North Putnam places fourth at Twin Lakes wrestling invitational

North Putnam senior Grant Bryan (top) competes during a match earlier this season. Bryan was 3-2 on Friday at the Twin Lakes Invitational. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

MONTICELLO -- The North Putnam wrestling team travelled two hours north to partake in the Twin Lakes Holiday Duals on Friday. The Cougars finished fourth out of 10 total teams.

North Putnam came into Friday wanting to really boost its season record as a team. They began the tournament with six wins and four losses with a chance to push the win column wide open with a good day.

The meet was organized into two pools. Five teams were in each pool. Each team faced all four opposing teams in the pool. At the end of the day each team with the most wins in each bracket squared off and same with second place teams and so forth. This decided the final standings.

NPHS started off early by beating Frontier High School 36-20. They followed that up with wins over Carroll and Crispus Attucks in the next three rounds. They had a bye in the second.

The Cougars had a big advantage on the number of competitors they brought. They out-numbered the first three teams and took advantage of forfeits.

North Putnam senior Grant Bryan (220 weight) won all three matches to this point by two pins and a forfeit. He lost his last two matches by getting pinned.

"I thought Grant Bryan and Ben Wiatt both did a great job. They haven't wrestled since middle school and they are really taking the challenge and doing a good job," Kramer said.

The Cougars had an advantageous route to the last round of the round-robin portion, but the West Central Trojans tested that in the final round. WCHS was also undefeated at this point.

The Trojans had a full team and they easily defeated the Cougars with power and strength, 84-0. The Trojans finished second falling to Twin Lakes in the championship round.

"There are kids for us that were not here for us today so you can't speculate on how things would be different with evenly matched teams," NPHS coach Bucky Kramer said. "A forfeit is a win and we'll take it."

NPHS faced the Lewis Cass Kings in the third-place match. Cougars' freshman Trey Clodfelter got a forfeit (one of four total on day) and that was the only points for the Cougars. They fell 77-6 and finished the day with three wins and two losses.

The Cougars had a tough time against some of the bigger teams, but they really have shown improvement. They never gave up and made it tough to be pinned.

NPHS is made up of a young and very inexperienced squad and with time they can get better. Last year they finished ninth at the duals and with one year's difference they are already up to fourth.

Final Standings and records
1. Twin Lakes (5-0); 2. West Cental (4-1); 3. Lewis Cass (4-1); 4. North Putnam (3-2); 5. South Bend Clay (3-2); 6. Carroll (2-3); 7. North White (2-3); 8. Crispus Attucks (1-4); 9. Covington (1-4); 10. Frontier (0-5).