East, North each sending 10 wrestlers to semistate

Columbus East’s Tommy Morrill celebrates beating Seymour’s Brenden Bridgewater in the 220-pound final during the Hoosier Hills Conference tournament at Columbus East, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.

The Republic file photo

Taking a busload of wrestlers to semistate has become a yearly occurrence for Columbus East.

Columbus North is looking to make that a yearly occurrence. The Bull Dogs have matched the Olympians by sending 10 wrestlers out of the 14 weight classes to this year’s Evansville Semistate.

“This year, our goal was to take 14 to regional,” North coach Matt Joyce said. “We didn’t have a 120(-pounder), and then we had a backup in at 220, so I think taking 12 out of sectional essentially meets that goal. We wanted all of our varsity guys to make it to regional, and then, we had big goals to be top two at regional and in order to do that, you have to take a lot of kids on to semistate. We knew it was going to happen. I don’t know that we knew it was going to happen this year, though.”

East and North finished first and second in the team standings at both the Jennings County Sectional and the Jeffersonville Regional. But the main focus in the postseason is advancing individual wrestlers, and both the Olympians and Bull Dogs have done that in a big way.

The Evansville Semistate begins at 9 a.m. CST (10 a.m. EST) Saturday at Ford Center. The top four out of the 16 in each weight class qualify for the state finals.

“We just look at it as, you have to win two matches, so we’re taking it one round at a time,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “We tell our guys all the time, we don’t care too much about rankings or records or anything like that. You look at records this time of year. There’s matches on there that these guys wrestled two months ago, and that was a long time ago, so we don’t get too caught up into that.”

East senior Tommy Morrill is ranked No. 1 in the semistate at 220 pounds. Senior Liam Krueger is No. 2 in the semistate at 126, and senior Patrick McMahon is No. 3 in the semistate at 285.

“Liam has a potential (quarterfinal) rematch with a kid he had a close match with earlier in the year,” Cooper said. “Pat has a potential (quarterfinal) matchup with that Center Grove kid, who he beat 4-2 in overtime in an offseason tournament. Jackson (Fox, at 182 pounds) is definitely a competitor, and he has a pretty good draw, as well. I think those four guys are probably favored to go.”

Fox, a senior, is ranked No. 10 in the semistate at 182. Freshman Talon Jessup is No. 8 at 106, and senior Bo Wagner is No. 8 at 138.

Also set to compete for the Olympians on Saturday are freshmen Gage Rutan (120) and Caleb Cooper (132) and juniors Nate Anderson (145) and Tyler Lake (170).

“Every year we go down there, there’s a handful of wrestlers that a majority of the people thought, ‘I didn’t see that match coming,’” Chris Cooper said. “If the kids have their mind right, they’re very capable.”

North’s regional runner-up finish and its 10 semistate qualifiers are its best since 2008.

“We in a handful of places beat kids (at regional) that we had gotten beat by at sectional,” Joyce said. “The kids adjusted and made some big improvements. A lot of those kids are wrestling at their best right now.”

Columbus North’s Jason Shuey, in black, wrestles against Jennings County’s Evan Sochacki, in blue, in the 138-pound weight class during a meet at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.

The Republic file photo

The Bull Dogs are led by junior 132-pounder Justice Thornton, who is ranked No. 5 in the semistate; freshman Asher Ratliff, who is No. 8 at 145 and junior Jason Shuey who is No. 9 at 138. Also wrestling on Saturday will be freshman Nolan Riley (106), junior Josiah Green (152), senior Liam Phillips (160), sophomore Evan Saevre (170), junior Keller DeSpain (182), sophomore Jose Ramirez (195) and senior Cody Thurnall (285).

“Semistate is the place where upsets happen pretty frequently, so we’re looking to upset some kids, especially in that second round,” Joyce said. “I think we got a handful of good draws for our first round, so really getting kids amped up for that second-round match will be important. I like our chances of getting a couple of kids through. We’ll have to show up and wrestle the way we’ve been wrestling the last couple of weeks, but I’m confident we can do that.”

Jennings County had three semistate qualifiers. Sophomore Lane Kirchner (132) and seniors Evan Sochacki (138) and Teagan Trotter (170) will battle for state berths.

Brown County will be represented by Jackson Reed, who qualified at 195.