Peppler’s late pin clinches Lady Zs’ regional title

Peppler also wins individual title; McKee, Enyart also advance to state

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Laine Peppler Makenna McKee Elise Enyart

Girls wrestling

Laine Peppler won the title at 170 pounds at the Kokomo regional, and teammates Makenna McKee (130) and Elise Enyart (145) also advanced to state as the Rochester girls wrestling team won the team title Saturday.

Rochester finished with 79 points. Runner-up Benton Central had 77, and New Haven was third with 75.

The top four in each weight class advanced to state. McKee finished third in her weight class, and Enyart was fourth.

Peppler, ranked No. 2 in the state per IndianaMat.com, won all four of her matches by fall. She finished her day with a win in 3:15 over Tipton’s Emersyn Adkins, who came in ranked No. 4 and who had been undefeated.

McKee, a junior, advanced to state for the third straight year by pinning Caston’s Emmeline Zabel in 2:38 and beating West Vigo’s Madison Dooley 10-0 before losing to Logansport's Olivia Gibson 8-1 in the semifinals. McKee bounced back to pin Kokomo’s Addison Kline in 46 seconds in the third-place match.

Enyart, a sophomore, will be going to state for the first time. She pinned Hamilton Heights’ Isabella Bailey in 51 seconds in the first round and then clinched her state spot with a pin in 55 seconds over Benton Central freshman Sydney Groves. Enyart then lost by fall to New Haven’s Lanessa Ocampo in the semifinals and by technical fall to Western’s Jade Chloe Johnson in the third-place match.

Lilly Gerald (105), who was seeking her third state trip, lost in the ticket round to Laurana Dillon of Benton Central. 

Freshman Serenity Howard (115) lost in the ticket round to Parke Heritage’s Rheese Benjamin on a fall.

Kyra Doran (120) lost by fall to Benton Central’s Sienna Holscher in 3:12 in the ticket round.

Madelyn MacLain (125) lost by fall in 4:00 to Northfield’s Silas Graf in the ticket round.

Lexi Haughs (140) lost in the first round to Crawfordsville’s Laken Suitors.

Kayla Doss (190) lost by fall in 30 seconds to Northfield freshman Izabella Schultz.

The Lady Zs received a fire truck escort around town after arriving home.

Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis will host the state finals. Start time is 10 a.m. Friday.