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What to watch at Bloomington North wrestling sectional

jim gordillo, the herald-times
·4 min read

Here's what we're looking for at the Bloomington North Sectional, which kicks off Saturday morning at 8 with finals usually slated for sometime early afternoon.

Unfortunately, the seeds were not released before this story's deadline on Wednesday night so names and weights may change by the time Match 1 rolls around.

The basics

Teams involved include Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Edgewood, Owen Valley, Indian Creek, Northview, Paoli, Sullivan, Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South and West Vigo.

The top four in each weight class will advance to the Bloomington South Regional next Saturday.

Two-time defending champ Terre Haute South is favored again, but WIC winner Northview and runner-up Owen Valley should give the Braves a good chase. THS won six individual titles at the CI meet and had four others finish as runner-ups. Only one Brave failed to finish in the top three.

Favorites on the mat

We don't have the official seeds, but here's who looks like the one to watch in each weight:

106: Cam Meier, Bloomington South, ranked ninth in state and No. 4 in Evansville Semistate. 113: Jackson Heaston, Indian Creek, WIC champ and ranked sixth in Evansville Semistate; 120: Lane Gilbert, Sullivan, WIC champ and No. 6 in the state. 126: Joseph Dedeaux, Terre Haute South, CI champ; 132: Wyatt Cooksey, Bloomington South; 138: Branson Weaver, Owen Valley, WIC champ, ranked No. 8 in state; 145: Cash Turner, Edgewood, WIC champ, ranked 10th in state; 152: Evan Roudebush, Bloomington South, CI champ, ranked fifth in state. 160: Cael Hickok, Bloomington North, CI champ. 170: Delaney Ruhlman, Bloomington South, No. 1 in the state. 182: Richard Alexander, Northview, WIC champ, No. 18 in the state. 195: Dalton Simmons, Northview, WIC champ. 220: Eli Hinshaw, Owen Valley, WIC champ, No. 9 in state. 285: Bryce Mills, Owen Valley, WIC champ.

Making a run

Defending champs from last year are Meier (106), Heaston (113), Gilbert (120), Weaver (126), Cash Turner (138) and Ruhlman (152).

In addition, Turner, Ruhlman and Gilbert are after a four-year sweep of sectional titles. Heaston is looking to make it three in a row.

Best brackets

Some brackets are deeper or more competitive than others. Here's a few to keep an eye on as far as our area wrestlers are concerned:

113: Plenty of good talent here to fill the top four, led by Indian Creek's Heaston and Terre Haute South's William Rader, who each won league titles. Add in Edgewood's John Orman (who missed WIC's) and OV's Eli Collier and it's going to be a battle for the next two weeks, with Tell City's Walter Hagedorn in the mix at regional.

145: Turner is a strong favorite, but he'll have to likely beat CI champ Coy Bender of THS in the final, the 19th ranked wrestler at this weight. They avoided each other (Bender went up to 152) at their -mid-season dual. WIC runner up Conner Rogers of Owen Valley, South's Hunter Fender hope to be right there.

152: This is Roudebush's bracket to lose, but Luke May of THS, Jeremiah Casillas of Bloomington North, Michael Neidigh of Edgewood and WIC runner-up Oliver Hallet will also be in the running to advance.

160: Hickok, CI runner-up Jorge Franco of THS and Northview's Tyler Lee all have a shot to win, with Edgewood's Mason Cornwell a contender as well. Lee wrestled at 170 much of the season.

182: Alexander and OV's Kyvan Bandy will have to deal with Bloomington South's sophomore wrestling rookie Tristan Hicks at some point.

195: An interesting battle here. Bloomington South's Drew Chandler won a CI title over THS's Brandon Freeman but was pinned by Edgewood's Braden Hubbell and Northview's Dalton Simmons is a WIC champ. West Vigo's Brock Higgins in a 20-match winner as well.

In addition to Edgewood's Turner likely meeting another ranked foe in the finals, two other brackets figure to have similar endings.

At 220, No. 9 Hinshaw from OV could face No. 12 Alex Rose of THS in the final, while at 285, OV's Bryce Mills and THS's Sean Murphy are considered the No. 8 and 9 contenders in the Evansville Semistate.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: What to watch at Bloomington North wrestling sectional