By E. Shawn Aylsworth
Managing Editor
Castle coach Bob Harmon was hopeful his seventh-ranked Knights could capture their first-ever team title Jan. 23 at the annual Southern Indiana Athletic Conference Championships, easily the state’s top conference tournament when you throw in the Evansville-based league’s heated rivalries.
But he also thought that No. 5 Evansville Reitz had the edge.
“It’s obviously something we’d like to win, but the biggest thing will be who shows up to wrestle,” Harmon told courierpress.com. “When I looked at the brackets, I thought this was Reitz’s tournament to lose.”
Indeedy doody.
Reitz captured four individual crowns and backed it up with three second- and third-place finishes in totaling 209.5 points, just enough to dethrone long-time conference king No. 6 Evansville Mater Dei (202.5) and Castle (199).
Both Reitz (4, 3, 3, 2, 2) and Mater Dei (4, 4, 2, 3, 1) entered the fray with all 14 wrestlers seeded among the top five at each class, while Castle (4, 3, 2, 2, 0) had 11. Heck, unranked fourth-place finisher Evansville Memorial (122.5) even had 10 wrestlers seeded among the top five, evidence of how ridiculously good this conference is.
Each of the three highly ranked schools had, in fact, gone 1-1 against the others – Reitz losing to Castle, which lost to 12-time state champion Mater Dei, which lost to Reitz. And each team boasted four top-seeded wrestlers entering the event:
• Reitz: 112-pound senior Bryan Kuhn, 119 sophomore Trevor Moody, 130 junior Derek Dowdy, and 135 senior Blake Rueger
• Castle: 145 junior Doug Welch, his 152-pound twin Chad Welch, 189 senior Alex Rosebrock, and senior heavyweight Tyler Daugherty
• Mater Dei: 125 junior Zach Henderson, 160 sophomore Dalton Brandenstein, 171 junior Josh Boots, and 215 junior Justin VanWinkle
Castle got victories from all four of its No. 1s plus two more titles, both upset wins over Mater Dei top seeds. But Reitz did a better job of pinning down top-four finishes from its non-winning wrestlers with a maximum of 10, compared with just five for Castle and 11 for Mater Dei.
Among the more interesting weight classes …
• At 103, No. 5 Evansville Harrison senior Dylan Hall (39-2) scored a 4-2 overtime decision against No. 9 Reitz sophomore Gideon VanHook (30-4).
• At 112, Reitz undefeated senior No. 4 Bryan Kuhn (33-0) posted a 7-2 decision over Castle unranked freshman Luke Welch (26-6), while No. 16 Evansville Memorial freshman Logan Wedding (31-3) settled for third.
• At 145, Castle unbeaten junior No. 3 Doug Welch (32-0) eked out a 1-0 decision over Mater Dei junior No. 4 John Sims (21-4), while No. 14 Reitz senior Corey Voegel (30-5) took third.
• At 160, No. 15 Castle senior Corey Weikel (28-4) registered a 6-3 OT upset win of No. 14 Mater Dei sophomore Dalton Brandenstein (21-5).
• At 215, No. 16 Castle senior Travis Daugherty (18-10) nailed down a 7-4 upset decision over top-seeded Mater Dei junior Justin VanWinkle (25-4).
• At heavyweight, Castle No. 6 senior Tyler Daugherty (30-2) earned a 1-0 decision over No. 9 Reitz senior Zach Wimpleberg (28-5).
Getting a top-four result from every single weight class proved to be critical for the Panthers, whose coach Scott Ferguson said his team’s overall goal was to set themselves up for sectionals next weekend.
“This has been Mater Dei’s for so long, somebody’s going to have to take it from them,” Ferguson had told courierpress.com.
Turns out it was his Panthers. But barely, thanks to those two Castle upset victories.
