Staff report
Led by two individual champions, Greenfield-Central’s boys wrestling team won the two-day, 32-team Connersville Spartan Classic Friday.
It’s the first time in school history the Cougars have won the event, one of the longest-running holiday wrestling tournaments in the state.
Greenfield-Central has been a part of the event the last 18 years and also wrestled in the event in the 1990s.
“We’ve always done OK, but we’ve never won it, so it’s pretty exciting,” Greenfield-Central coach Josh Holden said. “I tell them, they’re individuals, and it’s their job to get themselves ready to win individual titles. As a coach, you don’t really think of it that way. It’s a team sport and you have to get the team ready to go and you want them to act like a team and support each other like a team. For coaches, these are the kind of things you’re looking for to build a program.”
Greenfield-Central won with 214 points. Second-place New Castle totaled 172. New Palestine placed sixth with 147.5. Eastern Hancock tied for 13th with 93.
For the Cougars, Isaiah Holden won in sudden victory, 8-6, over Purdue Poly’s Canaan Miller in the championship match of the 152-pound weight class.
Clay Guenin ran his perfect season to 22-0 with a victory in the 170-class. He defeated Western Boone’s Trevor Weakley by fall in 5:51 to win the title. Guenin went 4-0 over the two days with all wins by fall.
Isaiah Holden and Guenin were the only Cougars in the finals, so the team had to rely a lot on performances in wrestlebacks and consolation finals. Eight wrestlers earned Top 8 finishes.
Jett McGuire (106) and Lincoln Parsons (113) each placed third. Tristan Lanum (195) and Dylan Luther (126) both wrestled eight matches over the two days and placed fifth.
Luther had moved down a weight class to help the Cougars avoid having to forfeit any matches.
“We were going to give up a forfeit at 126, and Dylan said he’d go down to fill that spot to make our team stronger,” coach Holden said. “We put in another guy, a freshman, at 132 so we wouldn’t have any forfeits. We needed every point we got from those guys. (Dylan) is a very unselfish kid. Those are the kinds of things that people don’t see that help us win. They just see the wrestling. They don’t see that that kid sacrificed, got down, and won some matches for us. Those are the little things that get you the trophy.”
New Palestine had two champions and two runners-up. Cole Vandygriff (113) and Bryce Doss (120) won titles. Gunner Butt (106) and Shaun Glass (195) placed second.
Eastern Hancock’s Brayden Tincher won the 182-pound class championship. Eastern’s Cameron Volz (132) placed second.
At the Al Smith Classic in Mishawaka, Mt. Vernon placed 19th of 32 teams.
The Marauders had a fourth place finish from Aiden Kiner (145) and fifth-place finishes from Devin Kendrex (220) and Connor Bayliss (106).
