BY JON REITER
JEFFERSONVILLE — The Jeffersonville wrestling team emerged from the individual wrestling regional Saturday at Johnson Arena with a school-record six wins and 10 athletes heading to next weekend’s semistate in Evansville.
In the high-impact, high-commitment sport of wrestling, that success is something his kids should be proud of, Jeffersonville coach Danny Struck said.
“Much of getting to state will be a decision on their part,” Struck said. “Our regional is competitive, but some of the kids we’ll see next week that come from the Evansville Regional or the Bloomington Regional will be kids that will probably be ranked higher than our kids.
“But having these six kids be champions, it sets up their chances to get to state and it’ll be a tough weekend for everyone involved.”
The six regional champions for Jeffersonville were Alonzo Shepherd (103 pounds), Curtis Smith (112), Devon Miller (119), Renaldo Weekley (135), Caleb Browner (171) and Jimmy Pratt (215).
Pratt (37-9) outpointed Pike Central’s Hunter Manning, 7-2 in the 215 championship match, which he said was his toughest contest of the day.
“He was a tough kid and it was a tough match,” Pratt said. “He got those two points on me and I had to come back and get a few because I knew I didn’t want to get too far down on him.”
Also advancing for the Red Devils were second-place finisher Nelson Bowen (189), third-place finisher Elijah Curtley (285) and Sean Simpson (130) and Brandon Martin (160), who both finished in fourth place.
The top four finishers in each weight class qualified for semistate.
The Floyd Central Highlanders are sending eight wrestlers to next Saturday’s regional, including Ben Moberly, who handed New Washington’s Josh Sampson his first defeat of the season in the 145-pound championship matchup. Moberly (35-2) outpointed Sampson (41-1), 7-5.
“I hit him with a headlock when he rushed in, but it was a tight match the whole way through,” Moberly said. “It was maybe a higher-scoring matchup than we expected. It was a good match.”
Moberly will be joined in Evansville by Caleb Happel (third, 103), Zach Thomas (third, 112), Aaron Witt, (third, 130), Tom Denny (fourth, 135), Drew Denny (fourth, 140) and Jacob Faulkenburg (third, 171).
New Albany’s Tim Martin (130) and Larry Rickman (140) won their respective championship matches and will head to Evansville with teammates Taylor Hoke (second, 285), Austin Jamison (fourth, 112) and Tim Martin (fourth, 125).
Traveling with Sampson to the semistate will be teammates Brady Meenach (third, 119) and Lane Massingham (third, 135). Charlestown will send Justin Wolf (fourth, 119), Taylor Newcomb (second, 140), Cory Suddeth (third, 145), Mark Daughtery (second, 152), Jacob Hall (third, 160) and John Slaten (fourth, 285).
Providence’s lone representative in Evansville will be Jacob Golembeski, who squeaked by Daughtery in a 1-0 decision.
“It feels great,” Golembeski said. “But I want to go to state, and if I had any dream of going I had to get through today. Now it’s on to next week.”
