Senior staff writer
Perry Meridian captured the Marion County wrestling championship Saturday at Lawrence North.
The No. 4 Falcons dominated the meet with eight individual champions to finish ahead of runner-up Beech Grove 258-114. Roncalli was fifth, Franklin Central ninth and Southport 10th in the 14-team meet.
Perry Meridian’s champions were Brayden Lowery (106 pounds), Brayden Littell (113), Sammy Fair (120), Sunny Nier (126, Dain Rust (145), Noah Warren (152), Christian Warren (160) and Jalen Allen (195). Lowery, Littell, Nier, Warren, and Allen are undefeated.
Nier defeated Roncalli’s Tyce Freije 18-12 for the 126-pound title. Rust handed Warren Central’s Antwaun Graves with his first loss of the season 5-1. Warren, in capturing his third county title, won by a technical fall over Walter Ballinger of Beech Grove, and Allen won his title by downing Franklin Central’s John Owensby 4-2.
Beech Grove’s Ethan Smiley won the 132-pound class his 20th match this season without a loss by defeating Ben Davis’ Donald Campbell 11-1.
Roncalli’s Sam Hansen (182) defeated Rodrigo Diaz of Perry Meridian in an all-Southside finale.
Beech Grove’s Bailey Moore reached the 138-pound final against Jesus Mancera of Lawrence Central before falling 9-3, and Southport’s Dennis Serrano was runner-up in the 170-pound class to champion Cameron Simmons.
In third-place matches, Elijah Mahan (160) of Roncalli pinned Nate Sanchez of Beech Grove at 3:25, and Rilee Miller (220) of Perry Meridian downed Isaiah Greene of Beech Grove 7-2. Perry Meridian’s Brooks Davis (138) and Austin Smith (182) of Beech Grove also were third.
CG snares title
Center Grove won only two final matches but snared the Johnson County championship Saturday by one point over host Indian Creek.
Jason Coyle (152 pounds) and Gleason Mappes (160) won individual titles for the Trojans. Greenwood’s Keeghan Overton won the 106-pound class.