The Columbus East boys wrestlers finished third in the AAU Scholastic Duals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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Columbus East boys wrestling coach Chris Cooper has been taking teams to the Disney Duals for several summers, and this year, the Disney Duals were replaced by the AAU Scholastic Duals and took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Olympians had a strong showing in the Sunshine State, going 10-1 and finishing third as a team. They actually beat the second-place team during the duals, but lost to the eventual champions from Pennsylvania in the semifinals.
“We really didn’t have any other close matches,” Cooper said. “We probably would have been second had we been on the other side of the bracket.”
Lincoln Cooper (175 pounds), Colin McMahon (190) and Hank Redman (285) all went 11-0 and earned Gold All-American honors. Talon Jessup (120) went 7-1, and Clayton Miller (215) went 10-1 and earned Silver All-American honors. Ethan Poling (126), Caleb Kirkpatrick (150), Caleb Cooper (157) and Dominic Piper (215) all went 9-2 and earned Bronze All-American honors.
“We had a couple other freshmen that were close,” Chris Cooper said. “Grant Kirkpatrick (113) and Cameron Cooper (132) wrestled pretty well and just missed it. Kids are doing really well. Even the kids that weren’t in our lineup are doing well.”
East took 29 kids on the 10-day trip. Prior to the Scholastic Duals, the Olympians participated in a two-day camp at Tampa Jesuit High School.
Columbus East took 29 boys wresters on a 10-day trip to Florida, where they competed in the Big Ben Brawl, a two-day camp and the AAU Scholastic Duals.
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The previous weekend, they went 8-0 and won Big Ben Brawl in Tallahassee, Florida.
“I thought we did great,” Chris Cooper said. “As the season ended, we had a bunch of guys in those upper weights that all weighed about the same. We tried to get them spread out and wrestle at the weights they’ll be competing at next year. Hank Redman weighs about 205, and he wrestled 285, and Clayton Miller weighs about 185 and wrestled 215, and those guys did fantastic.”
Jennings County’s Violeta Gomez, left, earned All-America honors at the AAU Scholastic Duals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. At right is Seymour’s AnnMarie Shuler.
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Meanwhile, Jennings County’s Violeta Gomez earned All-American status on the girls side after going 8-3 at 130 pounds. Gomez competed for Indiana Smackdown.
Jennings County’s Will Kelly placed eighth in the 10-and-under 56-pound division in the Greco Nationals.
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Another Jennings wrestler, Will Kelly, placed eighth in the 10-and-under 56-pound division in the Greco Nationals.
