Ben Baker defeated eighth-rated Brad Busse for the second time this week Thursday in a wrestle-off for the 189-pound starting slot. Baker will be in the lineup Saturday as the Braves attempt to defend their NHC wrestling crown at Carroll..
Busse was seeded second at 189 with an 11-3 record. Spencer Raypole of Carroll, who nipped Bellmont's Isaac Birch 3-2 in the dual meet, is the top seed at 189. Ben Baker will bring in a 9-2 record.
"For us to win the ACAC tourney, we need to have excellent placement. I feel we have a deeper team than most in the tourney, so if we can get solid placement in all of the classes we'll be in good shape," stated South Adams coach Eric Myers on the chances of SA adding the tourney crown to its 7-0 dual meet record.
MONROE—The Bellmont swim team captured all 12 first place finishes in the boys meet and nine in the girls meet to easily post victories over Adams Central Thursday night at the AC pool.
The Bellmont boys tripled the score on the AC team by a 136-42 count while the Squaws doubled the Jets by a 120-60 count.
It will almost certainly be No. 8 Bellmont vs. No. 5 Yorktown in the first round of the Adams Central Team Wrestling Regional on February 2.
The IHSAA announced pairings for the Team Wrestling Tournament Thursday afternoon, and it pits the winner of the Jay County Sectional against the winner at Delta, then the winner at Carroll vs. the winner at New Haven.
If things work out Saturday at the NHC Wrestling Tournament even close to what the coaches predicted with the seeding process, Carroll will march to the NHC tourney crown with Bellmont second.
Of course, things don't always go as they're supposed to, especially when it comes to Bellmont wrestlers achieving above their seeds.
Lauren Heeter poured in 30 points, leading the Eastbrook Lady Panthers to a 59-26 rout of Adams Central in girls high school basketball action Tuesday at the Central court.
The Panthers jumped out 18-7 at the first stop and cruised to the victory. Kerri Guffey and Danielle Gerdt both put in eight points for the winners while Halee Bischoff added six and Megan Sizemore two.
Both the Adams Central girls and boys swim teams won nine of 12 first places en route to easy wins over Wabash Tuesday at the Central pooll.
Jacob Weil took the 500 free and 100 backstroke events and Eric Durbin took the IM and 100 butterfly, and both were on the winning medley relay team to pace the boys win.
Bellmont's Clint Saunders defeated Eli Little of Huntington with a sparkling 253 (to 156) in the championship match of the Hoosier Conference Boys Bowling Tournament, held this past Saturday at Bluffton.
Saunders qualified fourth in the preliminary round, tossing a solid 644 series to earn one of 16 slots in the championship bracket.
A single-elimination tourney followed, with Clint going through with three match-play round victories.
PORTLAND—Bellmont's 400 freestyle relay teams left nothing to chance Saturday by sweeping the top two positions in the final race of the day and the Braves captured the boys title of the Jay County Swimming Invitational over four other teams.
South Adams, rated No. 19 in the state, completed a perfect wrestling regular season over the weekend by capturing the Tri Invitational with a 5-0 mark.
For the season, the Starfires finished 27-0, going 5-0 at Tri, the ECIC at Jay County, the New Castle Super Duals, the Spencer Haworth Invitational at SA, and at the Homestead Super Duals.
The Stars had one close match Saturday, defeating Alexandria 37-31. The Stars also defeated Hamilton Heights 54-15, Southridge 58-9, Northeastern 72-9 and Tri High 76-6.
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