PENDLETON — Pendleton Heights’ long legacy of wrestling prosperity continued as the Arabians won their fourth consecutive sectional title at Elwood on Saturday, Feb. 1.
The championship was the fifth in six years and 26th overall.
Five Arabians won individual titles, and three more qualified for regional.
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“It was not dominant,” coach Dave Cloud said. “We knew at the start of the season we did not have that kind of a dominant team.”
Cloud pointed out that 70 days prior to sectional, the Arabians finished 1-4 in the Hamilton Heights Super Six.
“I said to the kids, ‘If you guys get the right weight classes and perform and get better, we’re going to win the sectional.’ It was a dog fight all the way through.”
At times during the day, the match felt like an uphill climb, he said, but his guys never gave up.
“We had kind of a poor first round of (consolations), but came back much better in the second round,” Cloud said.
The Lapel Bulldogs also qualified two for the regional.
Pendleton Heights junior Jared Brown earned his third sectional title (132 pounds) in his third weight class. Brown, who had not wrestled in a live match since Jan. 9 because of going through concussion protocol, still took his first two rounds by a fall and won the championship bout against DeVonte Henson of Hamilton Heights by a 17-1 technical fall.
“He was a little rusty,” Cloud said. “In the finals, he looked a lot more like himself, and it was good to see him have success.”
Sophomore Ethan Childers said his path to the 152-pound championship wasn’t easy. Even in the finals, Childers claimed his winning point of the 3-2 decision in the last 20 seconds of the third and final period versus Braydon Slayton of Frankton.
“I had some rough matches,” Childers said. “I was definitely pretty worn down by the time of the finals.”
Childers said he didn’t believe he would win, and the victory will motivate him even more in regional competition.
“I absolutely feel a lot better,” Childers said. “Now I know I can wrestle with the higher level guys.”
Cloud said Childers is a good example of why he loves coaching.
“He just grinds and grinds. Never quits. He doesn’t know any way to go at it than full bore.”
Senior Zach Sanford (170) had a bye in the first two rounds and won his semifinal match by a fall. He went on to win the final match in a 13-8 against Israel Dates of Anderson.
Another senior, Justin Stephens, won the 220-pound title by fall at 1:19 in the first period against opponent Garrett Martin of Frankton. Stephens won two of his matches by fall saying he wants to get through the match as fast as possible, but he added he felt he should have won his second match by fall, but didn’t execute the way he wanted.
For Arabian senior Cade Campbell, his final sectional appearance earned him his first title. Campbell switched to the Heavyweight class this year and finished his regular season 29-2. Campbell went through his early rounds taking every opponent by fall, and in the final match, defeated Daniel Snyder of Alexandria by a fall at the 1:04 mark in the first period.
“It feels really good being a first-time sectional champ,” Campbell said. He said this was the first time he didn’t have to be runner-up to stand out wrestler Elwood’s Kyle Cornwell, who now wrestles at Indiana University.
“Next week, I have to work on ties and setting stuff up,” Campbell said. “I think today, I took longer than I needed to.”
Cloud said Campbell having to face Cornwell for so many years motivated him.
“I think it made him a better wrestler,” Cloud said. “He really worked hard during the season, and thought ‘I’ve got one chance to win the sectional’, and didn’t want to let it get away from him.” He said Campbell put in a lot of time in the spring and summer to ready himself for the season.
Sophomore Colin Gillespie, at 182 pounds, finished second to Kolton Myers of Hamilton Heights.
Other Arabians who finished in the top four and qualified for regional were sophomore Elijah Creel, fourth at 113 and junior Gator Bynum at 145.
For the Bulldogs, sophomore Kyle Shelton finished third at 152, and freshman Alan Buzan who finished third at 113.
Other results:
Fifth place
Blake Nicholson, 120, PH
Dylan Whistler, 126, PH
Jake Ehrgott, 138, PH
Sixth place
Colyn Griffith, 195, PH
Bryan Rodriguez, 126, L
Erik Davis, 138, L
Grant Morris, 160, L
Clayton McMillan, 170, L
Hunter Morris, 220, L
Teague Sherer, 285, L
Team Scores: Pendleton Heights 201.5, Noblesville 166, Frankton 164, Hamilton Heights 157, Alexandria 132, Anderson 126.5, Guerin Catholic 75, Tipton 69, Lapel 63, Elwood 56.
Pendleton Heights plays host to regional competition beginning at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8.