ELWOOD — When it plays host to this week’s IHSAA wrestling regional, Pendleton Heights will have a strong contingent representing the Arabians.
Lapel will have its biggest busful of Bulldogs making the trip, too.
Pendleton Heights placed third in the Saturday, Jan. 30, Elwood Sectional and advanced nine wrestlers to Saturday’s Pendleton Heights Regional.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Lapel placed seventh in the 10-team event and will have a school-record six wrestlers on the mats vying for spots in the Feb. 13 New Castle Semistate.
“I’m very happy with the number we’re sending to the regional,” Lapel coach Jake Stilwell said. “Six is the most Lapel has ever sent. It’s great for us and our program. Obviously, we would like to have a couple more 1’s, 2’s and 3’s and not as many 4’s, because that’s a tough matchup going into the regional, but I’m very happy with how we competed. We’re going to work and continue to get better this week.”
Noblesville won the team event with 214.5 points. Hamilton Heights finished slightly ahead of the Arabians with 193.5. Pendleton Heights had 184.5. Lapel just missed out by .5 in finishing sixth.
Pendleton Heights had won the sectional the last four years in a row and five of the last six, but unlike the two teams that finished 1-2, the Arabians had only 12 wrestlers (PH did not have wrestlers at 106 or 132) to the others’ full 14-wrestler roster.
“Disappointing. We like winning and have gotten in a habit of winning,” Pendleton Heights coach Dave Cloud said. “When you win it for a while you start to assume you’re going to win it each time. We thought we had a chance, but we knew it was going to be close because of those two missing weight classes.
“I told our kids Friday (before the sectional), no matter what happens I’m going to be proud of you guys if you give your best effort. As we were walking out one of the kids asked, ‘Coach, are you proud of us?’ and I told them, ‘Absolutely.’”
Other team scores were: Frankton 148, Anderson 132, Alexandria 110, Lapel 109.5, Tipton 56, Guerin Catholic 45.5, Elwood 32.
The Arabians had three champions.
Senior Jared Brown (14-2) avenged a recent regular-season loss and won his fourth sectional title, beating Frankton’s Seth Lawson, 5-2, in the 138-pound finale.
He caught Lawson on his back to earn match-deciding near-fall points.
“It’s a big deal to sit in that champion’s seat at our regional with Cathedral, Lawrence North, North Central, Mt. Vernon coming in,” Cloud said.
Lawson had beaten Brown, recently back from an injury, in a dual meet last week.
“(Jared) did a much better job controlling Seth from the first match,” Cloud said. “His conditioning was better from the time missed with injury. It was a big difference to go hard all the way.”
Ethan Childers (20-5) took the top spot at 152 with a 7-4 decision against Noblesville’s Tim Alexander.
“(Childers) is one of those kids that’s just a grinder,” Cloud said. “One of his main attributes is he goes after guys and wears them down.”
Colin Gillespie (18-1) earned a No. 1 seed in this week’s regional with a victory at 195. He pinned Noblesville’s Austin Hastings in 3:03.
He’s the Brett Favre on the wrestling mat,” Cloud said of his champion, comparing his style to the former NFL great quarterback. “He’s a gunslinger. He loves to throw, and what he’s learned this year is when to throw.
“Sometimes when you’re a thrower, like Brett Favre, everything’s a deep bomb and sometimes you score and sometimes you get intercepted. (In the past) he’d hit a throw and get caught on it and get taken down. He’s learned to pick his spot for his throws.”
Pendleton Heights had two other wrestlers, Elijah Creel at 113 and Blake Nicholson at 126, reach the final before settling for runner-up finishes.
Creel (11-6) lost to Anderson’s unbeaten Romello Williams by fall in 3:33. Nicholson (14-4) suffered a close loss by decision, 4-2, to Anderson’s Andrew Dietz.
Jaiden Tong (145) and Graydon Bynum (160) each placed third at Elwood to move on. Dresden Roberts (182) and Sam Mossoney (285) both finished fourth in their weight classes.
The top four in each weight place from both the Elwood Sectional and Indianapolis Tech Sectional are competing in Pendleton.
Lapel junior Grant Morris (13-5) had the top finish for the Bulldogs. He was the runner-up at 182, losing by fall in 1:56 to Noblesville’s Seth Stone.
“Grant’s been wrestling really well this year. He had one rough tournament, and the majority of his losses came there.” Stilwell said. “Other than that, he’s been working hard and improving each week. I’d liked for him to have performed a little better in final, but that was a good kid from Noblesville.
“I’m really happy with how he’s progressed this year, not only wrestling, but also as a leader in the room. He does a great job there, as well.”
The five other qualifying wrestlers all placed fourth in their weight classes and will be facing champions from the Tech Sectional, including Bracken Little (106), Alan Buzan (120), Erik Davis (132), Bruin White (152) and Jarod Roundtree (220).
All fifth- and sixth-place wrestlers from the sectional will be on site Saturday, too, as alternates in case a qualifying wrestler is unable to compete.
For Pendleton Heights that includes Jaylen Covington (5th, 120) and Eli Libler (6th, 220). Lapel has three alternates, Kyle Shelton (5th, 160), Jaydon Rodriguez (5th, 195) and Keegan O’Connor (6th, 285)
Action at Pendleton Heights High School is scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m.
There are three rounds of wrestling, quarterfinals, semifinals and first-place/consolation rounds. There will be 10 to 15 minute breaks in between rounds.
The top four place winners in each weight class advance to the semistate tournament in New Castle, which will also include wrestlers from regionals hosted by Frankfort, Perry Meridian and Richmond.
Winners of first round (quarterfinal) matches at Pendleton will earn berths to semistate.
“Our expectation is to win a match,” Stilwell added. “You win one match you go to semistate, after that it’s all bonus wrestling. It’ll be tougher for some compared to others, but that’s the goal.
“At the end of the day if you give everything you’ve got and don’t win. I’m OK with that as long as we’re out there competing and giving everything.”
“I feel we got some good draws and some opportunities to move guys on to the semistate,” Cloud added. “There are some tough draws, but I feel we have got a good number of guys that can win the required match.”
