Campbell at 195. North Montgomery’s James McClerkin won by tech fall over Trip Ward 18-2 at 145.
Southmont’s success is coming with a mix of veterans and youth in a lineup that included six freshmen and a sophomore on Saturday.
“They’re all building confidence,” Mounties coach Jamie Welliever said. “And it starts in this room (practice). We’ve got a real mix. And there’s enough that they all get challenged in here and yet they step up to it and realize they can compete against a senior or junior or whatever. And for the most part it’s translating to the meet.”
In the dual against Crawfordsville freshman Maddox Cade pinned Keegan Alsman at 113, while Lauy pinned Austin Peters at 138 and freshman Trip Ward pinned Richie Cooper at 145. Crawfordsville’s Kalob Brown won by fall over Ayden Dickerson at heavyweight.
The Mounties had no trouble putting away Sagamore Conference contender Lebanon either with eight wins in 13 contested matches.
Freshman Brier Riggle won by fall over Cade Spanhook at 106, while Cade pinned Austin Crouch at 113 and Williams pinned Ethan Coffman at 120. Noah Benge also won by fall over Chase Tucker at 126 and Lauy pinned Jeremy Mullins at 138. McMasters won by a major decision 11-1 over Dawson White at 170, while Riley Woodall pinned Dalton Michael at 182 and Wyatt Woodall pinned John Stillwell at 195.
Seniors Riley Woodall and Lauy each went undefeated on the day and will continue to be relied on as the season continues.
“They’ve been good leaders in the room and on top of that they’re going out and being good leaders on the mat,” Welliever said. “We are going to lean on them heavily all year.”
North Montgomery coach Bryce McCoy felt like the Chargers didn’t come out ready to wrestle against Southmont, but rebounded against Crawfordsville and Lebanon.
“I feel like we didn’t wrestle very well against Southmont,” he said. “We gave up way too many pins in my opinion, but the last two against Crawfordsville and Lebanon I thought we wrestled a lot better overall.”
Against the Athenians Christian Hall pinned Austin Peters at 138, while James McClerkin won by fall over Richie Cooper at 145. Against the Tigers, Hall pinned Jeremy Mullins, while Todd Laffoon picked up a win by pin at 182 over Dalton Michael.
Still a young team, McCoy says the Chargers are starting to gain experience and build confidence.
“I think it comes with more experience,” he said. “I can see improvement from last year, they just have to learn to be more confident and wrestle to win and not to not get beat. We will get there.”
Individual Champions
106: Brier Riggle — SM FR
113: Maddox Cade — SM FR
120: Marlin Williams — SM FR
126: Noah Benge — SM
132: Gerald Hutson — SM
138: Dillan Lauy — SM
145: James McClarkin — NM
152: Justin Emerson — SM SO
160: Evan Francis — SM
170: Isaiah McMasters – SM
182: Riley Woodall — SM
195: Wyatt Woodall — SM FR
220: Zayden Dunn — SM
285: Kalob Brown — CHS
