Split between two wrestling regional sites this Saturday, Hancock County’s four schools combined to advance 16 competitors into this coming weekend’s New Castle Semistate.
At Perry Meridian, Greenfield-Central had six wrestlers qualify for the state tournament’s next round led by 132-pound senior Carter Noehre, who repeated as a regional champion.
New Palestine 220-pound senior Landan Burton highlighted the Dragons’ four semistate qualifiers with a regional repeat of his own at Perry Meridian.
Eastern Hancock had two wrestlers advance out of Perry Meridian, while Mt. Vernon will take four wrestlers from the Pendleton Heights Regional into the semistate round in Henry County.
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The Greenfield-Central Cougars finished fourth overall as a team at the Perry Meridian Regional, scoring 88.5 points. The seventh-ranked host Falcons won the team title with 207.5 points ahead of No. 9 Roncalli (151.0) and Warren Central (113.5).
Eastern Hancock was eighth and New Palestine placed sixth.
Burton, who is ranked seventh in the state by Indianamat, dominated the 220-pound weight class en route to his second career regional title.
A two-time regional runner-up before his recent two-year run, Burton also collected his third career sectional title this season.
With three more victories at regional Saturday, including a pin in 1 minute, 54 seconds during the quarterfinals, Burton is now advancing to his fourth straight semistate.
At 40-1 on the season, Burton has won 15 consecutive matches after opening the year 25-0. He defeated Roncalli’s Spencer Fears (25-14) by decision 11-4 in the regional semifinals and beat Perry Meridian’s No. 12 Frank Hammonds (22-5) by decision 3-0 in the finals.
New Palestine 106-pound freshman Christian White (33-8) was third at regional with the top-four wrestlers all qualifying for semistate.
Dragons’ Noah Wright (31-11) and Brayden Clevenger (32-11) both advanced with fourth-place finishes at 145 and 195 pounds, respectively.
Noehre, who is ranked seventh in the state, improved to a perfect 27-0 on the season with three decisive victories at regional.
The 2017 state qualifier pinned Southport’s Bawi Lian (11-17) in 0:38 during the quarterfinals and won by major decision 14-0 against Franklin Central’s Chase Peavler (26-7). In the finals, Noehre scored a technical fall 15-0 in 4:35 over Warren Central’s No. 11 Jarred Rowlett (28-6).
The Cougars nearly had three more regional champions but state-ranked Gavin Rose at 120, Brad Lowe at 170 and Copper Noehre at 145 had to settle for runner-up honors.
Rose (31-3), who is ranked 15th in the state, won his first match by fall in 2:00 before pinning Roncalli’s Sam Slivka (24-13) in 4:45.
In the finals, Rose battled No. 2 Sam Fair (39-1) of Perry Meridian but lost by decision 4-2. Fair beat Rose earlier in the season by decision 8-1.
Lowe, who is ranked seventh in the state, won his quarterfinal match by fall in 0:36 and defeated No. 11 Elijah Mahan of Roncalli by decision 14-9 in the semifinals.
In the finals, Lowe (37-3) lost by fall in 1:09 to top-ranked Noah Warren (38-1) of Perry Meridian. The last time the two met, Lowe lost by major decision 11-2.
Dylan Dorman (26-15) was fourth at 113 for the Cougars. Larry Evans (24-12) was fourth at 126, and No. 14 Cooper Noehre (30-9) was second best at 145.
Eastern Hancock was led by senior Clayton Cochard (33-8) at 195, who finished second at regional after winning his first career sectional title last weekend. Royals’ Jordyn Wills (32-11) was third at 152.
The Mt. Vernon Marauders placed sixth as a team at the Pendleton Heights Regional with a pair of runner-ups.
Chase Wilkerson (37-4), who is ranked 14th in the state, racked up consecutive falls in 5:07 and 3:08 to reach the 120-pound finals. He lost in the title match by decision 3-1 against No. 5 Lukasz Walendzak (36-3) of Cathedral.
Chris Wilkerson (34-7) won his quarterfinal match by decision 9-4 and powered past Pendleton Heights’ Elijah Bauer (31-6) in a tiebreaker 3-2 during the semifinals.
Cathedral’s Alex Mosconi (27-2), who is ranked third in the state, ended Wilkerson’s run with a 3-1 decision in the finals.
Mt. Vernon’s Drake Kendrex (38-6) placed fourth at 160, while P.J. Sterrett (40-7) battled back to take third at 182.
