MOORESVILLE — New Palestine’s Sydney DeLois and Greenfield-Central’s Ella Harpold didn’t let the disappointment of falling one victory shy of competing for a state title ruin their day.
Both county wrestlers were defeated in their semifinal matches in the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling State Finals at Mooresville High School Friday.
Both came back and won third-place contests, earning their best finishes in the state tournament.
DeLois, a junior, had placed fourth twice. Harpold, a sophomore, was fifth in her weight class last year.
For Harpold, she avenged a loss from last week.
At the Warren Central Regional, Harpold lost by fall to Lebanon’s Claira Gramlin in the 170-pound class championship match. She avenged the loss with a 5-4 win in Friday’s consolation final.
She had two losses to Gramlin this season and came back after trailing 4-0 in the second period.
“I don’t know, I think it kind of just clicked that I can win this if I really try,” Harpold said. “My attitude switched and I think it’s all about your attitude. You have to believe in yourself, so I did. I stuck it out.”
Harpold went 3-1 on the day. She opened with a pair of wins by fall. She pinned Elizabeth Eaglin of New Washington in 1:29 to open the day and earned a fall in :40 over Kokomo’s Fielou Van Bruggen in the quarterfinals.
Against the state’s No. 1 ranked wrestler in the 170-class, Penn’s Kenzie Konanz, Harpold, who came in ranked No. 3, was pinned in 2:45.
She didn’t let the loss carry over in her rematch with Gramlin.
“She knew she was going to have to fight all the way to the end,” Greenfield-Central coach Tom Fielder said of Harpold third-place match. “She got off bottom and that’s huge. We work on it quite a bit. She fought like crazy (to get off bottom).”
Once she got back to the neutral position, Harpold was able to get a takedown to win the match.
“I got up and I went right straight for it. I think my aggression was big,” Harpold added.
She finished the season with a 23-8 record.
DeLois, ranked No. 2 in the state in the 120-pound weight class, was in the state tournament for the third straight year.
She lost to West Lafayette’s Rose Kaplan, ranked No. 1 in the state, 6-0 in the semis.
In the third place match against Hamilton Southeastern’s Emily Anderson, DeLois earned a pin in 3:29.
Prior to the semis, DeLois pinned Tri-County’s Ryleeanne Sheldon in 1:33 and Mooresville’s Madison Whitted in :42.
In the third-place match, DeLois led 5-0 after the first period. She got a takedown and near-fall points right as time was running out. Anderson put DeLois in the same predicament in the second, tying the match the same way with a takedown and near-fall. DeLois got away and was able to pick up a pin the following period.
My main objective was to get my arm loose,” DeLois said of her second-period scramble. “I knew if I got my arm out, I could belly-out and fight her from there.”
Going in, DeLois knew the semifinal match would be the biggest challenge.
“Obviously, I wanted to do better. I wanted to come here and win it all,” she said. “I thought I could, but fell a little short. I still improved (from previous state finals). I’m, overall, pretty happy.
“I made some small mistakes. I know what I made mistakes on, but I’m going to continue to improve. Next year, I’m coming at it hard. Next year is going to be my year. No mercy for anyone in my bracket.”
The loss to Kaplan was only DeLois’s second of the season. She finished 22-2, with the other loss coming to an out-of-state wrestler.
Kaplan and Konanz went on to win their weight class championships.
Five county wrestlers competed at Mooresville Friday.
Greenfield-Central’s Kylie Smith-Foster, a 2021 state runner-up, lost in the 113-pound class opening round. She finished the season 26-5 with 23 falls, with her only losses coming to the No.1, No. 2 and No. 4 ranked wrestlers in the state.
She beat the eventual state champion, Emma Pillion of Frankfort, at last week’s regional.
New Palestine’s Madisyn Covington (145) and Julia Champ (160) also qualified and were defeated in the opening round.
The three qualifiers are the most for the Dragons program, which had just five wrestlers this season.
“Most of the season we had five girls, to get three out of five girls is pretty impressive,” New Palestine coach Jason DeLois said. “It’s good for us. That first match, you have to get through it to place. They knew that. That’s when it’s all on the line and just fell a little bit short. I think we could have placed all three, but that’s just the way it happened. When you get to state everybody is good.”
