FORT WAYNE — Southmont competed well in its three matches at the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Team State Duals on Saturday at the Allen County War Memorial Colesium.
The Mounties, who entered unseeded, fell to No. 6 Adams Central 43-30 in the opening round, but bounced back with a pair of wins over Bluffton and Centerville in the consolation bracket to place ninth in Class A. Tell City won the overall team title with a 39-21 win over North Posey in Class A.
“It was right there,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said about the loss to Adams Central, who went on to place seventh. “It was a good dual meet, and I knew it was going to be a close dual meet. We kind of got off to a good start there, and they’re a good team. We sure would have liked to go into the winners side of that and seen what we could do there, but the kids bounced back well.”
Southmont jumped out to a 25-12 lead over Adams Central, before the Flying Jets won six of the last seven matches, including four-straight pins to seal the win.
Riley Woodall picked up a first period fall over Trace Sonnigsen at 182 pounds, while Wyatt Woodall won 15-3 over Keegan Bluhm at 195 and Zayden Dunn beat Caleb Sheets 3-0 at 285.
At 113 Maddox Cade received a forfeit, while Marlin Williams pinned Joshua Collier at 120. After Williams put the Mounties ahead 25-12, Dillan Lauy’s tech fall win over Evan McAfee at 138 was their lone win the rest of the way.
Against Bluffton, Southmont used four-straight wins after trailing 34-24 to win 45-34.
At 160 Evan Francis beat Aiden King 4-0, before Isaiah McMasters pinned Chris Kramer at 170, Riley Woodall won by fall over Noah Thompson at 182 and Wyatt Woodall pinned Jacob Landis at 195. Dunn and Lauy also picked up wins against the Tigers.
Trailing 30-22 against Centerville, the Mounties responded again with four-straight wins to claim ninth-place with a 40-30 win.
“We had a good experience, going 2-1 on the day,” Welliever said. “And the two wins we got, we had to work for against good competition. We have some good wrestlers and they had battles all day long.”
Zayden Dunn won by fall over Nathan Westover at 285 and Brier Riggle pinned Kendra Shipman at 106, while Maddox Cade earned a major decision 14-0 over Bryson Hale to put the Mounties up 16-0, but the Bulldogs middle weights featured a pair of state ranked wrestlers in Devin Frazier (No. 7) at 132 and Gabe Phillips (No. 14) at 152, along with Oshea Phillips at 126 and Leo Calderon at 160, who are both ranked in their respective semi-state. The foursome sparked a 30-6 run to put Centerville up 30-22.
McMasters picked up an 8-5 decision over Luke Tinkle at 170, before Riley Woodall pinned Deshaun Whichard in the first period at 182 and Wyatt Woodall received a forfeit at 195. Collin Martin won 7-0 over Nathan Westover at 220. Lauy ran his record on the day to 3-0 with a fall over Luke Cannarella at 138.
“To beat teams like that, that’s awesome,” Welliever said. “To experience competition like that is nothing but good for you. Everything is practice until you get to sectional in my opinion and I want tough practices, and we had them.”
Seniors Riley Woodall and Lauy were both undefeated on the day, while McMasters was 2-1 and Francis 1-2.
“I’m glad the seniors finally got to experience this,” Welliever added. “I think they can hold their head high and the experience is going to be valuable to them the rest of the season.”
Dunn, just a junior, was also undefeated for the Mounties, while Cade and Wyatt Woodall, both freshmen, were also perfect on the day.
Southmont wrestles McCutcheon on Tuesday, before traveling to Frankfort for the Sagamore Conference meet on Saturday.
