INDIANAPOLIS — Winning isn’t something Alec White takes for granted, but the unbeaten New Palestine senior isn’t going to do any celebratory back flips anytime soon either.
Not yet.
Picking up career win No. 152 in an overtime match against 17th-ranked Dylan Culp of Warren Central, White (32-0) seized his fourth straight regional championship with a 2-1 victory in the 126-pound finals on Saturday.
White was one of four Hancock County wrestlers to leave the Perry Meridian Regional unscathed and one of 12 overall to advance into Saturday’s New Castle Semistate.
Greenfield-Central’s Brad Lowe (36-5) at 170 pounds and Carter Noehre (39-2) at 120, along with New Palestine’s Landan Burton (30-4) at 220 all finished atop their individual weight classes after winning their first-career regional titles.
White, who is ranked fifth in the state by IndianaMat, displayed his razor-sharp focus while facing Culp for a second straight week in the finals after beating him by decision 6-2 at the Warren Central Sectional.
In the rematch, White, once again, grabbed an early lead, 1-0, but an escape by Culp (28-9) in the third period forced sudden victory overtime where the Dragon went on the offensive to improve to 7-0 this postseason.
“Just get a takedown,” White remarked on his overtime approach. “Just keep the offense going. I didn’t get after it as much as I’d like to in regulation, but I got it in overtime.”
Scoring the match’s decisive two points 18 seconds into the bonus round, White kept his reaction minimal, and for good reason. The Purdue recruit is still hunting for eight more.
“I don’t like to do a whole lot after the matches. I’m trying to save that for state because that’s the ultimate goal,” said White, who had a pin and a 12-3 major decision en route to the title. “Once that happens, then I’ll definitely show it a lot more. But there’s always excitement when you get a good win.”
Noehre pinned his first opponent in 1 minute, 28 seconds and followed it up with a 5-2 decision in the semifinals against Mt. Vernon’s Chase Wilkerson (40-9) to reach the finals.
Wilkerson placed fourth as one of four Marauders to move on, including Drake Tackett (37-10) at 160 in third place, PJ Sterrett (27-17) at 182 in fourth, and 17th-ranked Peyton Wuerch (26-2) at heavyweight in fourth.
To Noehre’s surprise, he met a familiar foe in the finals in 18th-ranked Tyce Freije (33-7) of Roncalli after the Rebel upset No. 12 Sunny Nier (31-6) of Perry Meridian in the semifinals by fall in 6:40.
“I was actually expecting to see Sunny,” said Noehre, who is ranked 15th in the state. “I watched film on him, but I had already wrestled Tyce twice before, so I sort of knew what was going to happen. I knew what I needed to do.”
At 2-0 against Freije with a 1-0 decision in last weekend’s sectional championship, Noehre fell behind 2-0 before charging back to win 3-2 with a clutch reversal in the match’s final 36 seconds.
Lowe, who entered the state tournament unranked, continues to make a name for himself. The junior scored a fall in 0:59 to reach the semifinals and won by injury default to face Perry Meridian’s Cameron Amos (28-13) in the finals.
A 7-0 decision catapulted him to a potentially prominent seed for his second-career semistate appearance.
“I don’t really care about the rankings that much. They’re just out there,” Lowe said. “It really doesn’t say much about how you can wrestle.”
Burton let his actions speak for him toward a third straight semistate berth. A two-time regional runner-up at 195, Burton broke through with three consecutive pins in a combined 6:01.
His final fall came against Beech Grove’s Isaiah Greene (22-10) in 2:41, a week after Burton beat him by decision 6-4 in the sectional finals while recovering from a shoulder injury.
“I felt like I could go at my own pace and really make the match speed up and that’s what I came out here and did today,” Burton said.
“He’s right where we want him right now,” New Palestine head coach Alex Johns added. “He practice for a full week and I think it showed. Last week was a close match. This week he put it away a little bit earlier.”
The Cougars pushed six wrestlers through to the next stage with Larry Evans (29-14) at 126 in fourth, Cooper Noehre (29-12) at 138 in third, Riley Fletcher (29-15) at 145 in third, and seventh-ranked Gavin Rose (33-7) at 113 in fourth.
