INDIANAPOLIS — The first round of the IHSAA Boys Wrestling State Tournament was a successful one for Greenfield-Central and New Palestine.
Competing in the nine-team Warren Central Sectional, the Cougars finished second and advanced 12 of their 14 wrestlers to this weekend’s Perry Meridian Regional.
New Palestine placed fourth and advanced seven. Each team had three champions.
The top four in each weight class advanced to the regional. At Perry, wrestlers will seek top four spots to move on to the Feb. 11 New Castle Semi-State. The IHSAA state finals are Feb. 17-18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“We wrestled hard and wrestled pretty smart,” Greenfield-Central coach Josh Holden said of his team’s performance at Warren Central. “To win a tournament like this you have to win in the finals. You have to beat really good kids to end the day. We wrestled great all day and got the most kids in the finals and got 12 out.
“We got 12 out, that’s pretty good. We didn’t win enough in the finals to beat a really good Warren team.”
The Cougars were in the hunt for the team title heading into the championship round. Warren Central had a 4.5 point lead (214.5-210). Both Cougars and Warriors had eight in the championship finals. Warren Central ended up with five champions.
Warren Central finished with 251 points. Greenfield-Central had 234. Franklin Central was third with 180 and New Palestine scored 154.
“I thought it was a positive day. We had nine freshmen and sophomores in the lineup,” New Palestine coach Scot Dawson said. “Our goal was to wrestle to our seed or higher and a lot of our kids did that. Some of our young guys that didn’t get out got on the podium (top six) and had good days. The coaching staff was really pleased with their efforts.”
The county rivals went head-to-head in the first two championship bouts.
Two freshmen battled for the 106-pound class final. Greenfield-Central’s Jett McGuire beat New Palestine’s Gunner Butt 7-1.
“It’s great. Obviously, the goal is to win. I knew I had tough competition ahead. At practice, I had to work hard,” McGuire said. “We learned (at practice) what he liked to do and watched film. We were gunning for him.”
McGuire had beaten Butt earlier in the month in a quarterfinal match at the Hoosier Heritage Conference tournament on an ultimate tie-breaker. He went on to be a conference runner-up.
At 113, in the third meeting of the season between the two, New Palestine’s Cole Vandygriff defeated Greenfield-Central’s Lincoln Parsons in overtime, 6-4.
The two had split their first two matches. Vandygriff defeated Parsons in the semifinals of the Connersville Spartan Classic in late December. Parsons avenged the loss in the Hoosier Heritage Conference title match in mid-January. Vandygriff, with a takedown in sudden victory Saturday gave himself a 2-1 advantage in the friendly rivalry.
“Keep it close and score points in the third. I scored more points early on, too, but he got me in the second period,” Vandygriff said. “In overtime, I was confident I could take him down. Lincoln and I are good buddies. We’ve wrestled our whole lives.”
McGuire and Vandygriff were the first of three champions for each school.
For the Cougars, senior Cohen Hager defeated Warren Central’s Aaron Durham 13-11 in the 145-class title match. Isaiah Holden, the only other senior in the G-C lineup, followed with a win, by fall, at 152 over Canaan Miller of Purdue Poly. Holden got his pin midway in the second period (2:48).
“It’s been a dream I’ve had all my life,” Hager said of being a sectional champion. “Finally, that one big step to get up on that wall (in the wrestling room). It’s nice to be able to show my teammates it’s possible. Everything is doable.”
“Super proud to be a Cougar,” Hager added on the overall performance of the Greenfield-Central team.
The Dragons had back-to-back champions, t00. Following Vandygriff, Bryce Doss won the championship at 120 with a 3-1 decision over Warren Central’s Terry Easley.
New Palestine got its third title at 195. Shaun Glass won by a 7-0 decision over Warren Central’s Brylin Smith.
Along with Parsons, four other Cougars were runners-up including, J.J. Harlow (132), Kannon Zuber (138), Clay Guenin (170) and Silas Frye (182). Along with Butt at 106, the Dragons had a second-place finish from Tyler Lavin (126).
Others from G-C advancing to the regional include third-place finishers Cade Zuber (120) and Jon Ubelhor (160) and fourth-placers Dylan Luther (126) and Brayden Flener (285). Tristen Lanum was fifth at 195 and is an alternate for his weight class.
Along with its champions and runners-up, New Palestine had two others advance to the regional, Jaedyn Jeffries (152) and Gavin Wilcher (170). Both placed fourth in their weight classes. The Dragons have two fifth-place alternates, Gabe Flick (160) and Brandon Brees (220).
The Perry Meridian Regional is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday. It includes wrestlers from the Warren Central and Southport sectionals.
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2023 Warren Central Sectional
Team scores: Warren Central 251, Greenfield-Central 234, Franklin Central 180, New Palestine 154, Triton Central 99, Shelbyville 90, Lutheran 74, Purdue Poly 72, Scecina 24.
Championship Round
106: Jett McGuire (Greenfield-Central) won by decision over Gunner Butt (New Palestine) 7-1
113: Cole Vandygriff (New Palestine) won by decision over Lincoln Parsons (Greenfield-Central) 6-4, OT
120: Bryce Doss (New Palestine) won by decision over Terry Easley (Warren Central) 3-1
126: Gauge Clark (Franklin Central) won by decision over Tyler Lavin (New Palestine) 7-3
132: Kyrel Leavell (Warren Central) won by technical fall, 21-5) over J.J. Harlow (Greenfield-Central) 6:00
138: Christian Arberry (Warren Central) won by decision over Kannon Zuber (Greenfield-Central) 6-2
145: Cohen Hager (Greenfield-Central) won by decision over Aaron Durham (Warren Central) 13-11
152: Isaiah Holden (Greenfield-Central) won by fall over Canaan Miller (Purdue Poly) 2:48
160: Brenton Russell (Warren Central) won by fall over Nate Hughes (Lutheran) 3:27
170: Anthony Cashman (Warren Central) won by decision over Clay Guenin (Greenfield-Central) 4-3
182: Mike Durham (Warren Central) won by decision over Silas Frye (Greenfield-Central) 6-2
195: Shaun Glass (New Palestine) won by decision over Brylin Smith (Warren Central) 7-0
220: Hadyn Ball (Triton Central) won by decision over Talan Humphrey (Franklin Central) 8-4
285: Andrew Just (Franklin Central) won by decision over Jacob Harker (Shelbyville) 6-1
