July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Stars shine at ECIC (12/23/05)
JCHS/SAHS wrestling
Stars shine at ECIC (12/23/05)
By By RAY COONEY-
It was the day for a senior and the Starfires.
Jay County’s Kurt Hess earned the lone East Central Indiana Classic title for the host Patriots Thursday. South Adams continued its outstanding season by winning the ECIC team title.
The Starfires, who have just two losses on the year, got individual titles from Josh Mann and Christian Baer as they scored 194 points for the win. Norwell was second with 170.5, and Yorktown scored 166.5 for third.
Jay County finished with 143.5 points to finish in sixth place in the 16-team meet.
Other teams had more champions — Norwell and Yorktown each finished with three — but South Adams stacked the podium. It placed nine of its 14 wrestlers in the top five while only one other team had more than five.
“They wrestled really well,” said first-year South Adams coach Eric Myers. “To tell the truth though, we won and we could have wrestled better. There were a few guys I thought could have placed higher. Other than that they just wrestled phenomenal. The guys in the finals excelled. We wrestled pretty well all day long.”
Patriot coach James Myers touted the efforts of Hess, Bill Spahr (second place) and freshman Casey Kenney (fifth place) among others, but also said there was room for improvement.
“It was a pretty good day overall,” he said. “... top-to-bottom, not a bad performance. It would have been nice to be in the top three.”
Mann (112), who is 21-1 and ranked 10th in the state, was as dominant in his championship effort as he had been all day long, sprinting out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. He stayed in control and finished off Jordan Moran of Delta in 3-minutes, 25 seconds. He won all four of his matches on the day with pins in a total time of 7:05.
Baer (135) and Kyle Mosier of Yorktown fought to a scoreless tie in the first period of their championship match before Mosier took a 2-0 lead in the second. But that advantage was short-lived as Baer almost immediately scored a reversal and near fall for a 5-2 lead. Mosier never recovered as Baer won 6-3.
“Well, Mann is Mann,” said Eric Myers. “He’s always outstanding. Christian Baer is wrestling under control. That’s something that’s changed from the past. All the guys in the finals really (wrestled well), and there were a couple of guys not in the finals who wrestled really well and just missed it.”
Chase Sprunger (103) and Josh Kimberlin (189) also reached the finals, but lost to finish in second place. Sprunger fell 6-0 to Zionsville’s Tyler Mantei, and Kimberlin was pinned in 1:52 by Caleb Jones of Randolph Southern.
Other Starfires in the top five were: Spencer Haworth (125) in third, Adam Hirschy (160) and Caleb Moore (215) in fourth and Colt Gentis (119) and Dustin Ehr (152) in fifth.
Eric Myers said it’s been confidence which has helped his team this year. The Starfires were fourth in both the ECIC and sectional last season, and eighth at the sectional meet in 2004.
“Once we got on a roll and started beating teams — beating good teams — then they started to have confidence and started to know that they’re a good team,” Eric Myers said. “I think the coaching staff and I really instilled in them that we came in here to win this tournament and it would be a disappointment if we didn’t win it. That’s the attitude that they came in with. I think that helped us out a lot.”
Hess (140) and Spahr (171) were the lone Jay County wrestlers to make the finals where Hess took on previously undefeated Joel Hartsell, who had rolled through the day with a first-period pin and a 15-0 technical fall. But after getting poked in the eye just 11 seconds into the match, Hess took control and never trailed against the Bluffton senior.
Hess scored a takedown with 1:10 remaining in the first period, added a near fall for a 5-0 lead. He went up 7-0 midway through the second period before Hartsell made the match interesting, getting back to within 7-5 with just five seconds remaining.
But that was as close as Hess allowed it to get. He score five more points in the final period for his 12-5 victory.
“Kurt had a great day,” said James Myers of the senior, who is ranked 10th in the state and improved to 17-1. “Kurt just came out and put (Hartsell) on his back early in the match and just really controlled it after that. He did whatever he wanted. He gave up a takedown late, but got it back and then some. We’re pretty impressed with Kurt’s performance today.”
Spahr battled Yorktown’s third-ranked Michael Burke in his championship match, tying it at 4 with a takedown 20 seconds into the third period. Burke reclaimed the lead with 44 seconds to go.
Spahr made a late run, managing an escape with one second left and trying for a double-leg takedown, but ran out of time in a 6-5 defeat. He is now 16-2 on the year.
