Carmel’s Katie Mattingly led the way in a successful night for Hamilton County wrestlers at the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling 2022 State Finals, which took place Friday night at Kokomo.
Seven county wrestlers finished in the top eight at the annual state meet. Mattingly was the highest placer of them all, winning the state championship in the 138-pound weight class. She breezed through to the final round, beating three opponents by fall.
Mattingly pinned Nyisha Gindelberger of South Bend Riley in 22 seconds in the first round, then beat Alexandra Johnson of Penn with a pin in 2:23 in the quarter-finals. Mattingly’s semi-final match resulted in another fall, this one over Josie Hause of Monrovia in 1:36. Mattingly received a tough challenge from Bellmont’s Trinity Coyne in the championships, but triumphed in a 5-3 decision.
Mattingly was one of three place-winners at state, which led to a sixth-place team finish for the Greyhounds; they scored 42 points. Lissa Salisbury placed fourth at 160 pounds; she reached the semi-finals after winning her first two matches by pins before falling to Cydney Bassett of Purdue Polytechnic in a second-period pin. Sydney Molaski finished eighth at 182 pounds.
Noblesville’s Kyra Tomlinson had an outstanding tournament as well, finishing as the runner-up at 132 pounds. Tomlinson received a bye into the quarter-finals, then reached the championship bout with two third-period pins, beating Paoli’s Hannah Albertson in the quarters and Hamilton Heights’ Jayla Logan in the semi-finals. Tomlinson dropped the championship to North Montgomery’s Cailin Campbell in a 14-7 decision.
Hamilton Heights had a solid day, with two place-winners. Logan took fourth at 132 pounds; she reached the semis with a first-round decision over Wapahani’s Abriel Fisher and a pin over Penn’s Maia Centilli before falling to Tomlinson.
Samera Henson finished fifth for the Huskies at 113 pounds. While she dropped her quarter-final match by pin to Illiana Christian’s Faith Vander Laan, Henson rebounded in the wrestlebacks, beating Castle’s Jaden Collier with a 56-second pin and North Miami’s Aubrey Burns in a 4-0 decision for fifth place.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Emily Anderson finished fourth at 106 pounds. After a first-round bye, Anderson pinned Jay County’s Lizzie Dollar in 2:25 to reach the semi-finals, but fell to eventual champion Julianna Ocampo of New Haven in the first period.
Hamilton Heights tied for 24th in the team standings with 21 points, while Noblesville tied for 27th with 20 points. Southeastern totaled 11 points, good for 41st place.
Penn ran away with the team state championship, scoring 83 points. Southport was a strong second with 61 points. Jay County totaled 46 points for third place, followed by New Haven and North Montgomery, which tied for fourth place with 44 points each.