The Evansville Semistate for years has been regarded as the toughest of Indiana’s four boys wrestling semistates.
This year, it might be as tough as it’s ever been.
Eight of the top 10 teams in the state will be sending individuals to Ford Center Saturday, seeking top-four finishes that would put them in next weekend’s state finals. Still, Columbus East coach Chris Cooper and Columbus North coach Matt Joyce were happy with the draws their wrestlers received.
“The draw is completely out of your hands, so you can’t get too worried about it,” Cooper said. “But we got some pretty good draws, which is pretty rare for us. Eight of the top 10 teams in state are there, and usually it’s pretty rough, but this year, we’re pretty happy with what we got. Quite a bit of our guys have a legitimate chance to punch their ticket.”
The Olympians will be represented in 11 of the 14 weight classes, while North and Jennings County each have four semistate qualifiers. Each weight class has 16 individuals, so wrestlers need to win at least their first two matches to punch their ticket to state.
Two of the most anticipated weight classes for Columbus teams will be at 150 and 175 pounds. At 150, North’s fourth-ranked Cohen Long (29-7) and East’s 16th-ranked Caleb Kirkpatrick (33-5) are on opposite sides of the bracket. Kirkpatrick beat Long in the regular-season and the sectional, but Long won a 13-3 major decision in last week’s regional.
“I like my chances wherever I go,” Long said. “Wherever the tournament is, I’ll always bet on myself. I walk into every tournament thinking I’m going to win it.”
At 175, East’s third-ranked Lincoln Cooper (35-1) and North’s seventh-ranked Asher Ratliff (26-4) are on opposite sides of the bracket. But while Cooper has a favorable path to the semifinals, Ratliff would have to go through top-ranked and undefeated Sean Breedlove of Center Grove in the quarterfinals, known as the “ticket round.”
Two other brackets will feature both East and North wrestlers. East’s fourth-ranked Colin McMahon (33-4) and North’s Darrell Hicks (25-10) will compete at 190. East’s 11th-ranked Hank Redman (33-4) and North’s Servando Lozano (25-9) will be at 285.
“I like our draws,” Joyce said. “We got really good draws across the board. Darrell Hicks at 190 has a really good shot, as well, and then so does Servando. Servando is going to wrestle a kid that he’s gone 1-1 with in the first round, and then two very winnable opponents in the second round that he could have a possibility of wrestling. Really, all four of those (Long, Ratliff, Hicks and Lozano) have really good paths. It’s just going to take them going and wrestling hard and doing their jobs.”
East’s Ethan Poling (21-3) is ranked 17th at 132, Caleb Cooper (30-5) is ranked 17th at 157 and Clayton Miller (31-6) is ranked 10th at 215. Also competing for the Olympians will be Joel Smith (18-16) at 106, Ty Brueche (16-12) at 126, Cam Cooper (25-10) at 144 and Aiden Miller (23-17) at 165.
Jennings County will have Carter Mikels (19-13) at 113, 18th-ranked Luke Kirchner (24-6) at 138, Brady Franks (22-16) at 144 and Gomie Gomez (27-9) at 215.
