Columbus East’s Caleb Kirkpatrick, left, faces off against Columbus North’s Justice Thornton, in the 138-pound weight class Dec. 13, 2023, at Columbus North.
The Republic file photo
The Jennings County Sectional has gone from one of the state’s smallest to the state’s largest wrestling sectional since last season.
Thirteen teams, including Columbus East and Columbus North, will compete in North Vernon beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Four newcomers — Franklin, Indian Creek, Salem and Eastern (Pekin) — will be there, with only Brown County having moved out and now in the Bloomington North Sectional.
“It adds a lot of depth to the sectional for sure, so it’s going to be a lot of full brackets,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “Certainly, the goal is to get everyone out. Will it be tougher? Absolutely. If you have a bracket that last year had six and this year has 13, that’s a different thing. But I like where we’re at.”
The Olympians are seeking their ninth consecutive sectional championship. Columbus North and Franklin figure to be their top challengers.
“I definitely think we’re the team to beat,” Cooper said. “We beat Franklin a couple times, beat Columbus North by a similar score. So we’re looking to just repeat what we’ve done over those teams.”
East’s Talon Jessup (106 pounds), Ethan Poling (113), Caleb Cooper (144), Nate Anderson (150) and Tyler Lake (175) are No. 1 seeds for the sectional. Colin McMahon (190) is a No. 2 seed; and Gage Rutan (126), Caleb Kirkpatrick (138), Lincoln Cooper (157), Clayton Miller (165), James Moss (215) and Dom Piper (285) are No. 3 seeds.
The Bull Dogs’ Justice Thornton (138) and Asher Ratliff (157) are No. 1 seeds. Jason Shuey (126), Cohen Long (132), Keller DeSpain (175) and Alex Lozano (285) are No. 2 seeds. Luke Spurgeon (150) is a No. 3 seed; and Liam Curfman (106), Nolan Riley (113), Josiah Green (144), Evan Saevre (165) and Jose Ramirez (190) are No. 4 seeds.
“Our guys are ready to go,” North coach Matt Joyce said. “We’ve have a good week of practice. We’re at full strength finally. I’m excited to see these guys go and let it fly and wrestle really hard.”
The Bull Dogs, who have been the sectional runner-up the past few years, likely will be battling Franklin for that spot on Saturday.
“I still like our chances,” Joyce said. “Our kids are still going to go wrestle hard, regardless of who steps in front of them. I’m actually excited that we have a little bit of strengthening to our sectional and lets us be the bad draw at regional.”
The host Panthers have a pair of No. 2 seeds in Luke Kirchner (120) and Lane Kirchner (138). Chris Hernandez (175) is a No. 3 seed, and RJ Barberis (150) is a No. 4 seed. Aiden Kirchner (144), Sam Hernandez (190) and Xavior Gindhart (215) are No. 5 seeds; and Cameron Carney (285) is a No. 6 seed.
“I think especially those eight have an opportunity to get on through to regional,” Jennings coach Jeff Morrison said. “A few of them are going to have to do better than they’re seeded.”
Finals and third- and fifth-place matches likely will start around 2 p.m. Saturday. The top four in each weight class advance to the Feb. 3 Jeffersonville Regional.
