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Hammer wins title at 182, leads Valley to 5th-place finish
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
BUNKER HILL – The Rochester wrestling team had seven individual champions and won its second consecutive Three Rivers Conference title at Maconaquah High School Saturday.
Rochester wrestlers went 7-0 in the championship round and 12-1 in their place matches overall. They scored 247.5 points and defeated runner-up Maconaquah by 46.5 points.
Tippecanoe Valley was fifth in the 10-team field with 115 points.
Rochester
Rochester individual champions included Wyatt Davis (113), Ethan Holloway (120), Aaron Swango (126), Greyson Gard (152), Alex Deming (195), Brady Beck (220) and Marshall Fishback (HWT).
Davis, a freshman who is ranked No. 20 in the state according to indianamat.com, needed only eight seconds to pin Manchester’s Ali Green and then pinned Peru senior Conner Shaffer in 2:56 before pinning North Miami’s Spencer Flood in 1:24 in the final. Flood is 29-5 on the season but 0-3 against Davis.
Holloway, an undefeated junior ranked 19th, won his first match of the season against Wabash’s Jared Brooks, beating him 12-9 in the final. When Rochester wrestled Wabash in a dual in December, Brooks wrestled at 126 and took on Aaron Swango. Last year, Holloway and Brooks wrestled four times with Brooks owning a 3-1 advantage in their rivalry.
Holloway got a first-round forfeit and then beat Peru’s Brayden Gibson by fall in 1:53 in the semifinals.
Swango started his day with a fall in 31 seconds over Manchester’s Rylin Marks before a 6-0 win over Maconaquah’s Alex Ousley and a fall in 3:58 over North Miami’s Griffin Shanley. Swango is 26-7 on the season. Shanley, a senior, is 25-9 on the season but 0-3 against Swango.
Gard followed up his 145-pound conference title with another one Saturday. He started his day with a forfeit before beating Wabash senior Ethan Berry 11-1 and Manchester junior Jordan Ayres 8-2 in the final.
Gard, ranked No. 23, has been dealing with a wrist injury since the Rochester John McKee Memorial Invitational on Dec. 18.
Deming, a sophomore, won his first conference title and improved his record to 32-1. Deming did not wrestle Whitko’s Devin Ulshafer, who handed him his only loss in a dual at Rochester on Dec. 8.
Instead, Deming beat Wabash’s Austin Baggett by fall in 2:30, Manchester Trevor Dill 16-3 and Valley’s Bazle Owens 3-2.
Ulshafer lost to Dill twice on the day and finished fourth.
As for Deming, he improved to 3-0 on the year against Owens, a 2021 state qualifier. Deming got an escape and a takedown in the second period to build a 3-0 lead. Owens got an escape in the second period and another in the third to cut the deficit to 3-2, but Deming fended off Owens’ shot attempts in the final seconds.
Deming did not allow a takedown to Owens in 18 minutes of wrestling this year. Deming is ranked No. 14 in the state, and Owens is ranked No. 19, according to indianamat.com.
Beck, a sophomore who is ranked No. 8, started his day with a forfeit before winning by fall in 1:02 over Gavin Nethercutt of Maconaquah in the semifinals. He then defeated Preston Duffy 12-2 in the final.
Beck wrestled with a wrap over his left knee. He said he has been dealing with swelling in the knee due to a bursa sac injury.
At heavyweight, Fishback improved to 31-1 on the season when he affixed a side headlock on Peru freshman Trevi Hillman-Conley and pinned him in 3:43 in the final. Hillman-Conley is 16-6 on the season but 0-2 with two losses by fall to Fishback.
Fishback, a senior who is ranked No. 13, started his day with a win over Valley’s Zack Burke by injury default. He then stuck Southwood sophomore Ayden Stouffer in 32 seconds in the semifinals.
Other Rochester wrestlers who placed included D.J. Basham, who was third at 138; Kaleb Shaffer, who was third at 182; Gavin McKee, who was fourth at 160; Cooper Winn, who was fifth at 106; Joey Spencer, who was fifth at 132; Eli Swango, who was fifth at 170; and Mitchell Shafer, who was seventh at 145.
Tippecanoe Valley
Hammer started his day with a forfeit before pinning Peru’s Alex Smithers in 45 seconds in the semifinal. He then used his advantage in quickness and strength to defeat Maconaquah freshman Austin Ringeisen 11-1 in the final, riding Ringeisen from the top position for much of the match.
The other Valley wrestlers to reach a championship match were senior Drake Montelongo, who lost to Dylan Stroud, an undefeated wrestler from Manchester, by technical fall in the final at 132; and Owens.
Montelongo, who is ranked 14th, is 29-3 on the season but 0-2 against No. 7 Stroud.
Other Valley placers included Dalton Alber, who was fourth at 220; Joseph Lybarger, who was fifth at 113; Galvin Shambaugh, who was fifth at 126; Remington Rickel, who was fifth at 138; Zack Burke, who was fifth at heavyweight; Denver Wilson, who was seventh at 152; Colton Crabb, who was eighth at 145; and Eric Burke, who was eighth at 170.
TRC wrestling tournament team results
Rochester 247.5, Maconaquah 201, Peru 198.5, Manchester 149.5, Tippecanoe Valley 115, North Miami 90, Wabash 82.5, Northfield 75.5, Southwood 43, Whitko 35
TRC individual champions
106 – Jalen May (Peru), 113 – Wyatt Davis (Rochester), 120 – Ethan Holloway (Rochester), 126 – Aaron Swango (Rochester), 132 – Dylan Stroud (Manchester), 138 – Cooper Baldwin (Peru), 145 – Cameron Baber (Peru), 152 – Greyson Gard (Rochester), 160 – Logan Farnell (Maconaquah), 170 – Zach France (Manchester), 182 – Brandon Hammer (Valley), 195 – Alex Deming (Rochester), 220 – Brady Beck (Rochester), HWT – Marshall Fishback (Rochester)
Rochester individual results
106 – Cooper Winn – fifth, 113 – Wyatt Davis – champion, 120 – Ethan Holloway – champion, 126 – Aaron Swango – champion, 132 – Joey Spencer – fifth, 138 – D.J. Basham – third, 145 – Mitchell Shafer – seventh, 152 – Greyson Gard – champion, 160 – Gavin McKee – fourth, 170 – Eli Swango – fifth, 182 – Kaleb Shaffer – third, 195 – Alex Deming – champion, 220 – Brady Beck – champion, HWT – Marshall Fishback – champion
Valley individual results
106 – forfeit, 113 – Joseph Lybarger – fifth, 120 – forfeit, 126 – Galvin Shambaugh – fifth, 132 – Drake Montelongo – second, 138 – Remington Rickel – fifth, 145 – Colton Crabb – eighth, 152 – Denver Wilson – seventh, 160 – forfeit, 170 – Eric Burke – eighth, 182 – Brandon Hammer – champion, 195 – Bazle Owens – second, 220 – Dalton Alber – fourth, HWT – Zack Burke – fifth
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