The Class 3A No. 2 Columbus East boys wrestling team picked up several falls, close wins and come-from-behind wins to roll past Whiteland 48-18 in Wednesday’s season-opening dual meet.
“It’s the first home dual, there’s tons of emotion,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “We’ve got the mat light, the fog and the announcements, and there was a ton of people here, so those kids feel that pressure. They want to come out here and put on a show. I’m really proud of them. Everyone that wrestled on our entire team, I thought they wrestled very well. There’s some things we can work on, but that was a solid Whiteland team. I thought we competed really well.”
The meet started at 157 pounds, where Caleb Cooper won a 13-0 major decision. Lincoln Cooper won by fall in the first period at 175, Colin McMahon won by fall at 190, Clayton Miller won an 8-1 decision at 215 and Hank Redman won via forfeit at 285.
Kohl Dorrough won by fall in the second period at 113. Gage Pacek won a 4-1 decision at 120, Ethan Poling won by a first-period fall at 132, Cameron Cooper found himself down 7-0 in his match but came back to win a 9-8 decision at 144 and Caleb Kirkpatrick won by a tech fall 18-2 at 150.
Aiden Miller lost a 4-2 decision at 165, Joel Smith lost by a 19-6 major decision at 106, Ty Brueche lost by fall in the second period at 126 and Brian Findley lost by a tech fall at 138.
“I like to see some of those pressure situations,” Chris Cooper said. “Cameron Cooper getting thrown to his back at the beginning and being down seven points, and now what do you do. It’s those situations like that and things you’ll throughout the year. It was good to get them early.”
