From the Edge of the Mat (12/22)

Dingo here. I was taking a look at the results of the two biggest in-season high school tournaments year in and year out, the Walsh Ironman and the Beast of the East. As we all know, Indiana teams and wrestlers are not permitted to participate in these tournaments. However, I saw some familiar names among the results; placers and others who just missed placing. I recognized the names because I remembered them from the Brute Scholastic Duals this past summer. Indiana sent two teams, Indiana Gold and Indiana Blue, loaded with our very best wrestlers. Aside from a remarkable runner-up finish for Indiana Gold to the powerful Pennsylvania team, five wrestlers finished the entire tourney undefeated: Sean "Mac Daddy" McMurray, Cashe Quiroga, Brandon Wright, Kyle Mosier and Braden Atwood. Many of Indiana's representatives this past summer beat some of the major players at the Ironman and the Beast. Anyway, it's interesting to me, so I took a few minutes to research results, and here's what I found:

Casey Kenney of Jay County, coming off of his runner-up finish this past year at 103, won a 15-7 decision over Delaware's Tyler Pendergrast, who finished in 6th place at the Beast at 103.

Tony Lovejoy, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, an impressive state placer as a sophomore, knocked off uber-stud Shane Gentry of VA (multi-X Ironman and Beast placer, Super 32 placer, Powerade 3rd place finisher) by a strong 15-10 count. Gentry finished 4th at this year's Ironman and 2nd at the Beast, both at 119. The win is a huge feather in Lovejoy's budding career, to say the least.

Brandon Wright of Indianapolis Cathedral, Cadet Nationals freestyle champ this past summer in addition to his state championship at 112, manhandled Delaware's Brandon Shulte, 6th place finisher at the Beast at 119, by a 17-6 score. He added a 10-8 win over NJ state champ and Beast 3rd place at 112 finisher Tyler Biscaha. Biscaha is also a former Soph. Nationals champ.

The aforementioned Quiroga of Lawrence North added to his legacy by backing up his state championship this past year with a 11-5 win over Delaware's Wendell Cannon, Beast 4th place finisher at 125. Also, he added a 10-3 win over Beast 130 lb. 6th seed Kenny Knapp of NJ and a win by fall over Ironman 6th place finisher at 119 Gabe Gomez of C0lorado.

Josh Harper, Mishawaka's 3X Indiana state champ, won a 3-2 decision over Delaware's Josh Snook. Snook finished the Beast with a 3-2 record at 140. Harper also won 7-2 over Beast 10 seed at 130 Derrik Russell of NJ powerhouse Jackson Memorial. Russell is a 2X NJ state placer.

Gavin McGinley of Indianapolis Cathedral won 2-1 against Beast 11 seed Chris Moon of Virginia. Moon finished 7th at 152.

Sammy Bennett of Anderson Highland won 10-0 versus Ryelan Pavlik of Deleware. Pavlik finished 3-2 in a strong Beast 152 class.

Sean McMurray, Portage state champion last year over Eric Galka at 135, won a tough 4-2 decision versus NJ stud and Beast #2 seed at 135 Joe Lospinoso.  Lospinoso was NJ's runner-up last year at 135 and led the eventual champion late in the 3rd period. Beating Lospinoso was HUGE on the national scene for the Mac Daddy.

Briar Runyon of Martinsville,  Indiana state runner-up last year and 3rd place the year before (both at 152), won an impressive 1-0 match over NJ's Brian Broderick. Broderick finished 4-2 at the Beast at 160, just one match from placing. Broderick was a state qualifier last year in NJ.

Braden Atwood, Delphi's 4th place finisher at 160 in Indiana, won 3-2 over VA's Daniel McGillivray, 9th seed and 8th place finisher at the Beast in the 160 lb weight class.

Mike Duckworth, Union County's state runner-up at 160 last season, built on his Soph. Nationals runner-up finish with a 8-6 win over NJ state qualifier Umar Taramov. Taramov went 3-2 at the Beast at 160. Duckworth also beat NJ state 3rd place finisher Anthony Saulle 15-4.

Paul Parsley, semi-state qualifier from Westfield, won an impressive 3-2 victory over Beast 7th place finisher at 215 Nick Perelli of VA.

Nick Hodges, Southmont's 5th place finisher at 189 in Indiana last year, was victorious 7-2 over Beast 12th seed Bob Grogan of NJ. Hodges wrestled all the way up at 220.

Jon Clark, state qualifier last year from Jeffersonville, beat Beast HWT #10 seed  Larry Cassidy of Delaware.

These results are by no means the only impressive results from our Indiana teams and individuals this past summer, but I thought it was one sign that Indiana wrestling is alive and well, healthy and strong. Indiana beat a number of strong teams, including a New Jersey Red team loaded with high state-placers. Of course, Indiana is not Pennsylvania or Ohio, in terms of high school wrestling clout, but our best wrestlers have shown that they can hang with any wrestlers from anywhere in the country.