Mt. Vernon head coach Chad Masters, left, congratulates Sierra Piewkowski at the IHSGW state finals on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (file photo)
ELLETTSVILLE — A state runner-up in 2021, Mt. Vernon’s Sierra Pienkowski is heading to her fourth consecutive Indiana High School Girls Wrestling state finals in her career as a regional champion.
This past Friday, Pienkowski won her second-career South Regional weight-class title at Edgewood Junior High School behind a fall and two decisions at 138 pounds.
Three more Hancock County girls wrestlers earned South Regional runner-up honors in Greenfield-Central’s Ella Harpold (182 pounds) and New Palestine’s Sydney DeLois (120) and Jasmine Camacho (145).
Greenfield-Central’s Kyle Smith-Foster, a 2021 state runner-up at 98 pounds, placed sixth at 106 during this past weekend’s regional tournament.
State qualifiers each advance to this Friday’s state meet at Kokomo’s Memorial Gymnasium, beginning at noon. Weigh-ins are set for 11 a.m.
The Marauders’ lone competitor, Pienkowski, won by fall in the regional quarterfinals over Clinton Prairie’s Shelby Luper in 1 minute, 8 seconds. Pienkowski followed up her initial victory with consecutive decisions in the semifinals and finals, 8-1 and 3-2, respectively.
Pienkowski defeated New Albany’s Brittany Jackson in the championship match to seize the regional crown.
As a freshman, Pienkowski placed eighth at 145 during the state meet. In 2020, she was seventh at 138 before taking second in the same weight class last winter.
Dragons’ DeLois lost to North Montgomery’s Catie Campbell, the defending state champion, at regional in the 120 championship match by decision, 2-0.
DeLois placed fourth at state as a freshman last season at 113. At regional on Friday, DeLois won the 120 B division, pinning two opponents in 2:33 and 1:36 before ending her run with a 6-0 decision over Warren Central’s Jordan Boyd.
Dragons’ Camacho scored back-to-back decisions, 7-0 and 6-0, to reach the 145 regional final. She lost by decision 7-2 to Terre Haute North’s Celia Zingaro in the championship match.
G-C’s Harpold won two matches by fall in 2:36 and 2:16 to advance to the regional finals. In the championship round, Harpold battled but lost a 7-5 decision to Southport’s Ava Lyn Mosconi.
Boys Wrestling
Cougars second, Dragons fifth at invite
The Greenfield-Central boys wrestling team finished 4-1 during Saturday’s Paul Loggan Memorial Invitational at North Central High School to secure runner-up honors.
New Palestine was fifth overall after going 3-2. Hamilton Southeastern won the invite, while Westfield was third and Franklin Central was fourth out of the eight competing teams.
The Cougars had a trio of wrestlers finish unbeaten at 5-0 in Dakota Herald (126 pounds), Clay Guenin (160) and Josh VanOsdol (152).
Chase Gardner (170) was 4-1. Braeden Ayres (106), Lincoln Parsons (113) and Brayden Flener (285) each went 3-2.
The Cougars bested county rival New Palestine, 40-30, marking the second time this year G-C has won head-to-head over the Dragons.
They also defeated Ben Davis, 56-18; Franklin Central, 48-24; and No. 13 ranked Westfield, 37-36.
In the process, G-C head coach Josh Holden became the program’s new career-record holder for dual wins by passing up legendary coach Bill Yozipovich. Holden now has 248 dual-meet, coaching victories in his Cougars’ career.
The Dragons bounced back from their opening-round loss to G-C by defeating Ben Davis, 46-26. They lost to HSE, 47-24, but later beat Lebanon, 51-19, and host North Central, 36-22.
Porter Keevers and Chris Bullock both went 5-0. Cole Vandygriff, Bryce Doss and Jacob Tweedy all were 4-1. Elijah Alonso, Juan Camacho and Porter May each went 3-2.
The Dragons are now 9-11 on the season and host Lawrence North on Wednesday.
G-C improved to 16-8 and will head to Yorktown on Saturday for the Hoosier Heritage Conference Championships as they look to defend their 2020-21 team title.
Marauders take team title
The Mt. Vernon boys wrestling team finished 5-0 at the Jennings County Super 6 Invite on Saturday to improve to 18-6 on the season.
The Marauders defeated Decatur Central, 52-24; Greenwood, 54-23; Jennings County, 55-24; New Castle, 48-26; and West Washington, 64-16.
The Marauders travel to North Central on Wednesday before competing in the HHC tournament on Saturday along with Greenfield-Central and New Palestine.
Boys Basketball
Dragons fall in overtime
The New Palestine boys basketball team rallied in the fourth quarter to force overtime Saturday afternoon, but an early run in the extra session allowed host Southport to take a 62-57 victory over the Dragons.
The Dragons dropped to 7-4 on the season.
Blaine Nunnally drilled a contested 3-pointer from the right wing in the final 10 seconds to tie the game at 46-all, and the Dragons forced a miss on the other end. Ben Slagley pulled down the final rebound to secure overtime.
In the extra session, Southport guard A.J. Dancler scored a three-point play on the first possession and the Cardinals seized the lead for good.
Steele Brasfield led the Dragons with 16 points, scoring eight in the fourth quarter and OT. Blaine Nunnally added 13, all of which came after halftime. Ian Stephens also scored 13 points, with 11 coming in the first half. Eian Roudebush scored a career-high nine points. Slagley scored four points and Bryant Nunnally two.
Royals fall to Raiders
The Class 2A seventh-ranked Eastern Hancock boys basketball team fell to Mid-Eastern Conference foe Wapahani, 52-49, at home on Friday.
The host Royals (7-2) won six straight games prior to the loss, and dropped to 2-1 in the MEC, while Wapahani improved to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the league.
EH trailed 14-11 after the first quarter on Friday but tied up the game 37-all after three frames. The Raiders outscored the Royals 15-12 in the fourth to win.
Jacob Spaulding led the Royals with 15 points, followed by Cole Rainbolt with 12, Landon O’Neal with 11 and Edric Miller with eight.
Raiders’ Isaac Andrews scored a game-high 32 points on 13 of 18 shooting to spearhead the upset.
EH converted 6 of 18 from 3-point range as Rainbolt buried 4 of 6 attempts.
Silas Spaulding had a team-best six rebounds and four assists for the Royals. Miller had four rebounds, and Grant Gray contributed three.
The Royals travel to MEC foe Randolph Southern tonight with the varsity game set to tip at 7:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball
Royals get back to winning
The ninth-ranked Class 2A Eastern Hancock girls basketball team rebounded from their first loss in over a month with a 56-26 victory over visiting Union County on Saturday.
The Royals (13-2) had won nine games in a row before falling to Blue River, 62-55, last week on Tuesday.
Against the Patriots on Saturday, the Royals had a pair of double-digit scorers led by Sammie Bolding’s 18. Grace Stapleton finished with 15 points. Ruby White added six, while both Makenzie O’Neal and Emma Bolding each provided four.
Sammie Bolding and Stapleton combined to shoot 5 of 11 from 3-point range. Bolding also had four assists. Stapleton dished out two.
O’Neal hauled in a team-high four rebounds.
The Royals head to New Castle tonight before hosting Waldron on Saturday.
Swimming & Diving
Greenfield-Central’s Kien Dalton took first and Colin Dalton was sixth during this weekend’s Bloomington North Diving Invitational.
The invite featured 11 divers per competitor.
Cougars’ Emily Jones was eighth in the girls competition, followed by teammates Ava Jaggers-Rust in 11th, Lauren Haffner in 14th and Ally Siegal in 21st.
