Local wrestlers gear up for Avon Sectional

Thursday, January 25, 2007
Cloverdale's Benjamin Sanders attempts to escape the grasp of an opponent. Sanders drew a first-round bye in the Avon Sectional Saturday and will face Avon's Corbin Richards at 135 pounds in the second round.

On Saturday, wrestlers from Greencastle, North Putnam, South Putnam, and Cloverdale will invade Avon High School to compete in the Avon Wrestling Section-al.

The event will start at 8:30 a.m. and will feature competitors from Avon, Brown-sburg, Cascade, Danville, Plain-field, Tri-West Hendricks as well as the four county schools.

Putnam County was well represented with four top seeds and two No. 2 seeds when the drawings were announced.

Greencastle had two of those No.1 seeds.

Chris Pingleton is ranked 12th in the state at the 160 weight class and pulled the top seed and fifth ranked Robert Bittles will be representing Greencastle as the No.1 seed at 171. Pingleton will have a first-round bye and then will face another local wrestler, Jacob Parrish of South Putnam, in the second round. Bittles will have a first-round bye and will face Sheridan Denson from Avon.

Pingleton and Bittles have been ranked all year and will try to continue to keep their records perfect. They are a combined 62-0 on the season and are West Central Conference champions.

North Putnam has the other No. 1 seeds.

Jacob Stigall, at 189, is 17-1 on the season and will face Drake Gadberry of Tri-West after a first-round bye. His only loss of the year came early in the season to Alex Gardiner of Cloverdale, whom he wound up defeated to gain the WCC title.

Emmett Boruff is the No. 1-seeded heavyweight wrestler with an undefeated record of 15-0. Boruff manhandled his opponents on his way to be crowned WCC champion. He will have a first-round bye and will face Greencastle's Andy Harrison in the second-round.

Cloverdale's Alex Gardiner is the second-seeded wrestler at 189. Gardiner is 27-3 on the season and was second at WCC. He will have a first-round bye and will face either Quintan McPeek of Danville or Anthony Prine of Cascade.

South Putnam has the other second seed with Jon Parker. Parker wrestles at 145 and is 26-1 on the year, winning top honors at WCC. With his first-round bye, he will face North Putnam's Kenny Quisenberry in the second-round.

Ranking well is good, but not a necessity according to Greencastle coach Russ Hesler.

"It does not matter where you are seeded or ranked, it is where you end up on the placard that counts."

The top four place winners in each weight class advance to the regional tournament in Mooresville Feb. 3

Avon Wrestling Sectionals

Top Seeds

103 -- Blaine Hall (Avon)

112 -- Quaye Bealmear (Tri-West)

119 -- Travis Keers (Avon)

125 -- Mitch Minor (Danville)

130 -- Jon Fuller (Brownsburg)

135 -- Garrett Smith (Cascade)

140 -- Josh Turner (Plainfield)

145 -- Collin Carlucci (Plainfield)

152 -- Clinton Meehan (Brownsburg)

160 -- Chris Pingleton (Greencastle)

171 -- Robert Bittles (Greencastle)

189 -- Jacob Stigall (North Putnam)

215 --Matt McDaniel (Avon)

Heavyweight --Emmett Boruff (North Putnam)

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