Hamilton County wrestlers represent Indiana well at Junior Nationals

The REPORTER

Hamilton County had a large contingent of wrestlers representing Indiana at the USMC/USA Wrestling 16U and Junior Nationals, which is taking place this week in Fargo, N.D.

Two county wrestlers placed in the top eight of their weight divisions, beginning with Hamilton Heights’ Kendall Moe. The multiple Indiana girls wrestling state championship finished fourth at 100 pounds in the Junior Women Freestyle division, making her a three-time All American.

Moe was seeded fifth and received a first-round bye in the Round of 64. That advanced Moe to the Round of 32, where she won her first match easily by beating Washington’s Olivia Griffin 10-0.

In the Round of 16, Moe got another first-period tech fall, taking care of Virginia’s Sarina Gunn 10-0 to move into the quarterfinals. Moe dropped her first match of the tournament to Ohio’s Makennah Craft 7-4, which sent her into the consolation bracket.

Moe began her consolations journey in the round of eight, where she pinned North Carolina’s Anna Ockerman in the first period. In the next round, Moe won a wild match with Ohio’s Brianne Graves, earning a tech fall in the second period with a 21-10 score. That sent her to the third-place match, where Moe lost to Utah state champion Kristina Kent by a 10-0 tech fall.

Smith places fifth in Freestyle

Fishers’ Xavier Smith also earned All American status by placing fifth in the 16U Men’s Freestyle 175-pound class.

Smith was seeded 11^th and began the meet with a 10-0 Round of 128 win over Minnesota’s Uriah-Gabriel Cole. In the Round of 64, Smith took care of New Jersey’s Chad McConnell 11-0, then beat Nevada’s Santiago Cabrera 12-2 in the Round of 32.

Smith kept rolling in the Round of 16, beating Iowa’s Broedy Hendricks 9-1, then swept past Illinois’ Isaac Barrientos 10-0 in the quarterfinals. Smith’s run came to an end in the semifinals, where Iowa’s Brayden Koester beat him 6-4.

In the consolations, Smith was placed directly in the semifinals, where he lost to Pennsylvania’s Nicholas Singer 16-9. Smith beat California’s Isai Fernandez to claim fifth place.

Other county wrestlers

Two other Hamilton County girls wrestlers competed at Fargo. Noblesville’s Kyra Tomlinson wrestled in the Junior Women’s 130-pound division. She began the meet by beating Illinois’ Viola Pianetto 10-0 in the Round of 128, then took care of Minnesota’s Alivia Szydel 10-0 in the Round of 64.

Tomlinson won a tough match over Mia Collins 12-8 in the Round of 32. Tomlinson led 8-2 after the first period, but Collins came back to tie the match at 8-8 with 49 seconds left in the second period (tournament matches consist of two three-minute periods). But Tomlinson scored four points with seven seconds left to get the win.

In the Round of 16, Tomlinson lost a 10-0 match to Florida’s Christina Borgmann. That moved her to the consolations, where she dropped her first match by pin to Washington’s Mary Rush.

Hamilton Southeastern’s Fanta Sall competed in the 16U Women’s 235-pound class. Sall was pinned by the fourth seed, Pennsylvania’s Mackenna Atkinson, in the first round, then lost in the consolation round to Colorado’s Larissa Espinosa.

Meanwhile, five county boys were also among the wrestlers in the 16U Men’s division. Here’s how they performed:

– Westfield’s Connor Maddox competed in the 100-pound class. He won three main draw matches, beating Wisconsin’s Joan Tellez by fall, Massachusetts’ Aiden Morris 11-5 and Texas’ Oliver Pulliam 5-3 to reach the Round of 16.

Maddox lost to Minnesota’s Turner Ross 10-0 in the 16s. That sent him to the consolation bracket, where he beat Pennsylvania’s Van Ward 9-4 before falling to another Pennsylvania wrestler, third seed Max Dinges, 9-2.

– Noblesville’s Aiden Kincaide also made it to the Round of 16 at 165 pounds. He got wins over Idaho’s Skyler Crow by fall, Florida’s James Shaw Garrett 11-2 and Pennsylvania’s Michael Schmit 10-0.

Kincaide dropped his Round of 16 match to the top seed, Illinois’ Aaron Stewart 10-0. In the consols, Kincaide lost to Michigan’s Don Beaufait 5-0.

– Noblesville’s Jackson Apple won a match at the 285-pound division, which began in the Round of 64. Apple beat Missouri’s Matthew Kelley 18-10 to reach the Round of 32, where he lost to Arizona’s Eric Butierez by fall.

In the consolation round, Apple took care of Virginia’s Jake James 9-4, then cruised past Oklahoma’s Isaiah Fragua 11-0. Apple dropped his third consolation match to Pennsylvania’s Bradyn McConaha by fall.

– Fishers’ Julian Burgett wrestled in the 190-pound division. After a first-round bye, the unseeded Burgett fell to the 10^th seed, Missouri’s Jace Renfro 8-2. Burgett won his first consolation match 6-1 over Massachusetts’ Adam Loebl 6-1 but lost his next match to Minnesota’s Blake McMullen 3-1.

After the Freestyle finished earlier this week, five county wrestlers competed in the Greco-Roman portion of the tournament. Results from that event will be published next week in the Reporter.