Jay Co. places 7th at ECIC (12/29/04)

PORTLAND — It could have been better. It could have been worse.

Jay County rode the fence Tuesday, finishing seventh as it hosted the 16-team East Central Indiana Classic.

Norwell, which along with Zionsville and Yorktown had three individual champions, won the event with 225.5 points. Zionsville placed second with 203.5, and Winchester was third at 160.

South Adams tied for fourth with Yorktown at 148.5.

“Seventh place in that tournament was pretty good for us considering we forfeited three weight classes,” said Jay County coach James Myers, whose team gave up the 112, 119 and 130 pound weight classes. “What hurt us was the second round where we had seven guys wrestling and only two advancing to the semifinals.”

Those two were Kurtis Hess and Bill Spahr.

Hess made it all the way to the championship match at 140 pounds, where he dropped a 6-3 decision to Norwell’s James Lewis. He improved his record to 15-2 after missing a couple of weeks after surgery.

Spahr (171) lost to eventual champion Corey Garner 11-7 in the semifinal round. He went on to pin Josh Kimberlin in 36 seconds to finish in third place as he is now 20-3 this season.

“The kid (Hess) wrestled in the finals is a kid we expect him to beat,” said Myers. “He looked good at times yesterday. He hasn’t wrestled in two weeks, so he was a little rusty.”

Jay County had just three other wrestlers finish in the top half of their weight class. Nathan Conatser pinned Norhteastern’s D.J. Petitt in 3:59 to take fifth place at 171 pounds, Josh Lochtefeld (103) was seventh and Kade Poore (135) finished seventh.

Freshman Brandon Brown (17-2) grabbed the lone championship for South Adams as he dominated the 103-pound bracket. After an opening forfeit he pinned Doug Ferris of Norwell in 1:06, Nathan Bailey of Monroe Central in 14 seconds and Northeastern’s Joel Toney in 55 seconds for the title.

Josh Mann, another freshman, was the only other Starfire wrestler to make a championship match. He lost in the 112 pound finals by a 9-4 score to Blake Harner of Norwell.

Team standings

Norwell 225.5

Zionsville 203.5

Winchester 160

South Adams 148.5

Yorktown 148.5

Delta 116.5

Jay County 99

Bluffton 97.5

Randolph Southern 94

Heritage 91

Monroe Central 85

Union City 82

Wes-Del 82

Northeastern 79

Blackford 43

Shenandoah 10

Individual champions

103 — Brandon Brown, South Adams

112 — Blake Harner, Norwell

119 — Josh Smith, Yorktown

125 — Ben Nicely, Yorktown

130 — Joshiah Wagoner, Zionsville

135 — Chase Fiechter, Bluffton

140 — James Lewis, Norwell

145 — Shea Johnson, Wes-Del

152 — Stephen Mosier, Yorktown

160 — Jason Martin, Randolph Southern

171 — Corey Garner, Norwell

189 — Danny Goff, Zionsville

215 — Vince Kreipke, Zionsville

HVY — Matt Nunez, Winchester

Most Outstanding — Mosier, Yorktown[[In-content Ad]]