The last Hamilton County wrestling tournament took place Saturday on Guerin Catholic, and it may have been the most competitive tournament of them all.
Five different schools had at least one individual champion. The team race, meanwhile, was a tight one, with Carmel eventually winning the trophy with 222 points. Westfield was the team runner-up by scoring 200, Hamilton Southeastern third and Noblesville was fourth.
The Greyhounds placed 10 wrestlers in the top three and crowned four champions. Brendan Mattingly won the 120-pound match, with Kyle Holman following that up by taking the 126-pound championship. Jack Eiteljorge was first at 160, then Logan Hart won the final at 170.
“This was a really good day for our program,” said Carmel coach Ed Pendoski. “We just finished a really tough training cycle in the practice room and we’re beat up bad. We had four, maybe five guys that we think could be in our sectional lineup not here today.
“We went into this tournament all beat up. We’re not in a good spot training-wise to compete. And to still come out and win against quality opponents, this is a really proud day for our program to be able come through and do this in the way that we did.”
The Shamrocks won two championships: Carson Eldred took the 113-pound division and Ryan Mahoney was the winner at 182 pounds. Westfield placed seven wrestlers in the top three.
“We were up and down as a team,” said ‘Rocks coach Phil Smith. “I was really, really impressed with Ryan Mahoney. He’s a four seed, goes out and wins it. Gets a fall in the finals. Carson Eldred wrestled really well. Brady Drlick wrestled really well. Put all those guys in the finals.”
Drlick placed second at 120 pounds.
Southeastern had the most individual champions with five. Jacob Simone finished first at 106 pounds, then Blake Forbes won at 132. The Royals then swept the upper weights: Andrew Irick won the 195-pound championship in an ultimate tiebreak, Crae Kunkleman was first at 220 and Taylor Shuey won at 285 pounds.
“I think we wrestled well,” said HSE coach Kyle Poyer. “We’re a young bunch of kids. We’re largely all sophomores and a few freshmen and juniors sprinkled around. And our kids are competing well and learning how to win and they’re really feeding off each other, which is exciting.”
Noblesville had seven wrestlers in the top three, including four runners-up: Dalton Huffman at 126, Justin Sparks at 132, Gary Kitko at 138 and Sebastian Dillon at 145.
“What a great tournament today,” said Millers coach Michael Weimer. “Very proud of the guys’ effort and competitive spirit, and how they kept wrestling to get bonus points for the team.”
Fishers placed fifth as a team; Alexander Strueder won for the Tigers at 138 pounds. Hamilton Heights finished sixth, with two runners-up: Alex Naylor at 220 and Troy Bergeson at 285. Sheridan also had two second-place wrestlers: Justin Delph at 152 and Collin Ells at 182.
Last but certainly not least, Guerin Catholic made history with two champions. Jeff Dunasky won at 145 pounds and Korbin Lane took the 152-pound championship.
The Carmel wrestling team won the final edition of the Hamilton County Wrestling Tournament, which took place Saturday at Guerin Catholic. The Greyhounds won four individual championships and had 10 wrestlers place in the top three. (Richie Hall)