Team scores
1. #5 Evansville Reitz 209.5
2. #6 Evansville Mater Dei 202.5
3. #7 Castle 199
4. Evansville Memorial 122.5
5. Evansville Central 61
6. Evansville Harrison 53.5
7. Evansville North 50
8. Evansville Bosse 6
The top four finishers at each class:
103
1st: #5 Dylan Hall, Harrison 12 39-2 dec. 4-2 (OT)
2nd: #9 Gideon VanHook, Reitz 10 30-4
3rd: Evan Vibbert, Mater Dei 11 20-10 forfeit
4th: Lorenzo Turi, Central 10 25-7
112
1st: #4 Bryan Kuhn, Reitz 12 33-0 dec. 7-2
2nd: Luke Welch, Castle 9 26-6
3rd: #16 Logan Wedding, Memorial 9 31-3 dec. 4-3
4th: Sam Goebel, Mater Dei 10 17-14
119
1st: Trevor Moody, Reitz 10 34-1 dec. 4-0
2nd: Ryan Quinton, Memorial 12 24-9
3rd: Jake Lannert, Mater Dei 10 24-6 major dec. 16-6
4th: Hunter Oakley, Central 10 17-13
125
1st: #14 Zach Henderson, Mater Dei 11 25-3 dec. 2-1 (OT)
2nd: Drew Sulawske, North 12 30-4
3rd: Michael Brown, Castle 11 27-5 major dec. 10-1
4th: Dylan Backes, Reitz 12 13-7
130
1st: Derek Dowdy, Reitz 11 34-3 dec. 4-3
2nd: Quinn Schroeder, Mater Dei 11 25-4
3rd: Zach Wolf, Harrison 12 37-7 dec. 7-6
4th: Jordan Mann, Castle 11 21-13
135
1st: Blake Rueger, Reitz 10 33-1 dec. 4-0
2nd: Evan Weinzapfel, Mater Dei 11 23-7
3rd: Jon Keith, Central 11 23-8 dec. 3-0
4th: David Hodge, Memorial 11 26-9
140
1st: Austin Chamberlain, Central 11 31-1 dec. 8-5
2nd: Roy Whetstine, Memorial 11 28-8
3rd: Trevor Doud, Castle 12 28-6 dec. 4-0
4th: Dakota Reed, Reitz 12 24-12
145
1st: #3 Doug Welch, Castle 11 32-0 dec. 1-0
2nd: #4 John Sims, Mater Dei 11 21-4
3rd: #14 Corey Voegel, Reitz 12 30-5 fall
4th: Matthew Prasek, Memorial 11 30-5
152
1st: #2 Chad Welch, Castle 11 32-0 fall
2nd: Tyler Boyle, Reitz 12 27-10
3rd: Bryan Hayhurst, Memorial 10 8-8 dec. 6-5
4th: Alex Schneider, Mater Dei 9 18-7
160
1st: #15 Corey Weikel, Castle 12 28-4 dec. 6-3 (OT)
2nd: #14 Dalton Brandenstein, Mater Dei 10 21-5
3rd: Bo Rushing, North 12 22-9 dec. 6-3
4th: Cole Schneider, Reitz 12 20-8
171
1st: Josh Boots, Mater Dei 11 29-1 dec. 9-2
2nd: Austin Warren, Castle 10 19-14
3rd: Mason Schnarr, Reitz 9 22-12 dec. 4-2
4th: Drew Miles, Memorial 11 11-7
189
1st: #6 Alex Rosebrock, Castle 12 30-2 major dec. 15-7
2nd: Ryan Sandwith, Memorial 11 26-6
3rd: Jeff Fentress, Reitz 12 23-8 dec. 10-5
4th: Nathan Wright, Mater Dei 9 9-7
215
1st: #16 Travis Daugherty, Castle 12 18-10 dec. 7-4
2nd: Justin VanWinkle, Mater Dei 11 25-4
3rd: Jordan Adams, Memorial 12 17-5 dec. 11-4
4th: James Carter Vasquez, Reitz 10 6-4
Hwt
1st: #6 Tyler Daugherty, Castle 12 30-2 dec. 1-0
2nd:#9 Zach Wimpleberg, Reitz 12 28-5
3rd: Neil Hammelman, Mater Dei 12 23-6 fall
4th: Andrew Kuhlenhoelter, North 12 24-8
Processing your request, Please wait....
