LINDEN — Southmont’s seniors were perfect on Saturday at the Sagamore Conference wrestling meet. The foursome went 4-0 in the finals — helping the Mounties to a third-straight conference championship.
“We got eight guys in the finals, and four of those were seniors,” Southmont wrestling coach Jamie Welliever said. “All those seniors had a chance to win today, and they were 4-for-4 in the lineup winning conference championships and that’s pretty awesome.”
Noah Benge capped a winning day at 120 pounds by earning a decision win over North Montgomery’s Catie Campbell in the finals. Gerald Hutson won at 138 with a second period fall over Western Boone’s Mason Adams in the finals, and Zayden Dunn won by fall over Western Boone’s Perrin Emberton.
The fourth senior title came from Collin Martin, who was in a tight match with Frankfort’s Brenton Wood, when Wood was disqualified in the third period. The SAC title was Martin’s third-straight.
In total, the Mounties put eight wrestlers in the finals, also getting wins from Brier Riggle, Marlin Williams, and Wyatt Woodall. Riggle won by fall over Frankfort’s Eryka Pillion in the finals at 106, while Williams earned an 8-6 decision over Crawfordsville’s Isaac Rogers at 145, and Woodall won by fall over Frankfort’s Kyle Zickmund at 195. Maddox Cade was the runner-up at 132, falling to Frankfort’s undefeated Elijah Anthony by tech fall.
“Those eight guys wrestled really well, and some of the other kids that aren’t quite to that level, they battled out there and scored us a lot of points too,” Welliever added. “It’s a good conference. These guys will show well in the state tournament, and it’s an honor and blessing to say we have won it three years in a row.”
Southmont also got a third-place finish from Thomas Woods at 113 and fourth-place finishes from Kaden Newgent (152) and Heath Chesser (160).
The Mounties totaled 254.5, distancing themselves from second-place Frankfort (194.5). North Montgomery placed fourth with 165 points and Crawfordsville sixth with 123. It’s just the fifth time in the history of the Sagamore Conference that a team has won three-straight titles.
North Montgomery was led by Gage Galloway, who won the 152 pound title with a 7-2 decision over Juan Campos from Frankfort in the finals.
“When we did the duals, we didn’t have anybody make it out of the third-round, and that was disappointing for everybody, and to have a conference champ on the team really helps with morale and everybody looks up to him (Galloway) already,” first-year North Montgomery coach Mike Boesch said. “He works hard in practice and it’s going to benefit us to just have his work ethic there.”
To go along with Catie Campbell’s runner-up finish at 120, Brayten Conkright was third at 106, Nolan Yarger third at 126 and Dylan Braun third at 285. Jayden Thompson was fourth at 138, Mikeal Kincaid fourth at 182 and Todd Laffoon fourth at 195.
“Not really having any seeded spots, other than the two, we came out way better than I expected,” Boesch added. “Our kids battled hard and they were competitive and that’s all I can ask for.”
Paired with Isaac Rogers runner-up finish at 145, Crawfordsville’s Ashton Wilson was second at 160 — falling to Lebanon’s Kenny Getch by a major decision 11-0 in the finals.
Parker Wray placed third at 120, while Landon Vaught was fourth at 126, and Austin Peters fourth at 170.
“We had beaten a couple of the teams that finished ahead of us here at the tournament, so that was a little disappointing from that standpoint,” Crawfordsville coach Dave Cutchin said. We didn’t live up to some of the seeds we had and that was disappointing as well. Overall, most of the kids wrestled OK, but there were a few upsets and surprises.”
