INDIANAPOLIS — Saturday’s IHSAA Perry Meridian Boys Wrestling Regional featured some new faces.
With sectional realignment bringing in schools such as Lawrence North, Lawrence Central, North Central and Mt. Vernon, the field was one of the deepest wrestling regionals across the state.
For the three Hancock County schools, that didn’t matter. Seventeen total wrestlers from the county punched their ticket to the New Castle Semi-State and six of the 14 weight classes were won by county athletes.
New Palestine placed second as a team, advanced eight wrestlers and had one regional champion, Greenfield-Central placed fifth, advanced six wrestlers and had three champions, and Mt. Vernon placed seventh, advanced three wrestlers and had a pair of champions.
New Palestine (107.5) was runner-up to Warren Central (150) for the team title followed by Roncalli (103), Perry Meridian (90), Greenfield-Central (88), Lawrence North (54.5), and Mt. Vernon (51).
“I thought the kids that got out really came to wrestle. They were confident,” Greenfield-Central head coach Josh Holden said. “Some of these kids you don’t get to wrestle during the season, and this is the deepest regional with the addition of Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, and Mt. Vernon. It’s a tough one to win at, so to have three kids win that’s not too bad.”
County matchups and past opponents highlighted the championship round.
In the 126-pound title match, Mt. Vernon’s Eli Broady (36-3) held off New Palestine’s Gunner Butt (29-5) narrowly by a 3-2 decision to earn his first regional championship.
Earlier in the season, Broady defeated Butt by decision 6-4. This time around it was his defense that led to the win.
“Those two have worked out together and have been wrestling together for a long time, so they know each other,” Mt. Vernon head coach Randal Hayes said. “That match was just a strategy of getting the point when you needed it and not pressing the action. It was just getting what you needed and then getting a win, that’s all it was about. We knew if we got ahead that Eli’s defense was good enough for him to hold him off.”
Mt. Vernon’s other champion came in a repeat of last weekend’s sectional title match.
In the 215-pound finals, Devin Kendrex avenged last week’s 9-3 loss and took down Lawrence North’s Brandon Johnson by sudden victory 11-9.
Kendrex trailed 4-0 early before fighting back for the lead and later trailed 9-8. An escape in the closing seconds earned him the tying point, and quickly into the overtime period, Kendrex took down Johnson for the two points needed to win.
“We just changed how we were going to take our shots. We wanted to be patient with [Johnson] and let the match come to us this time, which is what we didn’t do the last couple of times. We knew that it would work if Devin just stuck to that plan. Last week something was up, and he lost his air early. This week, he was more confident and controlled his breathing better and didn’t get worn out,” Hayes said.
“It was a really big win because you’ve got [Jackson] Weingart coming out and a kid from Southmont that is undefeated coming out. They’re all going to be tough matches, but getting that number one allows us to not have that right out of the gate. It’s a confidence builder too. He beat two quality wrestlers today.”
Two of Greenfield-Central’s champions avenged losses as well.
At 120 pounds, Jett McGuire defeated Franklin Central’s Richard Rogers who won last week’s sectional title over him, and at 285 pounds, Brayden Flener took down Perry Meridian’s Jacob McClure — who he had lost to earlier in the season — by decision 2-1.
To win the 190-pound title, G-C’s Clay Guenin pinned all three of his opponents. In the championship match, he defeated Perry Meridian’s Jaylen Young by fall in 2:41.
“Having three champs is a really good deal because next week you’re drawing the opposite of what you got today. I saw confidence today and that’s the biggest thing with kids. Those kids came out and all three told me ‘I’m winning it’,” Holden said. “Jett wrestled a really good kid in the semis and then a really good kid who beat us last week in the finals. Brayden lost to that kid he beat in the finals earlier in the season. Sometimes you just have to go, ‘I’m not going to lose’ and that was a big part of it.”
The Dragons, who advanced the most wrestlers and finished the best as a team, had three wrestlers in title matches but left with just one champion.
At 132 pounds, Cole Vandygriff defeated Southport’s Josh Foxworthy by decision 4-3 for the Dragons lone title.
Along with Butt’s loss to Broady in the finals, Peyton Hornsby fell in the 138-pound title match.
Helping add to the second-place team finish and advancing to semi-state along with those three for New Palestine were Bryce Doss (144), Jaedyn Jeffries (157), Gabe Flick (165), Colin Whetsel (190), and Shaun Glass (215).
The Cougars other three qualifiers aside from their champions were Nate Miller (144), Silas Frye (175) and Tristen Lanum (215).
For Mt. Vernon, Conner Bayliss punched his ticket with a first-round win by fall on his way to a third-place overall finish.
“For him [Bayliss] it wasn’t so much as setting himself up for next week, it was about his confidence. He was really down last week and he bounced back and wrestled really well,” Hayes said. “He wrestled some really smart matches and got his confidence back for next week.”
All 17 competitors will be in action at the New Castle Semi-State this upcoming Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.
–
2024 Perry Meridian Regional
Team scores: Warren Central 145, New Palestine 107.5, Roncalli 103, Perry Meridian 90, Greenfield-Central 88, Lawrence North 54.5, Mt. Vernon 51, Franklin Central 38, North Central 32.5, Southport 21, Purdue Polytechnic 17.5, Indianapolis Lutheran 16, Shelbyville 16, Beech Grove 0, Scecina 0, Lawrence Central 0, Triton Central 0.
Championship Round
106: Peyton Schoettle (Roncalli) won by technical fall over Caleb Morrow (Lutheran) 16-0
113: Blake Getz (Roncalli) won by decision over Hruai Lian (Perry Meridian) 7-5
120: Jett McGuire (Greenfield-Central) won by decision over Richard Rogers (Franklin Central) 8-4
126: Eli Broady (Mt. Vernon) won by decision over Gunner Butt (New Palestine) 3-2
132: Cole Vandygriff (New Palestine) won by decision over Josh Foxworthy (Southport) 4-3
138: Kyrel Leavell (Warren Central) won by fall over Peyton Hornsby (New Palestine) 1:16
144: Christian Arberry (Warren Central) won by fall over William May (Roncalli) 1:55
150: Moses Stevenson (Franklin Central) won by fall over Jessie Franklin (North Central) :29
157: Anthony Cashman (Warren Central) won by decision over Silas Foster (Purdue Poly) 4-2
165: Waylon Cressell (Warren Central) won by technical fall over James Dozier (Roncalli) 20-4
175: Brenton Russell (Warren Central) won by decision over Michael White (Lawrence North) 17-12
190: Clay Guenin (Greenfield-Central) won by fall over Jaylon Young (Perry Meridian) 2:41
215: Devin Kendrex (Mt. Vernon) won by sudden victory over Brandon Johnson (Lawrence North) 11-9
285: Brayden Flener (Greenfield-Central) won by decision over Jacob McClure (Perry Meridian) 2-1
