LINDEN — It was a team win for Southmont on Saturday at the Sagamore Conference wrestling championships. The Mounties secured their first SAC title since 2008 with 238 points, besting second-place Lebanon’s 228, and third-place Frankfort’s 222. Crawfordsville was fourth with 148, and North Montgomery fifth with 136.
“It was a true team win,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said. “Every single guy got some big wins in there somewhere. That’s what it takes, and I can go through every guy. I was really proud of them. All 14.”
Southmont used a pair of champions, and 11 top-four finishes to secure their fifth team title overall. Collin Martin’s pin-fall over Tri-West’s Grant Hogan in the finals at 195 completed an improbable run for the sophomore, and helped seal the win for the Mounties.
Trailing most of the match, Martin was able to reverse Hogan and pick up a second period fall to defeat the No. 1 seed and previously unbeaten Bruin wrestler.
“Collin has been good all year,” Welliever said. “He struggled a little bit coming back from Christmas, but he’s been wrestling good competition. I’m really proud of him, and he’s one of the hardest workers we’ve got.”
Dillan Lauy also claimed a title with a fall over Crawfordsville’s Isaac Rogers in the finals at 132. Noah Benge was second at 120, and Takeshi the runner-up at 145 following an overtime loss to Lebanon’s Kenny Getch. Riley Woodall lost by decision to North Montgomery’s Dawson McCloud in the finals at 182.
Southmont’s surface depth in the placement rounds helped hold off Lebanon’s push with four champions, and Frankfort’s trio of first-place finishes. The Mounties did it all without Ty Welliever, who was the No. 1 seed at 170, but was unable to wrestle due to an injury.
“We are not very deep, we are paper thin actually,” Welliever said. “But we’ve got 14 guys that we can put out there and compete. Missing Ty is big — he’s a really good leader and a really good wrestler. I was really interested to see how the team would respond with that missing leadership on the mat more than anything. And I’ll give them credit — freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors — they were all ready to wrestle.”
Kion Cornelius (106), Clayton Downey (113), Gerald Hutson (126), Evan Francis (152), and Zayden Dunn (285) all finished third for the Mounties. Ethan Himes was fourth at 220.
In addition to Rogers’ runner-up finish at 132, Crawfordsville’s Kalob Brown placed second at 285. Richard Pan took an unseeded route to the finals at 138, before losing to Frankfort’s James Ostler.
“I think we wrestled about to our potential,” Crawfordsville coach Chris Ervin said. “Overall I think it was a pretty good effort. Considering where we’ve been the last couple weeks, I feel like we are making progress.”
Moises Mora was third at 195, while Keegan Alsman (106), Alex Brown (126), and Clayton Owens (145) all placed fourth for Crawfordsville.
Ervin hopes to see continued improvement as the Athenians enter the final stretch of the season with the sectional lurking on Feb. 1.
“I want to start winning the close matches,” he said. “That’s the area where I think we need to focus on. We are wrestling good guys tough and keeping matches close, and now we’ve got to learn how to win those close matches.”
North Montgomery produced the most champions of any Montgomery County team with three, but their four-year streak of SAC championships came to an end.
Drew Webster defended his title at 220 with a fall over Frankfort’s Diego Nava in the final to remain undefeated on the season. McCloud won at 182, while Baydin Hall defeated Benge 5-1 in the finals at 120.
“We were shorthanded today with injuries and illness, and others unforeseen circumstances,” Chargers coach Bryce McCoy said. “Overall I thought we wrestled pretty well.”
Hall turned his No. 3 seed into a title.
“I thought he wrestled well, and wrestled smart and technically sound. He came ready to go,” McCoy said about Hall.
The Chargers had a trio of unseeded wrestlers place in the top-four.
Freshmen Marisa Moffitt placed fourth at 113, Christian Hall third at 132, and Gage Galloway fourth at 138.
Lebanon produced the most champions with four. Camren Toole won at 126, Kenny Getch a 145, Easton Williamson at 160, and Nick Morgan at 285. Frankfort’s Armando Roa was the champion at 106, Elijah Anthony won at 113, and James Ostler at 138. Danville’s Logan Boe won at 152, and Chandler Schubert won at 170.
