A total of 22 area wrestlers will continued their seasons on Saturday as all four area schools opened up the post-season at Crawfordsville in the sectional. Southmont led the way with eight wrestlers advancing to next week’s Regional at North Montgomery. Both Fountain Central and North Montgomery had five wrestlers qualify while Crawfordsville advanced four of their own.
The Mounties as team took home third place (177.5) behind sectional champion Zionsville (261) and runner-up Western Boone (183.5). South produced three sectional champions as Maddox Cade (126), Marlin Williams (138), and Wyatt Woodall (195) stood atop the podium. The other Mounties that are joining those three next week include Brier Riggle who got runner-up at 106, Jeffrey Pine (4th at 132), Kaden Newgent (runner up at 152), Tyler Davis (4th at 182), and Ayden Dickerson (3rd at 285).
“I think the seed meeting went pretty well for us but we still had to battle all day and ended up with a lot of close matches,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said. “Obviously you’d like to get everyone out, but getting eight of our guys out is pretty solid for us. Kaden Newgent came in as a four seed and ended up placing second. He’s one of our two seniors so I’m really happy for him. He’s dialed in what he does well.”
North Montgomery placed 5th overall with 125 points. The Chargers had three individuals wrestle in the finals but all three came up just short of a sectional title as Nolan Yarger at 132, Todd Laffoon at 195, and Dylan Braun at 285 all placed second. Gage Galloway took third place at 160 and Christian Brown placed fourth at 120 after coming in seeded 6th.
“Our guys in the finals wrestled some pretty tough competition,” Charger coach Lincoln Kyle said. “Overall I was pumped the most for Christian getting fourth. He’s a kid that works extremely hard in the room and maybe is a little undersized for his weight class, but he went out and probably surprised a lot of people. That was a lot of fun to see. We’re thankful that we have five guys that still get to wrestle because nothing is guaranteed at this point.”
Crawfordsville as a team placed eighth with 92 points. Braeden Hites wrestled for the sectional crown at 160 pounds for the Athenians but ended up finishing as the runner-up. Ashton Wilson took third at 152 while both Camron Teeple (113) and Calvin Dittmar (170) took fourth. First-year coach Aaron Keller gave credit to his four wrestlers that earned a spot to continue their seasons.
“They all wrestled really hard at the end to earn those spots,” he said. “There were several matches throughout the day where we were ahead and ended up getting pinned at the last minute. We know the competition is only going to get tougher from here and we’re still going to have everyone in the room this week as we look at some film to see where we can get better.”
Fountain Central had three wrestlers in the finals and saw Waylon Frazee continue his dominant season at 132 as he was named the sectional champion. Dallas Simmons (126) and Ely Thompson (220) both placed second overall for the Mustangs. Andrew Woodrow (138) and Brandon Pigg (145) both took home fourth place.
All 22 wrestlers will now look to qualify for the New Castle semi-state on Saturday at North Montgomery. The top four placers in each weight class will qualify as any wrestler who wins their first match of the say is guaranteed a top four placement.
