Columbus East’s Nate Anderson gains control of Bloomington South’s Carson Bohall during the 150-pound match in the Orange Pit at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Although Columbus East won the third-place match in Saturday’s Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association state duals, a semifinal loss to Floyd Central left a bitter taste.
The Olympians will get another shot at the Highlanders on Saturday, this time in a different format, in the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament at Seymour.
“I’m looking forward to it,” senior Nate Anderson said following Thursday’s 50-18 win against Bloomington South. “We improve every day. They got us in team state, but I think we can get them on Saturday at HHC.”
Anderson was one of three East seniors honored on senior night. He earned a 16-0 technical fall against the Panthers’ Carson Bohall at 150 pounds.
“It was fun,” Anderson said. “I knew that this was one of my last two (meets) here, so I wanted to go out and just wrestle how I know how to wrestle. He did something to me out of bounds and made me mad, so I tech-falled him to make up for it.”
The other Olympian varsity senior, Tyler Lake, had the misfortune of going against Evan Roudebush, who is ranked No. 3 at 165. Roudebush bumped up to 175 to wrestle Lake and scored a first-period pin.
“That’s respect,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “They thought they were getting a better match there, and they made that switch. There’s nothing wrong with that. We want to wrestle the best competition, and (Lake) got the opportunity to do that tonight.”
East’s other senior is first-year wrestler Coleman Hartsook, who did not compete on Thursday.
“It’s great to recognize our seniors,” Cooper said. “Coleman just decided to wrestle kind of out of the blue as a senior, which is pretty rare, and the other two, Nate and Tyler, both have had great careers and watching their growth has been very special for me, from where they were wrestling with us as youth to where they are now. They’re having some some outstanding seasons, and to come out and get the team win tonight was good.”
The match started with the Olympians’ No. 9-ranked Talon Jessup picking up a forfeit win at 106. Bloomington South won a decision at 113 before East’s Wyatt Behnke won by pin at 120 and 18th-ranked Gage Rutan won by tech fall at 126.
The Panthers earned decisions at 132 and 144, sandwiched around a pin from the Olympians’ 19th-ranked Caleb Kirkpatrick at 138. Following Anderson’s tech fall at 150, East got a pin from Linclon Cooper at 157 and a major decision from Hank Redman at 165 for a 38-9 lead.
After Roudebush’s pin of Lake at 175, the Olympians’ Colin McMahon won by pin at 190. Bloomington South picked up a decision at 215 before East’s Dominic Piper closed the match with a pin at 285.
The Olympians will look to ride that momentum into Saturday’s HHC tourney.
“We’re trying to get payback,” Chris Cooper said. “We lost a very close dual. It’s a team that I feel like we can go get. We can go win the conference. Our guys are pretty hungry. We’re going to wrestle like they stole something from us. Out kids have battled hard all year, and Saturday will be no different.”
