The REPORTER
Westfield’s Connor Maddox earned a place on the medal stand as the freestyle portion of the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals finished Wednesday in Fargo, N.D.
Connor Maddox won three of four matches on Wednesday, taking all three victories by technical falls. (Manford Photography)
Maddox reached the Round of 16 in the 16U 106-pound main draw before losing to fellow Indiana wrestler Traevon Ducking of Brownsburg. Ducking was the IHSAA state champion at 106 pounds last season; the two met in the state semifinals with Ducking winning that match by an 11-4 decision.
Maddox moved to the consolation Round of 16, winning a decision match over Pennsylvania’s Lucas Forman on Tuesday, his final match of that day. The Shamrocks sophomore-to-be won his first Wednesday match in the sub-quarterfinals with an 11-0 technical fall victory over Arizona’s Kash Larkin.
In the consolation quarterfinals, Maddox edged out Iowa’s Cruz Gannon in a 7-6 decision. He dropped a sub-semifinal match to another Iowa wrestler, Diego Robertty by an 11-0 technical fall. That sent Maddox to the seventh-place match, which he won with a 12-2 technical fall over Pennsylvania’s Evan Cies.
With the finish, Maddox earned All-American honors and scored five points for the Indiana team. Hamilton Heights’ Kendall Moe placed fourth in the Junior Girls 110-pound division and scored 12 team points. Indiana is presently seventh in the team standings with 265; Pennsylvania is the leader with 816 points.
Wrestling continues later this week with Greco-Roman for both the Junior and 16U boys. Hamilton County representatives from Indiana in the 16U category will be Maddox at 106 pounds, Westfield’s Brayden Head at 113, Noblesville’s Brody Weimer at 126 and Noblesville’s Cale Metzler at 215. Hamilton Heights’ Michael Cain will wrestle the Junior Boys Greco-Roman at 175.