Columbus East’s Jackson Fox, left, and Tommy Morrill are all smiles after qualifying for state with top-four finishes at Saturday’s Evansville Semistate. Fox finished fourth at 182 pounds, and Morrill won the 220-pound title.
Submitted photo
EVANSVILLE — Three local wrestlers punched their tickets to the Wrestling State Finals with top-four finishes in Saturday’s Evansville Semistate.
Columbus East’s Tommy Morrill swept through four matches to win the 220-pound title. East’s Jackson Fox finished fourth at 182.
Columbus North’s Justice Thornton had won his first two matches to clinch his spot in the state final when he ran into a health scare. Early in his 132-pound semifinal against Brownsburg’s Brady Ison, Ison performed a legal hold that left Thornton choked and unconscious. Thornton was taken to a local hospital to check for neck injuries, and was released a short time later.
The third-ranked Morrill (38-1) opened with a pin of Danville’s Brayden Hahn in 54 seconds, then pinned West Vigo’s Preston Montgomery in 1:36 in the ticket round. Morrill posted a 5-0 decision against Center Grove’s eighth-ranked Nate Johnson in the semifinals before beating Terre Haute South’s 11th-ranked Alex Rose 3-1 in the final.
“Tommy wresteled outstanding today,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “Even some comments from the other coaches after he won the semifinals, they thought that match would be a lot closer, and Tommy really took that to heart. He wrestled about the best I’ve ever seen him.”
“I felt I wrestled really well today,” Morrill added. “It’s all mentality. I really feel like it comes down to that in the end. I’m also proud of Jackson Fox for making it and of all the other guys on the team. I couldn’t have done this without all of them. This isn’t just a ‘me’ thing; it’s a ‘whole team’ kind of thing.”
The 17th-ranked Fox (33-7) opened with a 7-1 decision against Castle’s Colton Adamson, then scored a 9-2 ticket-round decision against Pike’s Kameron Biven. Fox was pinned by Center Grove’s 13th-ranked Julian Weems in 3:04 in the semifinals before dropping a 4-1 decision to Floyd Central’s ninth-ranked Bray Emerine in the third-place match.
“Jackson Fox put together some fantastic matches to qualify,” Cooper said. “The top guys at 182 are really tough, so I’m proud of what he did.”
East’s Talon Jessup made it to the ticket round at 106 before dropping a 15-4 major decision to Floyd Central’s eighth-ranked Isaac Campbell. Gage Rutan was pinned by Cascade’s 23rd-ranked Logan Bickel in the ticket round at 120. Ninth-ranked Liam Krueger dropped a 3-1 ticket-round decision to Tell City’s 18th-ranked Chase Stephens at 126. Ninteenth-ranked Pat McMahon lost to Center Grove’s 16th-ranked Tyler Schott 5-2 in overtime in his ticket-round match at 285.
The Olympians’ Caleb Cooper (132), Bo Wagner (138), Nate Anderson (145) and Tyler Lake (170) lost in the first round.
“It’s the toughest seimstate by far, and some of those draws are pretty rough,” Chris Cooper said. “We got a couple of big wins early. It’s just kind of the way it goes down here. The competition is so tough.”
Justice Thornton
Meanwhile, the 18th-ranked Thornton (39-3) opened with a pin of Edgewood’s Landon Clement in 3:10, then posted a 6-3 ticket-round decision against Avon’s 16th-ranked Seth Syra, avenging his only loss of the season to that point. The third-ranked Ison was credited with a pin of Thornton in 1:15, and with Thornton out of action, he forfieted the third-place match to ninth-ranked Odin Fortune of Evansville Reitz.
North coach Matt Joyce said Thornton likely will be able to practice on Monday for the state finals, which begin with the first round on Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“He’s good to go, and he’s excited about it,” Joyce said. “He’s going to be somebody’s bad draw. Some champion from another semistate is going to have a very tough Friday night.”
North’s Asher Ratliff made it to the ticket round at 145 before being tech-falled by eventual champion and third-ranked Wyatt Krejsa of Center Grove.
“It’s just one of those tough draws,” Joyce said. “I think if he were anywhere else in the bracket, he’d make it through.”
The Bull Dogs’ Nolan Riley (106), Jason Shuey (138), Josiah Green (152), Liam Phillips (160), Evan Saevre (170), Keller DeSpain (182), Jose Ramirez (195) and Cody Thurnall (285) all lost in the first round.
“Even though matches didn’t go our way, a lot of guys kind of proved to themselves that they belonged there,” Joyce said. “It was good to see how they reacted to it. They’re already making plans as to how they’re going to get through it for next year, which is good to see as a coach.”
Jennings County’s 25th-ranked Lane Kirchner made it to the ticket round at 132 before being pinned in 4:47 by eventual champion and second-ranked Joey Buttler of Whiteland. The Panthers’ Evan Sochacki (138) and Teagan Trotter (170) lost in the first round.
Brown County’s Jackson Reed fell in the opening round at 195.
State finals pairings will be drawn at 5 p.m. today and will be livestreamed at ihsaatv.org
