PENDLETON — Defending state champion Cathedral ruled the day at the Pendleton Heights Regional, but runner-up Mt. Vernon had a memorable performance of its own on Saturday.
The Marauders set a school record by advancing nine wrestlers out of regional and into this upcoming weekend’s New Castle Semistate.
Mt. Vernon junior Carson Johnson (25-5) led the way with a second-place finish at 132 pounds. Three Marauders placed third and five were awarded fourth overall to give Mt. Vernon nine semistate qualifiers for Saturday’s tournament at 9 a.m.
The Marauders tallied 88.0 team points for second place at regional behind third-ranked Cathedral with 239.5. Noblesville was third overall with 79.0 points.
At the Southport Regional on Saturday, the New Palestine Dragons had a trio of wrestlers qualify for the New Castle Semistate.
Seniors Christian White (27-2) placed second at 132, Richard Clevenger (25-5) was third at 195 and Tucker Keevers (24-4) took second at 285 to qualify for the next round.
Eastern Hancock senior Avery Wills (28-9) finished third at 152 during the Perry Meridian Regional to earn his second-straight semistate berth.
The Dragons placed sixth as a team at regional with fifth-ranked Perry Meridian winning the title with 202.0 points over eighth-ranked Warren Central (186.0). Franklin Central was third (106.5) and Roncalli was fourth (103.0).
White, who is ranked fifth in the state by IndianaMat, advanced to the 132 finals behind an opening-round pin in 1 minute, 5 seconds, followed by a third-period tech fall, 17-2, during the semifinals.
Facing Warren Central’s ninth-ranked David Pierson in the finals — marking the second consecutive weekend the two have met in the title match — White lost by decision 3-2 in an ultimate tiebreaker.
During the sectional finals at Warren Central on Jan. 30, Pierson, a three-time state-place winner, defeated White, a two-time state qualifier, by decision 9-3.
Clevenger, a state qualifier in 2019-20, opened the regional with a 14-2 major decision before falling by pin in 2:54 against second-ranked senior Hayden Filipovich (36-0) of Indianapolis Lutheran in the semifinals.
The 24th-ranked Dragon regrouped in the consolation finals, beating 22nd-ranked senior Braden Rodriguez (22-10) by decision 8-2 for his 100th-career victory.
Keevers racked up a pair of pins in 35 seconds and 1:23 over 21st-ranked Max Comado (14-1) of Beech Grove during the semifinals. In the finals, Keevers lost by fall in 50 seconds to fourth-ranked Antone Alexander (30-2) of Franklin Central.
Wills punched his ticket to semistate with a pin in 2:35 during the regional quarterfinals before losing to second-ranked Matthew Koontz (28-1) of Perry Meridian during the semifinals by fall in 2:38.
Wills took third with a 1:58 pin over Roncalli’s Andrew Stuck (21-14) in the consolations.
Mt. Vernon’s top finisher at Pendleton Heights, Johnson, who is ranked 21st in the state, cruised into the semifinals with a 10-0 major decision and a pin in 2:50 during the semifinals.
He lost by decision 10-6 in the finals against Lawrence North’s 16th-ranked Anthony Hughes (20-4).
The Marauders’ fourth-place finishers were junior Zach Haughton (26-5) at 126, sophomore Aiden Kiner (19-10) at 138, senior Joel Ratliff (16-14) at 160, senior Haiden Rose (20-11) at 170 and sophomore Hunter Austel (11-7) at 182.
Sophomore Russell Weaver (19-6) won his first match by fall in 1:27 before losing to Pendleton Heights’ 20th-ranked Colin Gillespie (20-2) by pin in 1:52 during the semifinals.
Weaver muscled back to take third by fall in 3:22 over Noblesville freshman Austin Hastings (14-11).
Junior Parker Smitley (25-5), who is ranked 25th in the state, won by fall in 5:32 to open the regional and then narrowly lost by decision 13-10 to Elwood’s 18th-ranked Chase Lovell (24-1) in the semifinals.
Smitley powered through for a 2-1 victory by decision in the third-place match against North Central junior Cole Branigan (15-9).
Senior Matt Foor (13-7) won his first match by fall in 3:13 before losing by pin in 3:30 against 22nd-ranked Makhi Watts (22-3) of North Central, who went on to win the regional title.
Foor rebounded with a fall in 2:53 over Noblesville sophomore Ben Decker (14-6) during the third-place match.
At the meet’s conclusion, the Mt. Vernon assistant coaches were honored by being selected as the regional tournament’s staff of the year.
