Harris, SP will continue postseason run

South Putnam's Rudy Harris fends off his opponent at the regional wrestling meet on Saturday. Harris won the meet in the 195-pound class and will wrestle again Saturday at the semi-state meet. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

MOORESVILLE -- South Putnam junior Rudy Harris won a regional championship at Mooresville on Saturday.

Aside from him, there was a mix of highs and lows from the group of Putnam County wrestlers that competed at the IHSAA regional Saturday.

South Putnam will see three wrestlers make the trip to the Evansville semi-state while Greencastle and North Putnam both have alternates ready to go.

Harris again was the lone Putnam County champion, winning the 195-pound weight class in almost the exact same fashion as he did a week ago at the Avon sectional.

Senior Tanner Thompson bettered his standing at 182 pounds after taking second place, while senior Jacob Williams placed fourth at 220 pounds.

Senior Eric Davis (285) of North Putnam and senior Aaron Langdon (160) of Greencastle will be alternates for the Evansville trip after both finished fifth at Mooresville.

Davis lost to heavyweight runner-up Drew Ponder of Center Grove before defeating Martinsville's Tyler Able and Franklin Community's McBrian Groler by back-to-back pinfalls.

Langdon, at 160 pounds, lost to Center Grove's Dalton Wheeler before pinning Chris Migliano of South Putnam and Ivan Wray of Monrovia for fifth place.

It was not as good a day for most of the wrestlers as of the 14 who made the trip to Mooresville, only the three Eagle advancers won their opening match.

Greencastle's Riley Cook, Nick Pingleton and Riley Boswell, Migliano and Jacob Camacho of South Putnam and North Putnam's Dean Kleiber were eliminated after losses in the opening two rounds.

South Putnam's Nick Owen and Greencastle's Carter Lewis each won a round but fell in the fifth place match, leaving them as second alternates to the Evansville semi-state.

It was smooth sailing, however, for Harris at 195 pounds. After knocking off Ben Schoolcraft of Martinsville, he defeated Cesar Gutierrez of Ben Davis and Autry Pickens of Danville for the second straight week to win the regional.

Thompson bettered his place from last week by defeating Hunter Cullison of Martinsville and then defeating Conner Ludwig of Brownsburg, the same opponent he lost to at the sectional.

Thompson fell short in the regional final, losing to sectional runner-up Jonah Zorniger of Avon 4-1.

Williams defeated Braxton Croley of Mooresville before losing two tight decisions, a 4-3 loss to 220 pound No. 6 Connor Tolley of Franklin Community and a 4-2 overtime loss to Tyler Harlan of Brownsburg.

South Putnam head coach Josh Hendrickson said the day was a major success for the Eagles.

"I thought we wrestled great," Hendrickson said. "It's great to have three semi-state qualifiers with Rudy, Tanner and Jacob coming out.

"That was probably the best I've seen Tanner wrestle this year and he picked a good time to do it. He beat the sectional champion from last week, which was awesome.

"Rudy came out on top wrestling almost the same people as he did last week," Hendrickson added. "He took care of business again.

"Jacob had a couple of rough matches but he wrestled well. The 220 pound weight class here was pretty loaded."

Hendrickson said that the other three wrestlers competing at Mooresville had great years come to an end.

"Senior Jacob Camacho wrestled well here," Hendrickson said. "He had a great two years here. He was a good captain for the team and made the season a little more fun than it would have been.

"Chris Migliano, as a sophomore, being at the regional at 160 pounds is quite an accomplishment. Nick Owen had a tough first round match and couldn't quite get fifth, but we'll be ready to see them next year."

Greencastle head coach Matt McComish said that the squad fell on the wrong side of an unpredictable event.

"The competition is getting tough," McComish said. "We didn't have a great day. We could have wrestled better but we weren't making mistakes.

"At this point in the year, you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know the type of day you're going to have and we just didn't have a great day.

"We're going to miss the senior class," McComish added. "Riley Boswell, Nick Pingleton and Carter Lewis all have wrestled great over their careers and they've done a good job this season.

"Riley Cook made the regional as a first-year wrestler, which is a big step for him.

"Aaron Langdon had a good year and might still be a semi-state participant as an alternate. Even if he does not wrestle next Saturday, he has another year left to make improvements during the offseason."

North Putnam head coach Bucky Kramer said that the results didn't quite go his wrestlers' way, but that the success of Dean Kleiber and Eric Davis would be felt long after their departure.

"We're a little disappointed we didn't make the championship rounds and were unable to advance anyone in the top four spots but Eric is available as an alternate, which is a good thing," Kramer said.

"Early in the year, we had more kids out for wrestling than we've had for quite a while. Our middle school numbers are up tremendously and we had a good showing the other night, which we're excited about.

"We've got good youth numbers, good guys in the program and more wanting to join. Dean and Eric's success has been helpful not only this year but for future years to come."

For South Putnam, much of their preparation this week will be based on the draw for the semi-state but Hendrickson said that much of the work will be about the wrestlers themselves.

"We'll see the draw first," Hendrickson said. "The draw is important this week and we need to see who we've got and what information we can get on those wrestlers.

"We'll do more of the basics and make sure we wrestle like we can next weekend."

At Mooresville
IHSAA Regional Wrestling Tournament