And then there was one: Barrow advances to state finals

Mount Vernon’s Braxton Whitfield gets an early edge during semi-state action at the Ford Center in Evansville on Saturday. At the end of the day, North Posey’s Tyson Barrow is the only Posey wrestler who advanced to this weekend’s state finals. Photo by Garry Beeson

By Chris Morlan

Three North Posey and five Mount Vernon wrestlers competed last Saturday at the Indiana High School Athletic Association Semi-State at the Evansville Ford Center. This semi-state is one of the toughest venues in Indiana. To qualify for the state finals. You must win your first two matches of the bracket to place in the top four in a weight class.

North Posey junior Tyson Barrow won his first two matches and will compete in this weekend’s state finals. It did not pan out so well for the other seven wrestlers from Posey County. Five wrestlers were eliminated after their first match. While North Posey freshman Parker Wehmer lost in the quarterfinals and was one win from qualifying for the state met.

Before the day began at the semi-state, there were 224 wrestlers competing in the fourteen weight classes. Only fifty-six of those 224 wrestlers will advance to the state finals.

There were thirty-four wrestlers from the Pocket Athletic Conference and thirty-three wrestlers from the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference competing at the Evansville semi-state meet. Of those sixty-seven wrestlers, only fifteen of them will compete at the state finals this weekend.

The state finals will be at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Evansville Mater Dei has six wrestlers advancing to the state finals, while Heritage Hills will have two wrestlers competing at the state meet. North Posey, Jasper, Gibson Southern, Boonville, Evansville Memorial, Princeton, and Southridge will each have one wrestler compete at the next level of the state tournament.

For Mater Dei, Spencer McCammon in the 113-pound weight class, Aiden Walker in the 120-pound weight class, Wyatt Ulrey in the 126-pound weight class, Asa Spencer in the 144-pound weight class, Camden Baumann in the 165-pound weight class, and Caden Thacker in the 215-pound weight class.

Heritage Hills has Elijah Hedges in the 138-pound weight class and Hayden Smith in the 285-pound weight class. Deacon Dressler of Gibson Southern will compete in the 157-pound weight class, Sam Howard of Boonville in the 190-pound weight class, Nolan Mullens of Jasper in the 126-pound weight class, Conner Hoar of Evansville Memorial in the 175-pound weight class, Jaran Kerney of Princeton in the 215-pound weight class, and Owen Blessinger of Southridge in the 132-pound weight class.

Tyson Barrow (38-4) placed fourth in the 175-pound weight class. In the championship round one match, Barrow won by major decision (15-2) over Alijah Gohl (Corydon Central). Barrow won his quarterfinal match by defeating Mazeed Ishola (Speedway) by fall (3:44). That win over Ishola punched the state final ticket for Barrow for the second straight year. During the semifinals, Lincoln Cooper (Columbus East) beat Barrow by decision (8-1). For the third-place match, Barrow lost by sudden victory (4-1) against Conner Hoar (Evansville Memorial).

Aslan Templeton (30-11) (North Posey) in the 138-pound weight class lost his opening round match against Landen Haines (Brownsburg) by technical fall (17-1). Viking freshman Parker Wehmer (32-6) in the 126-pound weight class won his opening round match over Jude Pratt (Bloomington South) by fall (1:42). In the quarterfinals, Dominic Brown of Center Grove) defeated Wehmer by technical fall (19-4).

For Mount Vernon, Maddex Salee (26-12) was in the 132-pound weight class. Salee lost his opening round match against Ethan Poling (Columbus East) by fall (1:30). Logan Mitchell (21-20) lost his opening round match in the 150-pound weight class against Hunter Banet (Floyd Central) by fall (1:16).

Also from Mount Vernon, Braxton Whitfield (25-14) in the 165-pound weight class lost by decision (7-3) over Griffan Larson (Avon) in the opening round. Eastin Hall (36-10) lost his opening round match in the 190-pound weight class against Caleb Avetomowo (Decatur Central) by major decision (11-2). In the 285-pound weight class, Bryce Bourne (20-18) lost his opening round match against Keenan Mowery (South Putnam) by technical fall (15-0).

Center Grove won as a team with 210 points. Also, Center Grove will advance ten wrestlers to the state finals. Of those ten Center Grove wrestlers advancing to the state finals, three of those wrestlers won their weight class and four finished second at last weekend’s semi-state.

Brownsburg placed second in the meet with 178 points, followed by Evansville Mater Dei in third place with 124 points, Columbus East in fourth place with 112.5 points, Franklin Community in fifth place with 99 points, Avon placed sixth with 77 points, and Heritage Hills in seventh place with 50 points.

Other area schools that scored at this meet were Boonville placing ninth with 34 points, Princeton in eleventh place with 28 points, Gibson Southern in twelfth place with 27.5 points, North Posey in seventeenth place with 18 points, Evansville Memorial in nineteenth place with 16 points, Jasper in twentieth place with 15 points, Southridge in twenty-third place with 12 points, Washington in twenty-seventh place with four points, Vincennes Lincoln in thirty-first place with three and a half points, and Evansville Harrison in thirty-fourth place with two points.

North Posey freshman Parker Wehmer settles in for a win in his first-round match on Saturday. However, he came up one win short of advancing to the IHSAA State Finals. Photo by Garry Beeson