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Team Scores: Perry Meridian 220.02, Roncalli 121.53, Warren Central 107.04, Greenfield-Central 76.05, Beech Grove 74.06, New Palestine 45.07, Franklin Central 35.08, Mt. Vernon 32.08, Pike 32.01, Speedway 22.01, Southport 14.01, Indianapolis Crispus Attucks 6.01, Scecina Memorial 6.01, Arsenal Tech 0.01, Cardinal Ritter 0.01, Indianapolis Manual 0.01, Howe 0.01, Indianapolis Lutheran 0.01, Shelbyville 0.01.
Championship Match Results
106: Brayden Lowery, Perry Meridian (40-2) def. Josh Vaughn, Franklin Central (29-5), fall 0:34
113: Alex Viduya, Roncall (39-2) def. Sammy Fair, Perry Meridian (33-6), inj. 2:15
120: Carter Noehre, Greenfield-Central (39-2) def. Tyce Freije, Roncalli (33-7), dec. 3-2
126: Alec White, New Palestine (32-0) def. Dylan Culp, Warren Central (28-9), SV-1 3-1
132: Ethan Smiley, Beech Grove (39-0) def. Jack Servies, Perry Meridian (28-7), SV-1 3-1
138: Bailey Moore, Beech Grove (38-2) def. Brooks Davis, Perry Meridian (26-8), dec. 3-0
145: Antwaun Graves, Warren Central (35-2) def. Kain Rust, Perry Meridian (37-3), SV-1 3-1
152: Noah Warren, Perry Meridian (38-1) def. Walter Ballinger, Beech Grove (34-7), maj. dec. 8-0
160: Christian Warren, Perry Meridian (39-0) def. Elijah Mahan, Roncalli (33-6), dec. 13-7
170: Brad Lowe, Greenfield-Central (36-5) def. Cameron Amos, Perry Meridian (28-13), dec. 7-0
182: Jalen Allen, Perry Meridian (34-4) def. Sam Hansen, Roncalli (37-4), fall 1:47
195: Tristen Tonte, Warren Central (32-1) def. Dakari Kenney, Pike (25-10), fall 1:17
220: Landan Burton, New Palestine (30-4) def. Isaiah Greene, Beech Grove (22-10), fall 2:41
285: Jaden Powell, Speedway (18-3) def. Steve Woolbright, Perry Meridian (31-7), dec. 3-2
Third-Place Match Results
106: Chris Stewart, Warren Central (26-9) def. Sam Slivka, Roncalli (25-14), fall 3:33
113: Skylour Turner, Warren Central (27-4) def. Gavin Rose, Greenfield-Central (33-7), dec. 4-3
120: Sunny Nier, Perry Meridian (31-5) def. Chase Wilkerson, Mt. Vernon (40-9), maj. dec. 11-2
126: Chris McMillian, Franklin Central (32-10) def. Larry Evans, Greenfield-Central (29-14), dec. 6-1
132: Tim Wright, Warren Central (28-10) def. Josh Hiatt, Roncalli (30-14), fall 4:01
138: Cooper Noehre, Greenfield-Central (29-12) def. Brian Kenney, Roncalli (24-13), fall 3:44
145: Riley Fletcher, Greenfield-Central (29-15) def. Chad Rothwell, Southport (34-14), dec. 4-1
152: Trent Smith, Roncalli (23-12) def. Jake Rebein, Scecina Memorial (22-7), maj. dec. 11-2
160: Drake Tackett, Mt. Vernon (37-10) def. Brett Wright, Southport (35-12), dec. 7-3
170: Danny Acevedo, Warren Central (25-15) def. Lamar Willis, Crispus Attucks (26-7), inj. 0:00
182: Gavin Keesee, Franklin Central (23-16) def. PJ Sterrett, Mt. Vernon (27-17), dec. 10-6
195: Anthony Ruhana, Perry Meridian (12-6) def. John Owensby, Franklin Central (37-5), dec. 5-3
220: Rilee Miller, Perry Meridian (30-9) def. Noah Laws, Pike (12-7), fall 3:44
285: Marc Roland, Roncalli (29-11) def. Peyton Wuerch, Mt. Vernon (26-2), inj. 0:00
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