Six Eagles advance to Regional

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 6:33

(Chase Downing gets ready to shoot on his opponent David Wilde of Northrop in the 120 pound championship match. Downing lost by a 4-0 decision and finished sectional runner-up.) photo by hiatt

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by Don Hiatt

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Churubusco had six wrestlers advance to the Regional by finishing in the top four at the Carroll Sectional last Saturday. The Eagles also claimed the newly established Whitley County trophy by placing higher than Whitko and Columbia City in the Sectional.

The Eagles were led by freshman, Chase Downing, who had a strong day on the mats and was the only Eagle wrestler in a Championship match. Downing began the day as the number three seed in the 120 pound weight class. He won the rat-tail match by pinning Israbian of Carroll in 5:40. Next was Whitko’s Evan Cozad, who Downing pinned in the first round in 1:43. In his third match Downing faced Columbia City’s, Kyle Egolf, and he pinned him in the final round with just six seconds left in the match to advance to the Championship match. David Wilde, of Northrop, the number one seed in the weight class was Downing’s opponent. After a hard fought three rounds Wilde came out on top with a 4-0 decision and Downing had a second place finish moving him on to the Regionals next week at Carroll.

Five other Eagles advanced to the Carroll Regional. Jason Nicodemus and Brian Richardson had third place finishes while Shane Shroyer, Adam Boggess and Sam Siddons placed fourth in their weight classes to move on to next week.

Nicodemus pinned his first opponent William Tindall of Northrop in the second round. But in the semi-finals Nicodemus was pinned by Anthony Linnear of North Side in the second round. Nicodemus then won by a major decision 10-2 over Bostwick from Bishop Dwenger and pinned Kayne Duncan of Carroll in 2:44 for third place.

In the 195 pound division Richardson defeated Northrop’s Detreck by a 6-4 decision in the opening round. Richardson then lost to Austin Gibson of Garrett by an 8-1 decision. Richardson worked his way through the losers bracket, winning by a tech-fall over Leo’s David Hepler 20-4 and then defeating Wilson again, this time by a 3-2 decision to claim third place.

Shroyer began his day with a 10-5 loss to Columbia City’s Bryce Forrester. But he worked his way through the losers bracket by pinning Eastside’s Bryce Liberty in 1:49. Shroyer then defeated Dwenger’s Victor Angulo by a pin in 4:03 to set up a rematch with Forrester. Shroyer lost by a pin in the first round but will advance to the Regional with a fourth place finish.

Boggess will advance to the Regional with his fourth place finish. He won his first match by a pin over Burns from Columbia City. In his second match Boggess lost to Michael Nix of Dwenger by a 10-2 major decision. Boggess bounced back and pinned Henderson of Carroll in 39 seconds. Austin Letourneau from Whitko won by a pin over Boggess in the third/fourth place match.

Sam Siddons began the day with a 14-1 major-decision win over Gregory of North Side. He then lost to Russell Hazelet by a 4-1 decision and then defeated Carroll’s Tanner Thomas by a 3-2 decision. Siddons lost to Leo’s Trevon Carr by a 6-4 decision in the third-fourth place match.

Opening round matches for the Regional begin at 9:00 a.m. in the Carroll Fieldhouse.