The Columbus East team yells with excitement after winning the IHSAA Girls Wrestling State championship at the IHSAA Girls Wrestling State Finals at the Corteva Coliseum on Friday.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
INDIANAPOLIS — From the moment girls wrestling became a full-fledged IHSAA sport last spring, Columbus East’s goal was to win the first state championship.
The Olympians, however, never dreamed they would win it in such dominating fashion.
Fourth-ranked East was nothing short of dominant Friday inside the Corteva Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Led by 190-pound champion Monica McMahon, the Olympians racked up 89 points to 65 for top-ranked Merrillville, 63.5 for No. 3 Franklin and 61 for No. 2 Whiteland.
“That was our goal from Day 1 — coming here and winning a title,” East coach Ty Olds said. “They all decided it, and they dedicated themselves day in and day out. When they set their goals, this team, there’s nothing that they can’t do. The first year, they broke barriers and they won a state championship.”
The Olympians had been beaten by Franklin in a regular-season dual meet and by Whiteland in the sectional. But they beat both of those teams in the regional and again at state.
“When we lost sectional, I think that really kind of hit home with them,” Olds said. “Then we came back at regional and won that, and all the week, the girls were prepared mentally. We worked a lot on mental training, and I think it showed. Everyone stepped up, and they got the job done, and that’s what we’ve done all season long. Everybody steps up, does their job and does it for each other. That’s part of our mentality of ‘team first.’”
That mentality was on full display Friday. Five of East’s state-best eight state qualifiers won their first-round matches to guarantee themselves a spot in the top eight. Then, four of those wrestlers won their quarterfinal bouts.
Senior Saige Plummer finished a surprising second at 125. Senior Grace McMahon, Monica’s twin sister, placed third at 170. Sophomore Maddie Shrader took fourth at 235, and senior Eden Knight was seventh at 145.
“We had a couple girls that went what I call, ‘going above their ceiling,’” Olds said. “On paper, maybe they were supposed and maybe even lose first round or get seventh place or sixth place. Our heavyweight, Maddie Shrader, a first year wrestler, coming in and going to the semifinals… Saige Plummer, wasn’t even going to wrestle this year and came in and made runner-up. We just had girls go above and beyond what many outside of our room thought they could do, but inside the room, we knew these girls had the talent.”
Monica McMahon’s victory wasn’t unexpected. After finishing third in last year’s IHSGW state finals, she was ranked No. 1 at 190 all season. She finished a perfect 33-0 this season.
“I think the best work I could use is thankful. I’m so thankful for my coaches and my family, my parents, my team, my school,” she said. “These people have given up so much time and effort to care for me, I really hope I’ve made them proud.”
Monica McMahon wasn’t on the mat long in her first two matches. She pinned Lafayette Jeff’s Liberty Quesada in 23 seconds and North Central’s Jaleese Taylor in 16 seconds. She then scored a 12-3 major decision against Terre Haute South’s Tristalyn Powers in the semifinals before pinning South Bend Riley’s Ja’Niya Howard in 1:06 in the final.
“Honestly, I did not expect to win by that much or be that dominant,” Monica said. “For me, nerves is a big part of my wrestling. I usually get in my own head, and then I don’t wrestle like myself. But there was something about putting in the extra work this entire year the make sure that no matter how much nerves, no matter how stressful the situation may seem, I always know what to do next and how to stay calm. So I feel like putting in all that extra work helped me today, and I have awesome coaches.”
Plummer pinned Prairie Heights’ Christian Lewis and Franklin Central’s Alia Russell in her first two matches at 125 before rolling to a 12-0 major decision against Southridge’s Kori Hunefeld in the semifinals. Plummer then was pinned by top-ranked Ava Strayer of Crown Point in the final.
“On paper, they expected me to get seventh, but I knew that I was better than that,” Plummer said. “I wanted to get fourth, so getting second, honestly to me is huge. I’m pretty happy with myself because all of the girls that I have wrestled, they’ve had so much experience in wrestling, so to be wrestling for only two years and making it this far, I’m so glad that I have the coaches I did because without them, I wouldn’t be where I made it.”
Grace McMahon pinned Franklin Central’s Sadie Tilden and scored a 17-7 major decision against Fairfield’s Jacinda Brown at 170 before running into top-ranked Mallory Winner of Jay County in the semifinals. Winner, a three-time IHSGW state champion, won by pin in 3:11. Grace McMahon bounced back with a pin of Franklin’s Eleanor Robertson in the third-place match.
“It’s OK,” Grace McMahon said. “Honestly, it’s disappointing. I’m sure I’ll look back later and be a little upset that the bottom have of the bracket had like No. 10, No. 11 wrestling each other to go to the finals, and I had to wrestle the No. 1 girl in the state. But also, that’s no excuse because I’m No. 2. I’ll look back, and I’ll be like, ‘It’s a little frustrating, because I could have made it to the final, but at the same time, I feel satisfied. It’s my first and only time that I’ve gotten to wrestle in the tournament.”
Shrader may have been the surprise of the day. She upset Elkhart’s Lily Clark by pin and edged Greenfield-Central’s Keely Allen 1-0 at 235 before being pinned by West Lafayette Harrison’s Erin Cauble in the semifinals. Shrader was pinned by Attica’s Aubrey Bartkowiak in the third-place match.
“I feel really relieved because it’s my first year, and I feel like I’ve put in a bunch of hard work to get here,” Shrader said. “It’s honestly paying off, and I feel like next year when I come back, I’m going to do much better.”
Knight pinned Beech Grove’s Caitlynn Dibbern in the first round at 145 before being pinned by Highland’s Aleksandra Bastaic in the semifnals and Western’s Jade Johnson in the consolation round. Knight then pulled out a 1-0 decision against North Montgomery’s Hailey Kunz in the seventh-place match.
“I didn’t make it past the first match last year, so to have that improvement means a lot to me,” Knight said. “Carrying the pain of that loss with me throughout the summer and during this season motivated me a lot to continue, and I think it really helped get me to where I am today.”
Three other East wrestlers lost in the first round. Sophomore Tienica Dits was tech falled by Roncalli’s Claire May at 100, senior Madison Mount was pinned by Garrett’s Nevaeh Wilson at 130 and senior Maddie Swartzentruber lost by major decision to Franklin Central’s Madeline Thompson at 135.
“I think it’s so fantastic to be able to bring so many people from home to be here support each other,” Monica McMahon said. “But honestly, I’m not surprised. We work hard for this.
“That’s what won us the state title,” she added. “We could have been top-ranked wrestlers and not known each other and probably would have lost. But because these girls know each other, and they love each other so much and we push each other every single day in practice, every single day in practice I’d say is emotional. You’re either angry at someone or you want to leave practice, but you always have a friend there.”
Meanwhile, Columbus North freshman Vika Konovalenko lost by pin in the first round at 120 to Jay County’s Brenna Ruble.
Jennings County senior Bresa Coan pinned West Central’s Chloe Auxier in the first round at 235 before losing by pin to Bartkowiak in the quarterfinals and Madison’s Brooklyn Neece in the consolation round. Coan then pulled out a 10-9 decision against Allen in the seventh-place match.
Jennings junior Violeta Gomez-Hilerio lost by pin to Milan’s Kayla Roell in the first round at 120.
Coan had qualified for the IHSGW state finals as a sophomore and was undefeated and ranked No. 1 last year before tearing all the ligaments in her knee. She had a 10-month recovery from surgery.
“It was very rewarding with all my hard work coming back from an injury, and I’m just so excited and happy to be here and be able to come back and make Jennings County history,” Coan said.
