Published: February 03, 2010 01:42 pm      

7 wrestlers advance

Despite a slow start, the Zionsville wrestling team regrouped and advanced seven wrestlers out of the Saturday, Jan. 30, sectional meet.

“We didn’t get a very good start early but that’s kind of been our problem,” Zionsville head coach Bob Brennan said. “We’re a little young — a lot of freshmen and sophomores in those lower weights.”

At 171 lbs., Eagle Jacob Howenstein repeated as sectional champion, defeating Lebanon’s Kameryn Wright 6-2.

“It feels just as good as the first one,” he said. “My goal is to make the state tournament and hopefully place and to have a big tournament next week at regionals to put myself in the best position to do that.”

Howenstein recorded falls in the first two rounds, but found himself in a battle with Wright for the title. It was the first time the two had wrestled.

“He kind of surprised me with his strength and ability,” Howenstein said. “But I was able to regroup and make sure I held on for the victory.”

Spencer Simpson (135 lbs.) Max Youngs (160 lbs.), and Jason Pedigo (215 lbs.) will all return to the regional meet for the Eagles. Simpson and Youngs remain in the same weight class as last season, while Pedigo moved up from 189 lbs.

Frankfort’s Brenton Morgan recorded a late takedown to defeat Simpson 4-2 in the third-place match.

Youngs earned a dominating 9-0 win over Westfield’s Sam Newblom in his third-place match and Pedigo also took third, edging Carmel’s Eric Courter 8-7 with a late escape.

Dylan Frauhiger (152 lbs.) also placed third for Zionsville, defeating Fishers’ Taylor Montes 6-4 with a takedown in the final minute.

Jacob Stachler (fourth place, 130 lbs.) and Adam Wertz (fourth place, 189 lbs.) round out the field of Eagle wrestlers moving on from their host sectional.

“We felt there were a couple more we could’ve gotten through, but overall they wrestled pretty well,” Brennan said. “We had a couple No. 2 seeds that lost early, but they are going to the regional and that’s the key. I told them it’s a brand new week no matter what happens.”

All Zionsville winners move on to the regional meet at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at North Montgomery High School. The Zionsville sectional and Crawfordsville sectional will make up Saturday’s field.

“Nothing against the Crawfordsville sectional, but we think ours is a little bit tougher competition,” Brennan said. “We always tell the kids, ‘if you can place top four here, you can place top four there.’”

As a team, Zionsville finished fourth with 136.5 points. Hamilton Southeastern won the meet with a team score of 201.5, edging second-place Carmel (199). Only the winning team moves on to the team regional competition.