Tyler Lake
The Columbus East wrestling match was the only high school athletic event held in Columbus Friday night.
The Class 3A No. 3 Olympians faced a tough task against perhaps the top team in the state in 4A No. 2 Brownsburg. Even though it was a 57-12 loss for East, it was a huge steppingstone to see where it stood heading into the sectional next week.
“We’re always trying to test ourselves against the best teams in the state. Brownsburg, they are top-two team (in the state), they are a top-20 team nationally, that’s a powerhouse team,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “Our team isn’t there yet. We have five freshmen, five sophomores in our lineup. I don’t want to make an excuse of our youth, but it’s a good test to see where we’re at. Getting a chance to wrestle a team of that caliber, they’ve got multiple-time state champs on that team. It’s good to get out there to see where you’re at with that level of competition.”
East picked up three victories in Friday’s bouts. Tyler Lake had an escape early on in his match that was enough for 1-0 decision at 175 pounds.
Talon Jessup found himself trailing with 7.1 seconds left in the match until an escape right before the buzzer tied the match. He’d eventually win in sudden victory with a takedown for a 6-4 decision at 106.
The other victory came from Gage Rutan at 126. He was trailing in his match 6-5, but then an injury default gave him the victory.
In the other matches for East, Caleb Cooper lost a 6-2 decision at 144, and Lincoln Cooper lost an 8-4 decision at 157. Ethan Poling lost an 11-1 major decision at 113, and Caleb Kirkpatrick lost by a 19-3 tech fall at 138. Nate Anderson at 150, Clayton Miller at 165, Colin McMahon at 190, James Moss at 215, Dominic Piper at 285, Wyatt Behnke at 120 and Aiden Miller 132 all lost their matches by fall. All 11 of those losses came against ranked Brownsburg wrestlers, nine of which were ranked in the top 10, including three No. 1s.
East will look to defend its sectional crown when they take part in the Jennings County Sectional on Jan. 27.
