Columbus North’s Justice Thornton, in blue, wrestles against Jennings County’s Lane Kirchner, in black, in the 132-pound sectional final match at Jennings County, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023.
The Republic file photo
One point away.
That was how close Columbus North wrestler Justice Thornton was to qualifying for the state finals as a freshman a year ago. Now a sophomore, he carries one of the best records in the state in the 132-pound weight class heading into Saturday’s Evansville Semistate.
To advance, Thornton will likely have to go through the only wrestler who has defeated him this season in Avon’s Seth Syra. First, Thornton will have to take care of business against Edgewood’s Landon Clement in the opening round before potentially meeting Syra in the quarterfinals, which is known as the “ticket round” because the top four in each weight class qualify for state.
Thornton has not wrestled Clement before, but will be the favorite to prevail in the match. That would set up the potential ticket-round showdown with Syra, who beat him earlier in the season in a 1-0 match. That is the only blemish in Thornton’s 37-1 record heading into Saturday.
Thornton got a first-hand glimpse at what Syra’s strengths and weaknesses are. One common tactic wrestlers will utilize in hopes of not getting caught when they’re ahead in the match is stalling.
“He’ll get up by a point and try to keep the distance and play keep-away. If I get in a shot, he’s going to try to get out of bounds,” Thornton said. “I have to work on keeping it in the center, keeping him center and circling him to the center. In that match, I’m just going to try to keep everything in the middle.”
Even though Thornton was disappointed in not qualifying for state last year, he went back to the drawing board to improve on certain skill sets such as his attacks, shots, fakes and getting up more.
In the final rankings produced by indianamat.com, Thornton is ranked No. 18 in the state at 132, and Syra is ranked No. 16.
“(Thornton is) a year older and a year more experienced. He’s been in the situation. He’s seen the Ford Center and what that environment looks like, and I think that is really important,” North coach Matt Joyce said. “His wrestling has improved. He’s a smart wrestler. There’s not a whole lot of people that can beat him more than once, and especially when the margin is close like that… When the margin is that close, I’m not betting on him losing twice.”
Columbus North’s Justice Thornton, in black, wrestles against Jennings County’s Lane Kirchner, in blue, in the 132-pound weight class during a meet at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.
The Republic file photo
Should Thornton prevail in the match against Syra, he will qualify for the state finals, which has been a goal of Thornton’s this year.
“That being his only loss on the year, I think it burns a little bit. With him, it’s good to have that burn for him a little bit because he wrestles better,” Joyce said. “He wrestles to the occasion, and that’s something I always admire about him. It’s something I enjoy watching as a coach. He’s got that competitive fire that’s just fun to see.”
Justice Thornton
Thornton is one of 10 Bull Dogs who, along with 10 wrestlers from Columbus East, will compete on Saturday. The action is set to take begin at 10 a.m. CST (9 a.m. EST) at the Ford Center.
If Thornton does reach the state finals, he’ll be glad that his hard work has paid off.
“As long as I go out there and wrestle like I did last weekend (in the Jeffersonville Regional), I should be all right,” Thornton said. “It’ll be great. I believe (Syra and I) both have the chance to place at state. It was just a bad draw. It’ll be a great time. I’m ready.”
