Columbus East will be the favorite to win its eighth consecutive sectional wrestling title on Saturday when it competes in the Jennings County Sectional.
The Olympians came away with four No. 1 seeds in the 14 weight classes at Wednesday night’s seeding meeting — Liam Krueger (126 pounds), Bo Wagner (138), Tyler Lake (170) and Tommy Morrill (220). Talon Jessup (106), Gage Rutan (120) and Patrick McMahon (285) are No. 2 seeds; Jackson Fox (182) is a No. 3 seed and Aiden Miller (113), Donovan Shelton (132), Will Anderson (145), Eric Duncan (160) and James Moss (195) are No. 4 seeds.
“Strength of schedule doesn’t really come into play in these seedings,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “We wrestle a pretty tough schedule, so we’re not too worried about where we’re seeded. We’ve had a good week of practice so far. We just hope to continue that in the next couple of days.”
Columbus North has three No. 1 seeds in Justice Thornton (132), Asher Ratliff (145) and Liam Phillips (160). Jose Ramirez (195) is a No. 2 seed. Liam Curfman (113), Jason Shuey (138) and Josiah Green (152) are No. 3 seeds and Bryce Hawkins (126), Evan Saevre (170), Keller DeSpain (182), Bryce Luttrell (220) and Cody Thurnall (285) are No. 4 seeds.
The Bull Dogs finished runner-up as a team last year, it’s best finish in a decade.
“We’re looking for that top-two placement, and from there, we’ll just see how things go,” North coach Matt Joyce said.
The host Panthers have four No. 2 seeds in Lane Kirchner (132), Evan Sochacki (138), Chris Hernandez (160) and Teagan Trotter (170). Xavior Gindhart (220) and Karmon Carney (285) are No. 3 seeds.
“I think that’s a legitimate thing for us — getting in that top three (as a team) this year,” Jennings coach Jeff Morrison said.
Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. Saturday. The championship and third- and fifth-place matches should begin around 2 p.m.
North seniors closing in on 1,000 points
Columbus North senior Lauren Barker could eclipse the career 1,000-point mark tonight when the Bull Dogs close the regular season at Roncalli.
Barker, who made a single-game school-record eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 30 points in Tuesday’s 59-35 win against Rushville, has the school career record with 209 3-pointers. She currently is sitting at 994 career points and would become the 12th North girl to reach 1,000.
Meanwhile, North senior Cooper Horn has 973 career points going into Friday’s home game against Southport. He would become the eighth boys player in Columbus High School/Columbus North history to reach 1,000.
Woodard sets school single-game record
The 41 points that Jennings County junior Juliann Woodard scored in Tuesday’s 71-47 girls basketball win against Floyd Central are a single-game school record.
Woodard broke the previous record of 38 set by Amanda McIntosh in 1998. Last week, Woodard broke the school career rebounding record of 774 set by Janet (Craddock) VanLiew.
Lancers to honor 1973 sectional champions
Edinburgh will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of its 1973 Columbus Sectional championship boys basketball team at halftime of Friday’s varsity game against Morristown.
The Lancers also will be celebrating homecoming that night. The JV game starts at 6 p.m., with the varsity to follow around 7:30 p.m., and admission is $6.
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at [email protected] or 812-379-5628.
