Boys wrestling: Royals finish regular season with win over Greyhounds

The REPORTER

The Hamilton Southeastern and Carmel boys wrestling teams finished up their regular seasons by facing off in a dual meet on the Greyhounds’ Bill Shepherd Court at the Eric Clark Activity Center.

Anderson

The Royals won the meet 45-20. The competition began with Southeastern and Carmel trading pins; HSE’s Cole Beattie won at 106 pounds and the Greyhounds’ Carlo Federici was the 113-pound winner. But the Royals won the next five matches to take a 28-6 lead at the halfway point of the match. Nick Anderson started the run with a pin at 120 pounds.

The Royals would go on to claim 10 of the 14 matches. Grady Wafford also got a pin at 175, with Chris Casler (at 144) and Landon Hicks (at 157) each winning by technical fall. Parker Culp (at 132) and Matthew Billet (at 138) were major-decision winners, while Aidan Smalley (at 126), Evan Lawhead (at 215) and A.W. Vankirk (at 285) took their matches by regular decision.

Major

“We wanted to see how we matched up,” said HSE coach Nick Brobst. The coach said his team hadn’t gotten to see Carmel before this time, except for “one or two weight classes” at the Mooresville holiday tournament.

“So, we wanted to see what we needed to work on, what we need to prepare for possible sectional matchups,” said Brobst, who also said his team “wrestled really well” at the meet.

Carmel picked up two major-decision victories from Elijah Penquite at 150 and Adel Navarette at 195. Michael Major won the 165-pound match by medical forfeit.

“Tonight’s goal was really looking at, what are they going to be able to do to go through a state tournament series,” said ‘Hounds coach Ed Pendoski. “Michael has been wrestling really well, Carlo finishing matches is our key through here. (Will) Massey did a really good job against a guy (Lawhead) that throttled him a couple times last year.”

Both teams will compete at the Frankfort sectional, which takes place on Saturday, Feb. 1.