Liam Phillips
When this year’s senior wrestlers were freshman, Columbus North took its lumps.
Thursday night, the Bull Dogs capped their second consecutive winning dual meet season and their best regular season in more than a decade. They finished 19-7 following a 71-6 rout of Bedford North Lawrence.
“We’ve been building this program, and it’s showing what coach (Matt Joyce) is doing,” Phillips said. “My freshman year, we only won a few matches.”
Phillips was one of three seniors to be honored on senior night. He won a 10-0 major decision at 170 pounds.
Jaeden Richards
One of the other seniors, Jaedin Richards, stepped into the lineup at 160 and scored a first-period pin.
“It was kind of weird because this year, I didn’t get to wrestle varsity much, and the past few years, I have,” Richards said. “So it kind of brought me back to where I was supposed to be, and it felt great where I was.”
Cody Thurnall
The other senior, 285-pounder Cody Thurnall, won by forfeit.
“It was very disappointing not having a match for my senior night,” Thurnall said. “I would have liked to go out there and pinned my kid, but it didn’t work out.”
Also winning by pin for North were Liam Curfman (113), Justice Thornton (132), Jackson Haston (138), Eric Streeval (145), Keller DeSpain (182), Jose Ramirez (195) and Nolan Riley (106). John Morales (220) also won by forfeit.
Bryce Hawkins (126) won by major decision, and Josiah Green (152) won by decision for the Bull Dogs.
Haston and Streevel, who pinned their opponents in 41 and 45 seconds, respectively, filled in for two of North’s top wrestlers in Jason Shuey (138) and Asher Ratliff (145).
“Our kids have been wrestling hard,” Joyce said. “We had some surprises with kids that stepped in to the lineup, which is good to see, that they can compete against varsity guys. They, on any other team, would be a varsity kid, so it was nice to give them opportunties to wrestle. I think that’s important for their development.”
The Bull Dogs now turn their attention to the Jan. 28 Jennings County Sectional.
“I think we can do good,” Thurnall said. “The coaches have us prepared.”
“I know the past few years, we only had maybe one or two kids guys would go (to semistate),” Richards added. “I think most of us are going to be able to get to that second stage and third stage of semistate. We’re going to do pretty good this year.”
