Crippin, Good win sectional titles, lead group of 9 from Winamac to regional

Pioneer’s Smith stays unbeaten, wins sectional title at 182

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Led by individual champions Phillip Crippin (152) and Caleb Good (170), the Winamac wrestling team qualified nine wrestlers for the regional and finished in second place out of 12 teams at the Twin Lakes sectional Saturday.

Winamac scored 194.5 points. Rensselaer scored 243.5 points and won the sectional for the fifth straight year.

Meanwhile, Pioneer scored 64 points and placed ninth. The Panthers had three regional qualifiers, led by Logan Smith, who won the title at 182.

Winamac

Crippin, a senior, was the No. 2 seed but defeated to-seeded Joseph Henry of Benton Central 11-7 in the final. He had reached the final with a pin in 1:21 over North Newton’s Cade Watkins and a 6-2 win over West Central’s Jacob Pilarski.

Good, a senior, needed only 12 seconds to stick Kaydric Tyson of Benton Central before beating Pioneer’s Peyton Schnurpel by technical fall to reach the final. He then edged second-seeded Andrew Ball of Rensselaer 6-5 in the final.

Other Winamac regional qualifiers included Brendan Day, who was second at 160; Tyler Perry, who was second to Pioneer’s Smith at 182; Dakota Smith, who was second at 195; Austin Attinger, who was third at 113; Shaun Pratt, who was third at 120; Willis Dennis, who was fourth at 126; and Tyler Tankersley, who was fourth at 145.

Day, a senior, pinned Benton Central’s Kolby Schwartz and earned an overtime win over Rensselaer’s Ryan Crews to reach the final before losing to top-seeded Eli Quasebarth of North White 14-4 in the final.

Perry had first-period falls over wrestlers from North Newton and South Newton to reach the final before Smith repeated his Hoosier North win over him in the final.

Dakota Smith had first-period falls over Logansport’s Diego Torres and Tri-County’s Payton Stark to reach the final before losing a 4-0 decision to top-seeded Selvin Portillo of North White.

Attinger, a freshman, won three of his four matches by fall, including a fall in 2:27 over South Newton’s Hayden Ramon in the third-place match.

Pratt opened with a first-period fall over Tri-County’s Kody Gorney before a loss by decision to Rensselaer’s Caleb Oliver in the semifinals. He then earned his regional ticket with a fall over Logansport’s Ayden Salisbury and earned third place with a fall in 2:01 over North Newton’s Aidan Barron.

Dennis, a sophomore, lost by fall in 1:09 to Drake Fritz, an undefeated wrestler from West Central, in the semifinals, but he rebounded to pin North White’s Chris Williams in 2:32 in his ticket match before losing by fall to Benton Central’s Jett Stokes in the third-place match.

Tankersley pinned Pioneer freshman Eli Nicoll before losing by fall to top-seeded senior Dylan Barron of North Newton in the semifinals. He then needed only 15 seconds to pin Tri-County’s Jacob Alberts in his ticket match before a 6-0 loss to Rensselaer’s Larz Hughes in the third-place match.

Pioneer

Joining Logan Smith at the regional will be Schnurpel, who was third at 170; and Brandon Sterrett, who was fourth at 132.

Logan Smith topped a 10-person bracket at 182 by winning four matches. He pinned Frontier’s James Kruger in 52 seconds, pinned Logansport’s Reyes Oniel in 19 seconds, defeated Rensselaer’s Trenton Simmons 9-2 in the semifinals and pinned Perry in the final.

Schnurpel, a junior, pinned North White’s C.J. Hunt in 50 seconds to reach the semifinals before his tech fall loss to Good. But he rebounded to pin Frontier freshman Weston Maddox in 27 seconds and West Central sophomore Zach Gilger in 56 seconds to place third.

Sterrett, a sophomore, went 2-2 on the day. He edged Logansport’s Ashton Klein 11-9 before a loss by fall to Rensselaer’s Mason Stanley sent him to the wrestlebacks. There, he pinned Tri-County’s Joan Martinez in 1:24 to earn his regional ticket before a loss by fall in 3:23 to Cade Keller of Benton Central in the third-place match ended his day.

The top four in each weight class advanced to the Logansport sectional, which starts at 8 a.m. this Saturday. The semistate is at East Chicago Central on Feb. 12.

Twin Lakes sectional results: Rensselaer 243.5, Winamac 194.5, North Newton 158, West Central 130, North White 112, Benton Central 102, Tri-County 89.5, Logansport 70, Pioneer 64, Frontier 50, South Newton 42, Twin Lakes 0

Twin Lakes sectional individual champions

106 – Adrian Origel (North Newton), 113 – Mikkel Cunningham (North Newton), 120 – Liam Siburcrist (North White), 126 – Drake Fritz (West Central), 132 – Mason Stanley (Rensselaer), 138 – Lakin Webb (Rensselaer), 145 – Denny Wendling (Frontier), 152 – Phillip Crippin (Winamac), 160 – Eli Quasebarth (North White), 170 – Caleb Good (Winamac), 182 – Logan Smith (Pioneer), 195 – Selvin Portillo (North White), 220 – Ardyn Calinski (North Newton), HWT – Quentin Clark (Logansport)

Winamac individual results

106 – Eli Wildermuth – fifth, 113 – Austin Attinger – third, 120 – Shaun Pratt – third, 126 – Willis Dennis – fourth, 132 – Talan Braun – did not place, 138 – Noah Garner – did not place, 145 – Tyler Tankersley – fourth, 152 – Phillip Crippin – champion, 160 – Brendan Day – second, 170 – Caleb Good – champion, 182 – Tyler Perry – second, 195 – Dakota Smith – second, 220 – Talan Garner – sixth, HWT – Eli Matthews – fifth

Pioneer individual results

106 – forfeit, 113 – forfeit, 120 – forfeit, 126 – forfeit, 132 – Brandon Sterrett – fourth, 138 – Isaac Nicoll – did not place, 145 – Eli Nicoll – fifth, 152 – forfeit, 160 – forfeit, 170 – Peyton Schnurpel – third, 182 – Logan Smith – champion, 195 – forfeit, 220 – Colton Baker – did not place, HWT – forfeit

Winamac regional qualifiers and ticket matches

113 – Austin Attinger vs. Alex Thomas (Lafayette Central Catholic)

120 – Shaun Pratt vs. Drew Stall (McCutcheon)

126 – Willis Dennis vs. Logan McClimans (Attica)

145 – Tyler Tankersley vs. Andrew Kline (Lafayette Central Catholic)

152 – Phillip Crippin vs. Joe Ewing (Faith Christian)

160 – Brendan Day vs. Valin Hedden (West Lafayette)

170 – Caleb Good vs. Bailey Rucker (Delphi)

182 – Tyler Perry vs. Kooper Kinsler (Delphi)

195 – Dakota Smith vs. Brayden Conklin (Harrison)

Pioneer regional qualifiers and ticket matches

132 – Brandon Sterrett vs. Tiernen Tuttle (Harrison)

170 – Peyton Schnurpel vs. Sam Robinson (Faith Christian)

182 – Logan Smith vs. Reed Humphreys (Carroll (Flora))