South Putnam places second in holiday tournament

Thursday, December 30, 2010
South Putnam's Jesse Gardner won the 171 weight class in Wednesday's holiday tournament. Gardner was one of six Eagles who won individual champion honors.

GREENCASTLE -- South Putnam hosted its annual holiday wrestling tournament Wednesday as part of the school's two-day tournament bonanza. The host Eagles had six wrestlers earn tournament champion honors, but finished second as a team to Sullivan.

Sullivan was 3-0 on the day, with South Putnam coming in second at 2-1, Attica third at 1-2 and Turkey Run fourth as 0-3.

While his team didn't finish on top, South Putnam head coach Josh Hendrickson was proud of his half dozen champions.

"Yeah, we had several champions," Hendrickson said. "Six out of 14 isn't bad. It was a strong day. We were on the other side of some forfeits this time, which is unusual. Usually we're giving up a lot of forfeits and today we took some, so that's good."

Wrestlers who were crowned individual champions were Evans Potts (130), Braydon Patrick (140), Andy Waters (160), Jesse Gardner (171), Tanner Thompson (189) and Jacob Williams (215).

"To have so many kids named champions was nice, especially since they are in the middle of a holiday break from school," Hendrickson said.

"I thought our kids wrestled well. (At) Christmas break, keeping them focused, is always kind of difficult. I think we managed to come out and wrestle hard today. (There were) a lot of positive things," Hendrickson said.

South Putnam opened with two big wins over Attica and Turkey Run and faced Sullivan, who was also 2-0 on the day, in the final round.

South Putnam opened the final round with a Williams pin, but saw the Golden Arrows build a big lead before a pin by Potts cut into the lead. With the score 46-12 in favor of Sullivan, South Putnam got wins by fall from Waters, Gardner and Thompson to close out the round and put the score to the final count of 46-36 in favor of the Golden Arrows.

South Putnam controlled many matches, but they also displayed the grit and determination to stave off pins and avoid giving up big points for its opponents.

"Joe Waters wasn't champion, but I thought he did very well," Hendrickson said. "He got beat by points; he was not able to give us the pin there. Tanner Thompson, our 189, did well. His last match he looked like he was in a little bit of trouble and he managed to get out of that and capitalize."

Now the Eagles enter the New Year with the mindset of honing what they've been working on and they look to build with the big meets that end the season looming.

"We're re-settling I think. We've been working the things we struggled with at the beginning of the season and now we're looking toward the end of the season, so it's a different gear. We need to just shift gears and get ready for the end," Hendrickson said.

At South Putnam

South Putnam Holiday Wresting Tournament

Team Scores

Sullivan 3-0, South Putnam 2-1, Attica 1-2, Turkey Run 0-3

Individual Champions

103 -- Gilham (Sullivan)

112 -- Bossaer (Attica)

119 -- Orndorff (Sullivan)

125 -- N. Sullivan (Sullivan)

130 -- Potts (SP)

135 -- Byrd (Sullivan)

140 -- Patrick (SP)

145 -- Cox (Sullivan)

152 -- J. Sullivan (Sullivan)

160 -- A. Waters (SP)

171 -- Gardner (SP)

189 -- Thompson (SP)

215 -- Williams (SP)

289 -- Mirkle (Attica)