PENDLETON — Colin Gillespie is never out of a match.
On Saturday, the Pendleton Heights sophomore lived up to his reputation with the 182-pound Hoosier Heritage Conference weight-class title on the line.
Down 10-4 to Mt. Vernon’s Avery Hanson in the third period during the HHC Wrestling Tournament, Gillespie (21-6) went for the knockout, and he secured his first career league championship.
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A scramble on the mat led to a surprising pin for the win in 4 minutes, 29 seconds.
“I was just trying to score,” Gillespie said. “I was down the last time we wrestled, 10-0, and I still managed to come back and beat him. I love Avery (Hanson), he’s my friend, but not on the mat. You got to do what you got to do.”
The two met during a dual earlier this month, which ended with the same result. Arabians head coach Dave Cloud wasn’t surprised to see it happen again.
“It’s kind of a habit for him. Let the kid score 10,” Cloud said. “He’s a good wrestler, and Colin has a knack to win scrambles and catch them and put them on their back. Some of the best kids don’t have that; they have to work for a fall. But he catches kids; and when he gets them there, he holds them.”
The pin theme was a catalyst for the Arabians, who leaped past Delta in the team standings in the finals to finish fourth overall with 150.0 points.
Delta was fifth with 146.0 points, while Mt. Vernon won its second-straight HHC team title with 240.5 ahead of Greenfield-Central in second at 227.5 and New Palestine in third (185.5).
The Arabians’ three individual weight-class champions each scored pins in their title matches, which Gillespie kick-started.
“We keep telling them, don’t get down on yourself. Don’t get frustrated. Just keep wrestling, let’s put him down and see if we can create a scramble,” Cloud said. “That’s exactly what he did.”
Gillespie had three pins en route to the title. He stuck Delta’s Hayden Licht (5-13) in 1:55 to advance into the semifinals, where he pinned New Palestine’s Nick Bastian (6-15) in 1:16.
Neither of those matches were as one-sided as the finals, though.
“I guess so,” Gillespie said with a laugh. “It’s a lot more pressure than I like there to be, but it’s not always the goal (to win).”
Justin Stephens (15-5) won two of his three contended matches at 220 for the HHC title with falls. In the semifinals, he pinned New Palestine’s Will Olive in 3:06 and defeated New Castle’s Jack Taylor (19-6) in the finals with a fall in 1:32.
“(Stephens) looks like he’s in trouble sometimes, then all of a sudden he’s on top. He has great hips and he has a lot of natural ability for the sport,” Cloud said. “It’s fun to watch him. Like Katie (Kriebel) my assistant says, someone is going to get pinned. When he wrestles, someone eventually ends up on their back, either him or them. Fortunately, it’s usually the other guy.”
Senior Cade Campbell (27-4), who is ranked sixth in the state by IndianaMat, followed suit with three falls to win the 285 conference championship.
Campbell won his opening-round match against Greenfield-Central’s Tyler Jarrett (1-13) in 1:51 before pinning New Palestine’s Tucker Keevers (15-10) in 1:52.
His fall against Delta’s Evan Hill (15-6) in 4:27 put the Arabians in position to place fourth in the standings.
“He wrestled to the end and pinned that kid. Some kids would have been happy with just taking the win and relaxing, but he knew it was good for the team and he’s a good leader, which is one of the reasons he’s a team captain,” Cloud said.
A fourth-place finish by Maverick Hamilton (18-10) at 160, a third-place finale for Gator Bynum (10-11) at 145 and a third-place win by Elijah Creel (15-7) at 113 cemented Pendleton Heights’ final team placement.
“There were three of us in the finals. Our team needs leaders. We lost around nine seniors from last year, and they all wrestled each other, and we looked up to them,” Gillespie said. “Now, that they’re gone, we need people to step up. I’m trying to be one of them.”
The Arabians were without junior Jared Brown at 132, who is currently in concussion protocol after suffering a recent head injury. Brown is ranked ninth in the state and was a state qualifier at 126 as a sophomore.
While Brown was understandably disappointed in being sidelined due to lingering symptoms, Cloud and his coaching staff refuse to take any chances or put their athletes’ health and future in jeopardy without proper clearance.
“Their safety is more important than anything,” Cloud said. “It’s not a concussion. It’s a traumatic brain injury, and people need to use that term and think of it that way for the safety of those kids.”