Columbus East’s Colin McMahon wrestles Seymour’s Diego Aguilar in the 190-pound weight class at Dec. 5, 2024 Columbus East.
The Republic file photo
The boys wrestling season kicks off this week with Brown County hosting Southwestern (Hanover) Wednesday and Columbus North competing in Saturday’s Center Grove Tournament. Jennings County and Columbus East will open next week.
Here is a look at those teams heading into the 2025-26 season:
Columbus East
The Olympians had a big offseason, traveling to several tournaments.
“We attend a lot of team events,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “We take a trip to Florida. This year, we wrestled in Tallahassee an Fort Lauderdale. We took our team to Virginia Beach. I think we wrestled around 40 matches. It’s pretty typical to what we normally do, but they had a really good buy-in and have positioned themselves really well going into the season.”
Junior Colin McMahon was a state qualifier at 190 pounds and likely will stay at that spot. Junior Lincoln Cooper, who moves from 157 to 175, and senior Hank Redman, who moves from 175 to 285, lost in the ticket round at semistate, one win short of making the state tournament.
Caleb Kirkpatrick, who moves from 138 to 150; Aiden Miller (157 to 165) and Clayton Miller (165 to 215) also were semistate qualifiers. Senior Caleb Cooper (144 to 157) is a two-time semistate qualifier who fell short in a tough sectional bracket last season.
junior Ty Brusche, a transfer from North, will be at 126, Junior Ethan Poling returns at 132, and juniors Brian Findley or Wyatt Behnke will be at 138.
Freshmen Joel Smith at 106, Treshaun Robinson at 113, Gage Pacek at 120 and Cameron Cooper at 144 will fill the other spots. Senior Talon Jessup, a state qualifier as a sophomore who missed end of last year with a shoulder injury, is still recovering from that injury and could factor into the lineup if he gets healthy.
“I really like our team,” Chris Cooper said. “We had a lot of success this summer with really close to that lineup. Guys have really put a lot of time in. We’re really deep this year, too. We have backups all through the lineup that I would feel comfortable sliding in there. We have quality and depth up and down our lineup.”
Columbus North
The Bull Dogs also had a heavy offseason schedule that coach Matt Joyce hopes will prepare them for the season.
“They’re doing everything we ask, and we’re way ahead of where we were last year,” Joyce said. “We had a really good offseason. We went out to Oklahoma State, went to camp there and kids had a great time. We had a great fall with some of the incoming freshmen. Kids are picking things up pretty quick, and we’re moving really fast.”
Columbus North’s Cohen Long pulls on Prairie Heights’ Brody Hagewood’s leg to keep control of him in the 144-pound seventh-place match Feb. 23 at the Boys Wrestling State Finals.
The Republic file photo
North returns a pair of state qualifiers in junior Cohen Long and senior Asher Ratliff. Long, who finished eighth at state at 144, will move up to 150; and Ratliff, a two-time state qualifier at 157 who lost to eventual state champion last year, will start the season at 165.
Senior Servando Lozano was a semistate qualifier at 285. Sophomore Isaac Sipes moves from 120 to 126, and senior Eric Streeval returns at 175.
Looking to fill the other spots are freshmen Alex Staley or Teo Annis at 106, sophomore James Brown or freshman Sam Bosley at 113, freshmen Evan Parker or Emmanuel Barbosa at 120, freshman Isaac Escobedo at 132, freshman Parker Hardebeck at 138, senior Skyler Burns at 144, sophomore James Scruggs or junior Michael Reed at 157, junior Jarred Hernandez-Jimenez or sophomore Darrell Hicks at 190 and sophomore Nate Riker at 215. Sophomore Dylan Canas could step in at 190 or 215.
“It’s going to be a really tough team this year,” Joyce said. “We had a really tough schedule last year, and the kids really rose to the occasion and I think it created a lot of buy-in as far as offseason training. So I’m really excited to see how these guys go out and really compete.
“It’s been a great team atmosphere this year,” he added. “We have some outstanding individuals, but as a team, guys are really coming together and building each other up, which is awesome to see.”
Jennings County
The Panthers return a pair of semistate qualifiers in juniors Luke Kirchner and Gomie Gomez. Kirchner lost in the ticket round at 132, and likely will move up to 138, while Gomez remains at 215
Sophomores Sean Ernstes and Carter Mikels step in at 106 and 113, and freshmen Gage McClure or Jacob Ernstes will be at 120 and freshman Cooper Bieneke at 126. Junior Khycen Sutton at 132 and sophomore Brady Franks at 144 return to the varsity.
Senior Richard Fernandez takes over at 150. Junior Jax Nelson or senior Danny Rodrigues will be at 157, with junior Jacob Ferguson at 165, junior Ethan Cash at 175, senior Sam Hernandez at 190 and sophomore Danny Elsner or freshman Seth Nocella at 285.
“We’re looking pretty good,” Jennings coach Jeff Morrison said. “We have a big group of kids out, and they’re working pretty hard. We definitely have some good talent,” Morrison said. “Our incoming freshmen are pushing for some spots.”
Brown County
The Eagles advanced one wrestler through their sectional and regional, with senior Jackson Reed making the semistate at 215. He will move up to 285.
Filling the other spots will be freshman Kason Simmons at 113, sophomore Aidyn Dawy at 120, freshman MJ Griffin at 126, junior Levi Purlee at 132, junior Xavier Himebaugh at 138, sophomore Cason Parman at 144, junior Liam Del Bianco at 150, freshman Arthur Egenolf at 157, freshman Audric Dunn at 165, freshman Roger Burris at 175, senior PJ McMasters at 190, transfer from East and junior Ben Wimmenauer at 215. McMasters is a transfer from East.
“We’re looking good,” Brown County coach Andy Reed said. “We’re hoping to get Jackson to state this year. He’s motivated to get there after some recovering from some knee injuries last year. Then, some of these other guys, we think we can get through to regional this year. I have high expectations for all of them.”
