When Garrett wrestler Hayden Brady won his first Carroll Regional title as a freshman, his victory coincided the Railroaders’ first-ever team regional championship. Now as a senior, Brady won his fourth straight individual regional title Saturday at Carroll, taking the title at 126 pounds to help lead Garrett to its fourth consecutive team title.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Garrett coach Nick Kraus said. “(Brady) made a comment today, he said, “I have eight regional championships if you think about it’. He’s set the bar high and he’s not done. He’s looking to go further next week and hopefully make another trip to state. The kids know he works hard and he’s dedicated to wrestling.”
Chase Leech (160 pounds) joined Brady atop the podium as the Railroaders scored 123 points to best runner-up Snider (105) and third-place Homestead (96.5). Further down the team standings, New Haven edged Eastside, 67.5-67 for fourth, while Carroll (52), Bishop Dwenger (51) and Columbia City (50.5) finished within 1.5 points of each other for sixth, seventh and eighth place.
Knowing that Snider featured several standouts – as evidenced by a tournament-best three individual champions in Julianna Ocampo (106), Camron Lapsley (138) and De’Alcapon Veazy (182), Kraus stressed the importance of some early head-to-head matchups against the Panthers and Spartans to take control.
While Snider and Homestead closed the gap a bit in the second round, Garrett claimed four victories in the day’s final round along with pinfall wins to score bonus points in the team standings proved crucial.
“We wanted to get all 11 (regional qualifiers) through,” Kraus said. “We scored in a bunch of different ways, and we knew if we were under eight qualifiers it would be tough. We ended up with eight, and (the bonus points) were huge. It can always be better, but I can’t complain much.”
Other individual champions included Eastside’s Lane Snyder (113) and Linkin Carter (120), Carroll’s Jackson Todd (152), Columbia City’s Tanner Reed (170) and Jack Maley (285), Bishop Luers’ Mickey Daring (195) and Northrop’s Julante Hinton (220). New Haven’s Easton Doster (132) and Huntington North’s Luke Teusch (145) both stayed undefeated on the season with their individual titles.
JAY COUNTY REGIONAL: In Portland, the host Patriots easily won the team title with 141 points, topping runner-up Delta (116). Bellmont (91.5) and Adams Central (81) finished third and fourth in the team competition.
A Braves quartet – Gavin Davis (152), Duke Myers (170), Henry Kukelhan (195) and Keagan Martin (220) joined Bluffton’s Levi Johns (113) as regional champions.
GOSHEN REGIONAL: In Goshen, DeKalb ran away from the field, scoring 113.5 points to take the regional title at Goshen. Angola edged Lakeland, 48-47, for seventh place, with West Noble (38) taking ninth.
Drew Waldon (113), Mason Chase (120) and Braxton Miller (145) earned blue ribbons for the Barons, while Angola’s Kamaron Sraw (113) and Isaiah McCue (120) joined West Noble’s Taiden Chambers (138) and Teegan Clouse (145) with runner-up finishes.
PENN REGIONAL: In Mishawaka, Wawasee (129) finished third and Warsaw (39) sixth at the Penn Regional. The host Kingsmen edged Mishawaka, 197.5-192-5, for the team title. Kaleb Salazar (106) and Cameron Senter (113) won regional titles for the Warriors, while Jaxson Cooper Walters (182) finished second to lead the Tigers.
