Columbus North’s Cohen Long and Columbus East’s Caleb Kirkpatrick grapple during a 150-pound match Wednesday in Memorial Gymnasium at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker/For The Republic
With eight state-ranked wrestlers among its 14-man varsity lineup and a No. 1 ranking in the IndianaMat Class 3A dual meet rankings, Columbus East came into Wednesday’s crosstown matchup at Columbus North as a heavy favorite.
The Olympians lived up to that status by winning 11 of the 14 matches in posing a 57-15 victory.
East had five pins, the first three of which came from freshmen. Joel Smith pinned Alex Stahley at 106 pounds, Gage Pacek pinned Som Bosley at 120 and Cam Cooper pinned Skyler Burns at 144.
“Our freshman class is outstanding,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “It was on display in the varsity match, but it’s really deep, too. There’s 16 freshmen, and I’m really excited about that group.”
Pacek was trailing 16-8 in the third period when he was able to record his pin.
“I just kept fighting and pushing myself,” Pacek said. “I needed to do something different to put him on his back. It’s one of the harder wins I’ve had, definitely.”
The most anticipated match of the night came at 150, where the Bull Dogs’ seventh-ranked Cohen Long battled the Olympians’ eighth-ranked Caleb Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick came through with a third-period pin.
“Going into the match with a level head and not really caring about that number in front of his name, doing that and keeping a level head, you can do whatever you want during a match,” Kirkpatrick said. “You can beat anyone you want to beat. It’s just going in there and being confident in your abilities. I’m very proud of that and very proud of my practice time. I’m definitely going to see him later on in the season and be ready for him.”
East also got a pin from ninth-ranked Lincoln Cooper against Eric Streeval at 175 to close out the match.
The match began at 190, where the Olympians’ sixth-ranked Colin McMahon won an 18-0 tech fall over Darrell Hicks. East’s 12th-ranked Clayton Miller scored a 13-1 major decision against Dylan Canas at 215 and 12th-ranked Hank Redman edged Servando Lozano in a 1-0 decision at 285.
After Smith’s pin gave East an 18-0 lead, North got on the board with James Brown’s 10-3 decision against Kohl Dorrough at 113. Following Pacek’s pin, the Olympians’ Ty Brueche won an 18-1 tech fall against Emmanuel Barbosa at 126, and 21st-ranked Ethan Poling won by forfeit at 132 to make it 35-3.
Bull Dogs freshman Harper Hardebeck pinned Brian Findley at 138. Cam Cooper and Kirkpatrick followed with their pins before Caleb Cooper earned an 11-1 major decision against James Scruggs at 157.
“I thought our guys handled adversity very well,” Chris Cooper said. “With the fire alarm (for smoke coming from the concession area), we had to stand outside for 15 minutes during weigh-ins, which is not ideal. It’s out of everyone’s control, but our guys handled it well. We got a shorter warmup that we would have liked, but the guys wrestled really well.”
North’s final win came at 165 from Asher Ratliff, who is ranked third at 175, with a pin of 24th-ranked Aiden Miller.
“It was big for Harper to pick up a pin, especially being a freshman coming into a big environment,” North coach Matt Joyce said. “I’m really impressed with the way he’s wrestling right now. Same way with James Brown. He’s coming right along. We’re excited about those guys.”
Ratliff and Long were invited to and will compete as individuals in Saturday’s Carnahan Invitational at Crown Point. East will host its invitational Saturday, which this year will feature 18 teams.
