Last year, Bloomington South junior Jaxsen Jean won a sectional wrestling title at 106 pounds while sophomore Nick Russell was king at 113, only for both to get beat in the regional finals. For Jean, it was a repeat of his freshman season.
So this year, they traded places and boom, both came out as champions at the Bloomington South Regional on Saturday, Feb. 7.
Jean has grown into a 113 body while Russell said he was 104 pounds last year competing at 113, so bulking up and cutting weight has been to his advantage at 106.
“I think it has been,” Russell said. “It’s definitely been a lot harder to get down to (106), but if I went (106) I’d have a better shot of getting to state and so far, it’s working out.”
They’re drill partners, along with freshman Josiah Stanton, the 120 champ, and not surprisingly, they’re having great seasons.
“We’re helping each other a lot,” Russell said. “We go at it every day in the room. We hit drills hard. This week, I had Jaxsen pretend that he was Hunter (Pierson) and do the stuff that Hunter did.
“Some days, we go back and forth, but (Jean) usually gets the better of me. He works really well on his feet on defense. I get shots on him all the time, but I can’t finish them.”
“He shoots a lot,” Jean added. “At the beginning of the year, I struggled with a sprawl, and he started shooting on me a lot in practice and helped me get my sprawl better. I can help him with a lot of positions, he’s not very good at and we just help each other.”
South sends 11 to semi-state
All 11 Panthers who qualified for regional kept their seasons alive, including Brian Conley, who is making his senior year something special at 138 with back-to-back postseason titles.
In workman like fashion, he put together to solid wins of 7-3 and 7-0 before dominating William Rader of Terre Haute South, who was on a streak, having paced fourth last week but pinning a sectional champ in just 36 in his opener. Conley buried him, with a 17-2 tech fall.
“The best I’ve done is third for both, so it’s really awesome to get first this year,” Conley said. “I worked really hard in the off-season, so I’m really proud of myself.”
He saw the end of the road coming and wanted to make sure he made the most of it after just making it to semistate last year.
“I’m not really cutting any weight this year, so that’s a big help,” Conley said. “I have a lot of pride, as a senior now, a leader. So at practice, I’m able to work much harder and being a leader and role model. I’ve got that, a lot of confidence and a lot of pride in my team.”
On the mat, his experience is taking over and hopes that will really help next week, too.
“I feel like my defense, I’m able to see when shots are coming and sprawl or move out of the way and figure out what I’m going to do next,” Conley said. “It’s been a big gamechanger.”
Conley was part of an outstanding day for the Panthers, one of six regional champs.
Russell (106), Jean (113), Stanton (120), Amrin Pratt (144) and Wyatt Cooksey (157) all won titles, while Denny Allgood (175) and Mason Grubb (215) were second in rematches from their sectional finals. Taking third were Jude Pratt at 126, Mark Hand at 132 and at 150, surprising Gerardo Hernandez-Ibarra in his first year of varsity action.
Russell (28-6) won by pin in 5:07, Jean (32-3) and Stanton (31-2) each by 17-1 tech fall, Amrin Pratt (31-3) by 5-0 decision and Cooksey (30-3) flattened three foes by pins of 30 seconds, 3:43 and 1:32.
Allgood couldn’t replicate his 13-4 major from sectional against 17th ranked Noah Fields of Terre Haute South, going down in sudden victory overtime, 5-2. Grubb closed the gap on Northview’s Devyn Orman, but couldn’t score in a 5-0 loss.
South won the regional title with 199½ points to top Floyd Central (101½).
Great 8 for Owen Valley
As the Patriots posed, it was the biggest picture of semi-state qualifiers ever for OV, with eight topping to old mark of seven.
“Taking eight to semi-state speaks volumes about your practice room,” OV coach Steven Spicer said. “Those guys are training with those guys every single day. I’m super proud of them.”
Several made it the hard way as Reid Lanman (30-10) at 144, Luke Burner (27-12) and Braddock Nickless (25-13) at 215 all knocked off a sectional champ in the first round to punch their tickets. Burner and Nickless were third and Lanman fourth.
“We try to trade film, game-plan but ultimately, it comes down to those guys having belief in themselves,” Spicer said. “We talk about it all week. The postseason mentality, how you should approach each match. Don’t make it bigger than it is. Enjoy the moment. All that stuff.
“And they showed up. We thought we might have a chance. But it’s just belief in what we do, belief in their training.”
OV also posted two of the most dramatic victories of the day, with Collin Willen (27-11) getting a literal last-second escape against sectional champ Miguel Tedrow in the semifinals at 165 for a 1-0 win. He would take second. Nickless won his third-place match in the same exact fashion, 10-9.
