Eagles travel to Southmont for JV wrestling tournament

Nathan Sheets of South Putnam goes for a pin against a Frankfort wrestler. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

CRAWFORDSVILLE--In one of the last wrestling outings before sectionals begin, South Putnam brought its JV squad to the Southmont JV/Freshman Wrestling Classic Thursday night.

Jesse Neal finished second at 285 pounds, defeating South Vermillion's Devin Wallace before falling to Lebanon's Cody Chelf in the finals.

Nathan Sheets won his first-round match over Frankfort's Jacob Bitner before being pinned in the semifinal at 195 pounds by Lebanon's Kirt Ohlemacher while Jesse Robinson was defeated in his semifinal at 182 pounds by Southmont's Mason Cody.

South Putnam JV coach Pat Pistelli pointed to the matches Thursday night as a way for the trio to get experience while working their way toward the varsity squad next year.

"We came and we wrestled well against some competition that we hadn't seen," Pistelli said. "These guys don't get the chance to wrestle all that often but they came out tonight and wrestled hard, made some mistakes but won some matches.

"These guys are getting ready for next year. We hope to see them in the varsity lineup then."

"These guys get a chance to go back tomorrow and get the guys wrestling in the sectional ready to go," Pistelli added. "They got experience tonight that the rest of the county did not."