Webster places third at wrestling state finals

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Drew Webster walked off the mat at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday evening with his head held high and a smile on his face.

The senior had left it all on the mat.
The 220 pounder came up short of becoming North Montgomery’s first state champion, but had no regrets in becoming the first Charger wrestler to place third at the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals.

“I don’t have any regrets at all,” Webster said. “I went out there to dominate and end on top of the podium each and every weekend. And I feel like I did that to the best of my ability each weekend.”

After a win over Mishawaka’s Jonathan Thomas on Friday night, Webster pinned Martinsville’s Micah Dodson in the quarterfinals— setting up a match with No. 1 ranked Evan Bates of Chesterton.

Bates took Webster down in the first period and earned an escape early in the third to make it 3-0. Webster responded with a take-down and three near-fall points, but Bates escaped and earned another take-down to seal a 6-5 win.

Webster appeared to have a reversal in the final seconds, but the wrestlers were ruled out of bounds before any change of position took place.

“I thought I had it won,” Webster said. “There are things you can’t control in life, and the refs call is one of those things. It is one of those things, and it is what it is, and you’ve got to move on from things that happen. Things are always going to go wrong in life.”

The senior responded with a 4-0 win over North Posey’s Nate Willman to claim third-place.

Bates went on to defeat Harrison’s William Crider 9-0 in the finals at 220 to claim the state title.

Webster’s third-place finish is the second highest finish in school history behind his brother, Tanner Webster’s runner-up finish at 170 in 2017.

“He was focused all year long,” second-year Chargers coach Bryce McCoy said. “Every time he stepped on the mat he was ready to go, and get after whoever he was wrestling.”

Webster finished the season 44-1, and fourth all-time in North Montgomery history with 120 career wins, despite just three varsity seasons.

“Freshman year was a big building year for me, especially not being on varsity,” he said. “We had a solid full line-up, and being up there with those kind of guys only made me get better each and every year.”

Webster followed with a semi-state appearance his sophomore year, before placing fifth at 220 in 2019. He joins his brother Tanner (Class of 2017), Seth Johnson (Class of 2019), and Nick Borta (Class of 2014) as the only state placers in program history — all four reached the podium at the state finals on two occasions.

That foursome joins a larger group of nine individual state qualifiers starting in 2013 that has helped North Montgomery to a dominate eight-year stretch, which included five Sagamore Conference and four IHSAA Sectional Championships.

Drew and Tanner’s older brother Ty helped turn the program toward its recent successful path by reaching the state finals as a qualifier at 195 during his senior season in 2013.

“I had the same support background as both of them,” Webster said of his older brothers. “We all had the same mentality in each and every sport that we participated in. I really wanted to build off how they did in the future.”

The Webster trio is the all-time most winningest group of brothers in North Montgomery wrestling history with a combined 369 wins.

It’s the end of an era.

Arguably the most successful era in the history of Montgomery County wrestling — started by the oldest Webster brother, heightened by the second, and capped by the last.


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