A pair of Nathans added third-place efforts for Jay County — Daniels at 135 pounds and Conatser at 215 pounds. Kenney (103) opened with a loss to the top-seeded wrestler at the meet, but beat the third, fourth and fifth seeds to finish in fifth place.[[In-content Ad]]
Jay County’s Kurt Hess earned the lone East Central Indiana Classic title for the host Patriots Thursday. South Adams continued its outstanding season by winning the ECIC team title.
The Starfires, who have just two losses on the year, got individual titles from Josh Mann and Christian Baer as they scored 194 points for the win. Norwell was second with 170.5, and Yorktown scored 166.5 for third.
Jay County finished with 143.5 points to finish in sixth place in the 16-team meet.
Other teams had more champions — Norwell and Yorktown each finished with three — but South Adams stacked the podium. It placed nine of its 14 wrestlers in the top five while only one other team had more than five.
“They wrestled really well,” said first-year South Adams coach Eric Myers. “To tell the truth though, we won and we could have wrestled better. There were a few guys I thought could have placed higher. Other than that they just wrestled phenomenal. The guys in the finals excelled. We wrestled pretty well all day long.”
Patriot coach James Myers touted the efforts of Hess, Bill Spahr (second place) and freshman Casey Kenney (fifth place) among others, but also said there was room for improvement.
“It was a pretty good day overall,” he said. “... top-to-bottom, not a bad performance. It would have been nice to be in the top three.”
Mann (112), who is 21-1 and ranked 10th in the state, was as dominant in his championship effort as he had been all day long, sprinting out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. He stayed in control and finished off Jordan Moran of Delta in 3-minutes, 25 seconds. He won all four of his matches on the day with pins in a total time of 7:05.
Baer (135) and Kyle Mosier of Yorktown fought to a scoreless tie in the first period of their championship match before Mosier took a 2-0 lead in the second. But that advantage was short-lived as Baer almost immediately scored a reversal and near fall for a 5-2 lead. Mosier never recovered as Baer won 6-3.
“Well, Mann is Mann,” said Eric Myers. “He’s always outstanding. Christian Baer is wrestling under control. That’s something that’s changed from the past. All the guys in the finals really (wrestled well), and there were a couple of guys not in the finals who wrestled really well and just missed it.”
Chase Sprunger (103) and Josh Kimberlin (189) also reached the finals, but lost to finish in second place. Sprunger fell 6-0 to Zionsville’s Tyler Mantei, and Kimberlin was pinned in 1:52 by Caleb Jones of Randolph Southern.
Other Starfires in the top five were: Spencer Haworth (125) in third, Adam Hirschy (160) and Caleb Moore (215) in fourth and Colt Gentis (119) and Dustin Ehr (152) in fifth.
Eric Myers said it’s been confidence which has helped his team this year. The Starfires were fourth in both the ECIC and sectional last season, and eighth at the sectional meet in 2004.
“Once we got on a roll and started beating teams — beating good teams — then they started to have confidence and started to know that they’re a good team,” Eric Myers said. “I think the coaching staff and I really instilled in them that we came in here to win this tournament and it would be a disappointment if we didn’t win it. That’s the attitude that they came in with. I think that helped us out a lot.”
Hess (140) and Spahr (171) were the lone Jay County wrestlers to make the finals where Hess took on previously undefeated Joel Hartsell, who had rolled through the day with a first-period pin and a 15-0 technical fall. But after getting poked in the eye just 11 seconds into the match, Hess took control and never trailed against the Bluffton senior.
Hess scored a takedown with 1:10 remaining in the first period, added a near fall for a 5-0 lead. He went up 7-0 midway through the second period before Hartsell made the match interesting, getting back to within 7-5 with just five seconds remaining.
But that was as close as Hess allowed it to get. He score five more points in the final period for his 12-5 victory.
“Kurt had a great day,” said James Myers of the senior, who is ranked 10th in the state and improved to 17-1. “Kurt just came out and put (Hartsell) on his back early in the match and just really controlled it after that. He did whatever he wanted. He gave up a takedown late, but got it back and then some. We’re pretty impressed with Kurt’s performance today.”
Spahr battled Yorktown’s third-ranked Michael Burke in his championship match, tying it at 4 with a takedown 20 seconds into the third period. Burke reclaimed the lead with 44 seconds to go.
Spahr made a late run, managing an escape with one second left and trying for a double-leg takedown, but ran out of time in a 6-5 defeat. He is now 16-2 on the year.
A pair of Nathans added third-place efforts for Jay County — Daniels at 135 pounds and Conatser at 215 pounds. Kenney (103) opened with a loss to the top-seeded wrestler at the meet, but beat the third, fourth and fifth seeds to finish in fifth place.[[In-content Ad]]
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD