PREP: Busy day on mats

Wrestling squads compete in final meets of 2009

By TRIBUNE SPORTS STAFF

Eastern wrestling coach Bob Jarrett liked the competition he saw in the Comets’ Holiday Classic, a two-day event that wrapped up Wednesday.

“The tournament was kind of neat because there was no runaway team — every team got beat at least once and a lot of the matches were close,” Jarrett said. “Our last match was against Alexandria and that score ended up 38-36, they beat us by two, and they were the best team there.

“There was no superstar team. It was evenly matched and that’s what made it a good tournament.”

Alexandria and Tri-Central both finished with 8-1 records to lead the 10-team field. Alexandria won the title on the tiebreaker, which was most team points. East Central, Eastern and Westview rounded out the top five and Maconaquah, Fremont, Northwestern, Sheridan and Tipton finished sixth through 10th.

The following are looks at how the Kokomo-area squads fared.

• Tri-Central had four individual champions — Keegan Pyke in the 135-pound weight class, Hayden Buck at 140, Montrail Johnson at 145 and Eric Cage at 215. Pyke, Buck and Johnson had perfect 9-0 records and Cage went 8-1.

Pyke also won the award for most pins in the least amount of time — he recorded eight in 11:54.

Also for the Trojans, Dakota Anderson (103 pounds), Austin Anderson (119), Spencer Burton (130) and Cody Byrd (152) all went 7-2 over the two days of competition and Ben Cain (160) had a 5-4 record.

Tri-Central’s 8-1 record pushed its season record to 22-3.

• Jarrett’s Eastern squad went 5-4. Clayton Smith (7-0 record at 215 pounds), Zack Alexander (8-1 at 125), John Horner (8-1 at 130) and Logan Hetzner (6-1 at 145) led the Greentown gang.

“Zack Alexander, a sophomore, has really come on strong for us,” Jarrett said.

Also for Eastern, Chase Starnes (285 pounds) went 7-2, Connor Young (112) and Blake Pence (119) posted 6-3 records, Tyler Fording (140) went 5-3 and Bruce Turner (135), Blake Thomas (152), Chris Bitterman (160) and Jerry Flick (171) all had 5-4 records.

“I was pleased with [the Comets’] wrestling,” Jarrett said.

• Maconaquah went 5-4. Brenner Stage went 8-1 at 140 pounds to lead the Bunker Hill boys. Justin Hunt (160) and Reece Kunkle (171) followed with 7-2 records, Brian Dick (152) had a 6-2 mark and Nick Brooks (130) and Josh Morgan (189) both went 5-3. In addition, William Page (145) and Dillon Riggle (285) had 4-1 showings in part-time work.

• Northwestern went 2-7.

“We gave up a lot of forfeits and we had to put some JV kids in there, but everybody wrestled hard,” Tiger coach Scott Miller said. “We had three JV kids, Jake Griffey, Taylor Johnson and Zach Deurloo, step in and get their first varsity wins.”

Northwestern had three individual champions — Matt Miller at 119, Devin Reed at 189 and Evan Floyd at heavyweight. All three went 9-0. Reed and Floyd both recorded seven pins.

“Devin Reed wrestled extremely well,” Scott Miller said.

Matt Miller improved to 28-0 on the season and became the Tigers’ career wins leader with 152 wins. Jon Goodridge previously held the record with 145.

Also for the Tigers, Ian Moss went 6-2 at 130, Andy Hunkeler and Griffey combined for a 4-0 record at 215, Kyle Miller went 4-2 at 171 and Matt Kidwell had a 5-4 record at 125.

• Tipton’s Kevin Moats was named the most outstanding wrestler of the meet after dominating the 171-pound weight class.

Lafayette Jeff Super Duals

Kokomo finished with a 2-7 record in the 10-team, two-day event. The Red and Blue crew’s victories came over Pioneer and Seeger.

“There were some really good teams there [including] Westfield, New Castle, Cascade and Lafayette Jeff and we went out there and competed pretty well,” Kokomo coach Ryan Wells said. “We lost three of our matches by six points or less. That’s a one-match [difference]. Kankakee Valley beat us by one match and they ended up getting second place so we were right there. I’m definitely seeing a lot of improvement.”

Kokomo standout Dylan Green, who is ranked No. 3 in the state in the 215-pound weight class, went 9-0 to remain undefeated on the season.

“He really lived up to the hype the last couple days and proved himself to be one of the best 215-pounders in the state,” Wells said.

Wells noted 112-pounder Tony Benedict also wrestled well for the Kats. Benedict went 8-1.

“Tony is starting to turn it on. He is looking really good,” Wells said.

Also for Kokomo, 189-pounder Cameron Colby and heavyweight Andy McLeod both had 5-4 records in the super duals.

Spartan Classic

Western had mixed results at Connersville’s Spartan Classic. Logun Taylor went 4-2 at 145 pounds to lead the Panthers. Eric Shepherd (103), Austin Shepherd (140), Nathan Soblotne (160) and Jake Wiechmann (171) all had 2-2 records.

“Jake Wiechmann did a good job for a sophomore at 171,” Western coach Chad Shepherd said. “Logun Taylor wrestled really well. He got beat by a couple of good kids, and he placed in the top four. Taylor wanted to be higher then that, but overall he did a good job. As a team, we need to find more consistency. We couldn’t put matches together back to back.”

Twin Lakes Super Duals

Taylor edged Gary Wallace 33-30 for its lone victory in the six-team event. Taylor dropped matches to West Central, North White, Culver Community and North Judson.

Kris Workman went 5-0 at 125 pounds to lead the Center Crew. Alex Hewitt (152 pounds) and Brock Newton (160) both finished with 4-1 records and Ryan Goudy (130) and Dalton Tinsley (189) had 3-2 records.

• Bryan Gaskins and Kenny Hetzler compiled this roundup.

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