Brown County earned its only win during Saturday’s Columbus North five-team wrestling invitational against the host Bull Dogs.
There were six forfeited matches between the two teams, with each taking three in the Eagles’ 42-30 victory in the first match of the day. Brown County won six of the remaining matches, while North’s other two wins came from Keandre Watson at 126 pounds and Brigham Kleinhenz at 182.
“I think today, most people (wrestled to their potential),” Brown County coach Joshua Sparks said. “As a coach, that’s all you’re looking for. I think we’ll keep getting better, and that’s what we need to do for conference, sectional and regional.”
The Bull Dogs finished the invitational 0-5 losing their other four matches to Carmel (81-0), New Albany (54-21), Bloomington North (48-27) and Whiteland (48-24). Carmel won the invite by beating all five of its opponents.
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Brigham Kleinhenz went 3-2 at 182, while Ethan Rogers went 3-2 at 220 and 285 for the Bull Dogs. Wrestlers who finished 2-3 for Columbus North were Tyler Williams (113/120), Keandre Watson (126), Tay Wells (195) and Bradley Gutierrez (220/285).
“Brigham always wrestles hard,” Columbus North coach Justin Cooper said. “Ethan Rogers had a couple great matches today. He did well. I just expect them to compete hard and wrestle as hard as they can … Everyone gets to wrestle five matches today, so everyone gets that experience, which is something we’re lacking. I prefer to wrestle in (invitationals) rather than an individual tournament.”
The Eagles lost their final four matches to end the day 1-4. They fell 58-24 to Whiteland, 60-18 to New Albany, 41-30 to Bloomington North and 64-6 to Carmel.
Bryce Denton went 4-1 at 132, with his only loss coming against Bloomington North’s Tyler Mikuliah, who he pinned earlier in the season. Other wrestlers who finished 3-2 for Brown County were David Tucker at 113, Justin Burns at 160 and Levi Mullins at 195.
Sparks said there were a couple of tough matches the Eagles lost, but they will not dwell on them for too long.
“Just getting guys to keep improving week by week is the big thing,” Sparks said. “Trying not to get hung up on the details now, just thinking about the big picture.”
