Wrestlers make history at Jennings County Sectional, six Pacers advance to Regional
The Switzerland County varsity wrestling team traveled to Jennings County High School this past Saturday — and returned home after a history-making day.
The Pacer grapplers earned three individual Sectional championships and advanced at least three other wrestlers to this Saturday’s Regional at Jeffersonville.
Overall, Switzerland County finished fifth in the 10-team Sectional. The Indiana High School Athletic Association doesn’t use class categories for wrestling, so schools of all sizes compete against each other.
Columbus East won the Sectional with a team score of 258; followed by Columbus North with 224; Jennings County with 153; Seymour with 131; and Switzerland County with 130.
Scottsburg was sixth with 108; Madison had 79; West Washington with 75; Southwestern with 41; and Brown County with 18.
Champions
• Dakota Fields earned the title at 113-pounds.
In the first round on Saturday, Fields earned the bye; and then advanced due to a forfeit. In the semifinals, Fields defeated Liam Curfman of Columbus North by a 9-7 decision.
In the championship match, Fields took on Mason Jones of Est Washington, ending the match with a pin fall at the 2:16 mark.
• Peyton Richards earned the championship of the 120-pound weight class.
Undefeated coming into the Sectional, Richards kept that streak in tact when he earned the bye and then advanced due to a forfeit. The semifinal saw Richards earn a major decision over Eli Stewart of Madison 18-2.
That win earned Richards a spot in the championship match, where he earned a 6-0 decision over Gage Rutan of Columbus East.
• Gabe Rose was the champion of the Jennings County Sectional in the 138-pound weight class.
After earning a bye in the first round due to his 37-1 season record; Rose pinned Chase Rogers of Seymour at 1:45 in his first match. He then earned a spot in the final with a 9-4 decision over Bo Wagner of Columbus East.
In the title match, Rose pinned Jason Shuey of Columbus North at 1:36.
Qualifiers
Along with the three champions, Switzerland County also saw three other wrestlers advance to the Regional by earning at least a fourth place finish in the Sectional.
• Ethan Rose cam into the Sectional with a 32-3 record in the 106-pound weight class.
He advanced to the semifinals on Saturday by virtue of a bye and a forfeit; and then defeated Nolan Riley of Columbus North with a 13-8 decision.
In the championship, Rose wrestled Talon Jessup of Columbus East; and lost by a 9-1 decision. Rose now advances to the Regional with his second place finish.
• In the 132-pound weight class, Pacer Chazz Hartley finished fourth and advanced to the Regional.
Hartley fell in his first match to Caleb Cooper of Columbus East with a pin; and then he bounced back with a pin over Gage Pennington of Southwestern. In the third place match, Hartley fell again to Caleb Cooper, again by a pin.
• Ethan Jones finished fourth in the 145-pound weight class to earn a place in the Regional.
In his first match, Jones lost to Nate Anderson in a major decision by a 12-1 count; and then came back to pin P.J. Momaster of Brown County in just 27-seconds.
Jones then took on Jonah Mathews of Jennings County, losing by a pin at the 3:50 mark.
• At 170-pounds, Pacer Aiden Coombs finished fifth, which earns him an alternate spot at the Regional, should one of the wrestlers who finished in the top four not being able to participate.
Coombs lost to Ayden Waggoner of Madison by an 8-4 decision; then defeated Landen Vincent of Scottsburg.
Coombs then lost to Evan Saevre of Columbus North; but then bounced back to pin Mason Nugent of Seymour with a pin at 2:06 to earn fifth place.