INDIANAPOLIS — A first-time state qualifier, Columbus East’s Noah White refused to walk off the mat without one more win.
Instead, the 182-pound senior notched his 38th victory in 46 matches this season to place seventh overall at the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals on Saturday inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Tied 1-1 with 12th-ranked Hayden Filipovich (34-7) of Indianapolis Lutheran late in regulation during the seventh-place consolation finals, White scored a key two points to win by decision 3-1.
“As a senior wrestling in his last match, it’s always nice to win,” Columbus East head coach Chris Cooper said. “Noah had his sights set on placing further up the podium, but there was just a fantastic group of 182 pounders here. He had a couple tough losses, but to regroup and come back and get seventh is big.”
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Ranked 11th in the state by Indiana Mat this year, White (38-8) entered the state finals a sectional and regional champion while taking third at semistate.
He eliminated 17th-ranked Connor Barket (43-3) of West Lafayette by decision 6-5 on Friday night to advance in to the medal rounds, but a 4-3 loss to Perry Meridian’s fourth-ranked Aiden Warren in the quarterfinals dropped him into the consolation bracket, where he lost by fall to 11th-ranked Drake Burchanan (39-5) of Center Grove in 3:58.
But, he wasn’t built to surrender.
“I think back to where he was as a freshman and a sophomore. He was not a kid that always was the best guy in that age group, and he’s really worked hard to develop himself into a state-place level wrestler,” Cooper said.
The same could be said of junior Sam Morrill (30-8), who placed eighth at 160 as a first-time state qualifier.
As a sophomore, Morrill had to earn his varsity spot, and it netted him a 21-10 record a year ago, along with a runner-up finish at sectional, a third-place at regional and a semistate berth.
This year, he collected titles at sectional and regional before placing third at semistate to punch his ticket to state. In his first go-around in downtown Indianapolis, he survived Friday’s elimination round and reached Saturday by defeating 15th-ranked Andrew Roth (43-3) of Lawrenceburg by fall in 5:07.
In the quarterfinals, a showdown with No. 2 Isiah Levitz (42-2) of Prairie Heights led to a 6-4 loss.
“It was a brutal (bracket), and the match in the quarterfinals, we had a lead there and ended up losing in the last minute,” Cooper said. “It was a heartbreaking loss. It’s tough to regroup from that one when you have your sights set on the semifinals and we just miss it. All of a sudden, you have to wrestle the state runner-up from last year (at 152) in your next match.”
Against Greenfield-Central’s Cooper Noehre (36-3), who was ranked fourth, Morrill lost by decision 11-4 in the consolation bracket before dropping his third straight to fifth-ranked Jackson Pettigrew (37-4) of Columbia City by decision 9-4 to decide seventh place.
“It’s just tough. It was a really tough bracket, but him as a junior, he wasn’t even varsity until the end of the year last year. From where he was a year ago today to where he is now, he made leaps and bounds,” Cooper said. “He wrestled 70 matches in the offseason, and he really committed his time. Now, he’s here. Looking at video from these three losses, and using that as motivation, next year will be big for him, so we can come back and not be 0-3 (on Saturday).”
