Hamilton County’s wrestling teams have all been on road trips this week, traveling across Indiana to compete in holiday tournaments.
One of the larger tournaments in the state was the Mooresville Holiday Classic, which took place Wednesday and Thursday and featured 32 teams. Carmel, Guerin Catholic and Hamilton Southeastern all competed there, and all three of those teams had something to be happy about once the awards were given out.
The Greyhounds were the happiest of all, as they ran away with the team championship. Carmel scored 293 points, well ahead of runner-up Delta’s 208.5 points.
Twelve of the Greyhounds’ 14 wrestlers placed in the top eight at the tournament. Four Carmel athletes won their weight classes, starting with Caleb Mattingly at 126 pounds. Isaac Ward followed by taking first at 132, then Michael Major won at 138. Trevor Gallagher added a championship at 152 pounds.
Two more Hounds were runners-up: Nayl Sbay at 145 and Jack Milligan at 285. Jackson Elliott (at 113), Alex Ryan (at 182) and Seth Richardson (at 195) all placed third. Other place-winners were Lito Ledezma (fourth at 120), Jairo Ojeda (fifth at 160) and Matthew Green (eighth at 170).
Hamilton Southeastern had a strong tournament, finishing a close fourth with 166.5 points, just behind third-place Terre Haute South’s 168 points. The Royals had seven place-winners, including two champions: Zack Wagner at 170 and Dom Burgett at 285; Burgett remains unbeaten for the season at 15-0.
Zach Lang scored a runner-up finish for Southeastern at 152 pounds. The other Royals place-winners were Aidan Smalley (sixth at 106), Nick Anderson (sixth at 120), Nick Jakubs (sixth at 160), and Chris Casler (eighth at 138).
Guerin Catholic finished 28th, totaling 48 points. Peter Nguyen was the Golden Eagles’ lone place-winner, but he made an impact, finishing second at 120 pounds. Nguyen made his way to the championship match before falling to Delta’s Neal Mosier in a match of unbeaten wrestlers, by an 8-2 decision. Nguyen is still 19-1 for the season.
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Carmel and Hamilton Southeastern’s girls teams were also at the Mooresville Holiday Classic, and both squads had top 10 team finishes on Thursday. The Greyhounds placed fifth by scoring 78 points, with the Royals taking sixth place, totaling 76 points.
Chloe DeLeon was a Carmel champion, winning at 126 pounds. Two more Greyhounds placed third: Zentavia Coatie at 120 and Grace Marshall at 182. Other place-winners were Josie Bellotti (fifth at 160), Jessica Xie (sixth at 113) and Alisha Calcuttawala (seventh at 145).
The Royals were led by Emily Anderson, the winner at 120 pounds. Anderson is unbeaten for the season at 15-0. Two more Southeastern wrestlers were runners-up: Jayda Harris at 160 and Fanta Sall at 195. Kelli Crawford took fifth at 182 and Charlie Parsons was sixth at 152.
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Hamilton Heights won a rumble on the Ohio River Thursday at the 14th annual Cub Classic in Madison.
The Huskies, ranked No. 5 in Class 2A, edged out two other top teams to claim the championship. Heights scored 272.5 points, ahead of runner-up and 3A No. 4 East Central (261 points) and 2A No. 9 Heritage Hills (241 points).
The Huskies had four champions on the day. Carson Fettig won at 145 pounds, then Heights swept the heaviest three divisions: Evan Tilton at 195 (keeping him undefeated at 28-0), Josh Brown at 220 and Mason Moran at 285. Five more Heights wrestlers finished as runners-up: Justin Tilton at 126, Simon Kuhn at 132, Alex Furst at 138 and Michael Cain at 170 and Jimmy Lacey at 182.
Blain Zachary (at 152) and Aiden Furst (at 160) both placed third in their weight classes. Cooper Doucette (at 113) and Gavin Archer (at 120), both got fifth-place finishes.
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Noblesville competed in the North Montgomery Duals Thursday and Friday.
The Thursday portion was a round-robin of dual meets, and the Millers went 4-1 in that competition. Noblesville defeated Lapel 78-3, North Montgomery 60-22, Pendleton Heights 39-36 and North Putnam 60-22, losing only to Rochester 62-6.
Carlos Argueta finished 4-0 for the Millers at 195 pounds. Four more wrestlers went 4-1: Luke Chastain at 126, Caleb Leeman at 138, C.J. Livingston at 145 and Austin Hastings at 220. Five Noblesville athletes finished Thursday with 3-2 records: Bryan Young at 106, Lawson McRae at 113, Carter Richardson at 152, Aden Widget at 170 and Oscar Solis-Rodrigues at 182.
On Friday, the teams returned to North Montgomery for the individual competition. Team scores were kept as well, and the Millers finished third with a score of 140 points. Rochester ran away with the team title by scoring 227 points, followed by Rensselaer Central’s 201 points.
Noblesville had eight place-winners, and all eight wrestled in the same weight class as they did on Thursday. Leeman and Hastings both finished as runners-up in their divisions, with Widget and Solis-Rodrigues placing third. Chastain, Livingston and Richardson all took fourth and Argueta placed sixth.
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Fishers took third at the Spartan Classic, which took place Thursday and Friday at Connersville.
The Tigers scored 166 points. Greenfield-Central was the team champion with 214 points and New Castle the runner-up with 172.
Fishers had six place-winners at the event, including two runners-up: Griffin Ingalls at 126 pounds and Chris Quarles at 182 pounds. Chayce Yant finished third at 120 pounds, while Jacob Carroll took third at 220. Will Hruskoci finished in seventh place at 106, while Xavier Smith took seventh at 160 pounds.
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Sheridan finished fourth at the Eastern Holiday Classic, a series of nine dual meets that took place on Thursday and Friday.
The Blackhawks were 6-3 for the event. On Thursday, Sheridan beat Northwestern 54-15 and Taylor 72-6 to begin the meet, but lost the next three duals, to Fremont 54-22, Tri-Central 42-40 and Madison-Grant 51-24. The Hawks rebounded on Friday to win all four of their duals, beating Carroll 48-21, Eastern 54-30, Eastbrook 48-36 and Tipton; the dual with the Blue Devils ended in a 36-36 tie, but Sheridan won using tiebreak criteria.
Jacob Jones and Peyton Cross both finished 9-0 at the meet. Jones won all of his matches at 182 pounds, while Cross flipped between 220 and 285 pounds. Kevin Speck finished 8-1 at 152, while Ryker Ream compiled a 7-2 record at 160 pounds. Owen Whitlow finished 6-3 at 106, while Jace Warren was 5-1 at 195. Zach Bales went 5-4 at 170 pounds.
Sheridan finished fourth at the Eastern Holiday Classic. Coach Steve Leonard (left) earned his 100th career win during the meet, while Peyton Cross set a new school record for wins with 110. (Photo provided)
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Westfield placed 18th at the Al Smith Classic Wrestling Invitational Thursday and Friday at Mishawaka.
The Shamrocks scored 82 team points. Ike O’Neill finished as runner-up at 145 pounds, while two more Westfield wrestlers placed seventh: Porter Temples at 113 and Jonathan Tanner at 195.