JEFFERSONVILLE — The accolades and accomplishments keep rolling in for the the Columbus East wrestling program.
On Saturday, the Olympians reached another milestone in an already historic season. Not only did they capture the school’s first-ever team regional title at Jeffersonville, they dominated the 17-team field.
The Olympians finished with 159.5 points, 41.5 points ahead of runner-up Floyd Central and 54.5 over third-place New Albany.
Jennings County scored 94 points for fourth, Columbus North placed seventh with 60 and Brown County was 10th with 17.5.
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“Its big-time,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “A month ago, we talked about three goals — winning conference, sectional and regional. We wanted to take it one step at a time. Our kids really buy in to what we do. Today was just the outcome of all the hard work everyone has put in over the years.”
Top-four finishers advanced to next week’s semistate at the Ford Center in Evansville. The Olympians boasted five champions on the day — the most in school history — and will send eight wrestlers total to semistate.
All five of North’s regional wrestlers will move on. Six advanced for Jennings County, and two stayed alive for Brown County.
East 120-pounder Cayden Rooks won all three of his matches by pin. Rooks bested Charlestown’s Tristen Callaway in 43 seconds; Seymour’s Justin Ruddick in 39 seconds and New Albany’s Trenton Cunnigham in three minutes, 10 seconds for the title.
Graham Rooks (126) stayed undefeated on the season for the Olympians, winning his first two matches by pin over Eastern’s Robbie Stein and New Albany’s Aaron Gohl. Rooks then grinded out a 3-0 decision against Jennings’ Dalton Craig for the championship.
“I’m proud of the entire team and the efforts we’ve put in during practices,” Graham Rooks said. “Everyone seemed to be really prepared. We believed that we could do it.”
Dawson Combest (132) took East’s third straight final, winning by technical fall versus New Washington’s Noah Franklin. Combest also beat Floyd Central’s Isaac Smith (pin, 3:22) and Jeff’s Noah Morrison (pin, 1:54)
At 145, East’s Corban Pollitt topped New Albany’s ShaQuan LaRue by technical fall and Greensburg’s Curtis Collins (pin, 3:50) to set up another bout with Jennings’ Brooks Wathen. In a physical final, Pollitt emerged victorious, besting Wathen in a 5-2 decision.
Austin Sheckles claimed the final first place finish for the Olympians, pinning Jeff’s Josh McCorkle in 5:38 in the 220 final. Sheckles also had victories over Corydon’s Zach Willey (pin, 3:13) and Eastern’s Dalton Pinarle (pin, 2:45).
East’s Jake Schonegge (138) won his first two rounds by pins in 2:54 and 44 seconds before falling to Floyd Central’s Tristan Sellmer in a 3-2 decision for second. Andy Davidson (152) also placed second with wins over Dawson Dupin of Easter (technical fall, 5:18, 19-4) and Josh Foster of Floyd Central (3-2 decision). In the final, Jeff’s Josh Cooper was victorious 4-2.
Jennings’ Victor Antunez (113) went 3-0 on the day for first place. Antunez pinned New Albany’s Jacob Prince in 4:18 before winning again by fall (3:37) against East’s Joey Gordon. In the final, Antunez took a 6-4 decision over Greensburg’s Camden Rose.
Gordon, a freshman, came back to finish third by defeating North’s Keandre Watson (5-0).
“All our kids got a lot of bonus points today,” Cooper said. “That’s something we talked about a lot. Joey Gordon stepped up as a freshman. Making it to semistate is huge.”
Zane Beieneke (160) picked up the other title for the Panthers. Beieneke pinned Corydon Central’s Seth Simmerman in 1:07, won by major decision (18-5) against Jeff’s Josh Freeman and again won by fall (4:50) over Floyd’s Devon Stikes.
The Panthers’ Sam Woolf opened with a 2-1 win over Jeff’s Ashton Smith, lost 7-0 to New Albany’s Jaden Sonner and topped Floyd’s Karl Hauser 5-3 for third at 182.
Also at 182, North’s Brigham Kleinhenz finished runner-up, winning his first two rounds by decision, 6-1 and 3-2, before falling to Sonner 12-7.
North’s Morgan Smith (106) won his first-round match by a 7-1 decision, lost to New Albany’s Dayton Hunter by 5-0 decision and came back with a pin in 2:01 for third place over Brown County’s David Tucker.
Brown County’s Evan Bullock placed third at 145, beating Floyd Central’s Corbin Hale (12-1) and Greensburg’s Curtis Collins (7-5).
In the 195 final, North’s Josh Larson lost a 12-7 decision to Floyd’s Bradley Philpot. Larson had wins by pin (33 seconds) and decision (12-7) over Charlestown’s Jacob VanMeter and Jeff’s Luke Smith.
At 170, the Bull Dogs’ Andrew Chapman defeated Corydon’s Bendan Ayres (pin, 36 seconds), lost to Jeff’s Kameron Fuller (pin, 3:46) and beat Floyd’s Chris Sipller (pin, 2:29) for third place.
“I think we did great,” North coach Justin Cooper said. “ It was great competition. Some of the guys who won last week were able to get back to the finals this week. They fell short, but wrestled hard. I feel like we wrestled to our potential.”
In the final match of the day, the Panthers’ Brendan Sutton took fourth with a win over New Albany’s Jack Tull (pin, 2:10).
“I felt we wrestled really well, even in some of our losses,” Panthers coach Howard Jones said. “Sam Woolf at 182 came through, and he probably shouldn’t have even been there. I’m really proud of the kids that won. Victor has worked really hard to be where he is, and Beineke winning at 160 is great.”