“Collin, his freshman year, he was varsity for us at 190,” Spicer said. “He wasn’t 190, but we needed one. So he’s wrestled everywhere from 157 to 190 for us. He’s the ultimate teammate. To finally get over that hump as regional his senior year, he’s peaking at the right time.
“That’s the best he’s wrestled all year, today.”
In addition to Boltinghouse and Sloan, the Patriots also saw Riley Martin (30-8) take fourth at 157.
North, Edgewood each send 3
Neither North or Edgewood could crack the championship column but will each have three carry on to semistate.
Edgewood had two runner-ups. At 126, senior John Orman (19-2) is headed to semi-state for a fourth time, but couldn’t solve No. 25 Nolan Mullins in an 8-2 loss. At 150, senior Cayleb Stephens (19-10) is a first-time semi-state qualifier but ran into No. 12 Hunter Banet of Floyd Central in the final, suffering an 11-0 major.
Junior Lincoln Getts (20-6) ended the Mustangs’ day on a high note at 285, coming up with a takedown midway through the first overtime period to take his third-place match after earning his first trip to semistate.
North is sending Hopkins, who missed last year after making it as a sophomore and Ryan Watkins (26-10), third at 113. It will be Watkins’ first trip to Evansville.
Tedrow (32-3), a senior, bounced back from his semi loss, taking his frustrations out in a 16-0 tech fall for third to also earn a return trip.
BLOOMINGTON SOUTH REGIONAL
Top team scores: Bloomington South 199½; Floyd Central 101½; Terre Haute South 91; Owen Valley 84; Jasper 77½; New Albany 43; Edgewood 42; Bloomington North 40; Southridge 31; Terre Haute North 29; Tell City 24½; Northview 22; Sullivan 8.
Top 4 advance to state. Championship and third place matches, plus area results
106 pounds: 1. Nick Russell, BS p. Hunter Pierson, FC 5:07; 3. Lucas Overton, THS p. Angel Diaz, J 4:23. [Pierson tf. Matthew Underhill, OV (22-16), 19-2]. 113: 1. Jaxsen Jean, BS tf. Austin Boltinghouse, OV, 17-1; 3. Ryan Watkins, BN d. Jack Cavallo, NA 4-1.
120: 1. Josiah Stanton, BS tf. Kasyn Ingle, TC 17-1; 3. Isaiah White, OV md. Cody Ellis, J 10-2. [Ellis tf. Isaiah Shirley, BN (25-12), 12-1]. 126: 1. Nolan Mullins, J d. John Orman, Edg 8-2; 3. Jude Pratt, BS d. Kodi Hughes, FC 12-8 (TB-3OT).
132: 1. Owen Blessinger, Srg d. Isaac Temple, FC 8-3; 3. Mark Hand, BS d. Jayden Harris, NA, 5-0. [Temple p. Jack Grubaugh, Edg (11-13), :58]. 138: 1. Brian Conley, BS tf. William Rader, THS 17-2; 3. Gavin Jones, J p. Stephen Goodman, NA 4:21. [Jones d. Yanni Nunez, BN (23-14), 14-12].
144: 1. Amrin Pratt, BS d. Trae Hopkins, BN 5-0; 3. Caydan Ramos, J d. Reid Lanman OV 14-11. 150: 1. Hunter Banet, FC md. Cayleb Stephens, Edg 11-0; 3. Gerardo Hernandez-Ibarra, BS md. Hunter Sloan, OV 15-5. [Banet p. Ahmad Razman, BN, 1:14].
157: 1. Wyatt Cooksey, BS p. Varric Wright, FC 1:32; 3. Dekcer Ruhe, J d. Riley Martin, OV 5-2. 165: 1. Sam May, THS md. Collin Willen, OV 9-0; 3. Miguel Tedrow, BN tf. Jaiden Loftson, THN 16-0.
175: 1. Noah Fields, THS d. Denny Allgood, BS 5-2 (SV-OT); 3. Luke Burner, OV d. Julio Rosa, J 14-12. [Rosa p. Cam Richardson, Edg (13-9), 3:57]. 190: 1. Spencer Fain, FC tf. James Ribolla, THS 17-2; 3. Noah Ring, Srg d. James Smith, NA 8-6. [Smith p. Zander Pendley, OV (23-13) 3:18.
215: 1. Devyn Orman, Nvw d. Mason Grubb, BS 5-0; 3. Braddock Nickless, OV d. William Hollifield, Sul 10-9. 285: 1. Griffin Osburn, THN md. Elijah Stokes, NA 10-0; 3. Lincoln Getts, Edg d. Angus Machen, TC 4-1 (SV-OT). [Machen md. William Doty, OV 21-9].
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: South lightweight wrestlers flipping, but not flopping in postseason
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
