Columbus East’s Talon Jessup wins the 106-pound weight class title during the IHSAA wrestling sectional at Jennings County High School in North Vernon, Ind., Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
For Talon Jessup and Gage Rutan, Saturday’s Evansville Semistate will be a chance at redemption.
Both Jessup, a Columbus East sophomore, and Rutan, an East junior, lost in the semistate quarterfinals, or “ticket round” last season, one win away from qualifying for the Wrestling State Finals. They’ll look to take that next step on Saturday and advance to state for the first time.
“It’s almost like a stab in the back,” Jessup said, recalling last year’s semistate. “Every single day, that plays back into my mind. Just one little thing could have changed everything.”
“Mine probably hurts worse than his does because I got thrown straight to my back within the first 30 seconds,” Rutan added. “So I’m hoping I can at least last longer this time.”
Columbus East’s Gage Rutan, in orange, wrestles Switzerland County’s Peyton Richards for the 126-pound weight class title during the IHSAA wrestling sectional at Jennings County High School in North Vernon, Ind., Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Jessup and Rutan will be two of 10 Olympians competing on Saturday at Ford Center in Evansville. The top four of the 16 entrants in each weight class qualify for the state finals, which also will be at Ford Center this year.
“Those two guys have put in just an immense amount of time in the offseason,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “There’s not a thing that goes on in our wrestling room that Talon is not at. He’s there every single time. Gage has made a huge step-up in his commitment. They’ve both had great years.”
Jessup (32-2) is ranked eighth in the state at 106 pounds. He is undefeated in the postseason, having won sectional and regional titles.
“Even though I’ve won these things, it’s still all about learning,” Jessup said. “I might be 32-2, but that record is all the way back from November, and I’m a completely different person now.”
Rutan (28-11) is ranked 21st at 126. He finished second in both the sectional and regional.
“All year, I’ve been working to place at state,” Rutan said. “There’s some matches I’d like to get back, but overall, I haven’t had a terrible season.”
On Saturday, Rutan will face Mason Suits (38-6) of Mt. Vernon (Posey) in the opening round. A win would set up a ticket-round match with fourth-ranked Braylon Reynolds (21-9) of Brownsburg or Cameron Fogle (28-12) of Southridge.
“I don’t think I have a terrible draw,” Rutan said. “I could have had a better draw. My second round is going to be my toughest match. I lost to him earlier in the year, but I plan on coming back and beating him.”
Jessup drew a first-round match with Matteo Cirignano (14-11) of Evansville Memorial. A win would put Jessup in the ticket round against 12th-ranked Eli Ogle (23-7) of Brownsburg or Jaxsen Jean (29-8) of Bloomington South.
“I think we got pretty good draws,”Jessup said. “We’re where we need to be as a team, but the biggest thing is us stepping up and just proving people wrong. Nobody else’s opinion matters, just go out there and compete.”
