Kade Law
In the final match of Saturday’s Columbus East wrestling invitational, it was two Olympians squaring off for the 285-pound title.
That may have been fitting, given the way sixth-ranked East handled the competition.
The Olympians racked up 256 points to win the nine-team tournament. Terre Haute South finished second with 100.5 points, followed by Heritage Hills with 167, Homestead with 154 and Monrovia with 145.
“The competition this year was pretty tough,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “There was a lot of parity this year between the second and maybe fifth-place teams.”
Twelve Olympians made the finals in 11 weight classes, and six came away with titles. Senior Kade Law, who is ranked No. 2 at 160, won tournament MVP honors after winning two matches by tech fall and pinning Terre Haute South’s Jorge Franco in 1 minute, 50 seconds in the final.
“I felt good,” Law said. “I was pretty quick on my feet. I feel like I’m wrestling pretty good, and I’m excited for Al Smith (Invitational at Mishawaka) coming up.”
No. 10-ranked Liam Krueger (113) and No. 16 Noah Lykins (120) each won by tech fall in their finals matches. Jordan Sutton (170) and 10th-ranked Tommy Morrill (220) won their title matches by decision.
East’s seventh-ranked Ashton Hartwell pinned teammate Patrick McMahon in 4:16 to finish the day in the 285-pound final.
“There were a lot of bright spots for sure,” Cooper said.
“I thought Kade Law looked just phenomenal all day. Both Noah and Liam looked great all day, as well. Jordan Sutton was down by seven points in his semifinal match and came back in the third period to tie it up and then win in overtime. Having both the heavyweights in the finals there at the end, they wrestled well, as well.”
Bo Wagner (126), Nate Anderson (132), Reece Fisher (138), Tristan Statler (182), 10th-ranked Jaden Durnil (195) and McMahon all finished second for the Olympians. Kenton Wilson placed fourth at 145, and Eli Pollitt was fourth and Tony Ruiz-Tapia fifth at 152.
“I thought the team did really well,” Law said. “There’s always room for improvement, but oveally, I feel like we did really good.”
