Brody Baumann leads Mater Dei procession in upper weight classes at wrestling semistate

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – After a relatively difficult day by Mater Dei standards, Brody Baumann began a procession of excellence on Saturday night in the Evansville Semistate wrestling tournament at Ford Center.

The Wildcats had yet to take an individual title until Baumann won by a technical fall over Memorial’s Aiden Farmer in the championship match at 170 pounds. Teammates Gabe Sollars and Nathan Critchfield followed suit with victories at 195 and 220, giving Mater Dei three champions in a span of four weight classes.

“I was glad to be able to get the ball rolling for some of our bigger guys as I try to get that momentum going,” said Baumann, who improved to 31-0.

But it wasn’t enough to keep No. 2 Brownsburg from capturing the team title with 195.5 points. No. 3 Mater Dei placed second with 136. Castle was sixth with 51.

More: Football star James Ralph helps spark Mater Dei to 12th straight regional wrestling title

The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state meet Friday and Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“I am super proud of this team and I believe that we are going to surprise some people at state,” Baumann said.

Sollars decisioned Castle’s John Purdy 7-0 in the title match at 195 to boost his mark to 34-2. After losing an early-season match to Purdy, he has beaten him three times in a row.

"Both times winning semistate is a great win, but being able to beat the same guy over and over again is a different type of win," Sollars said.

More: Unbeaten Brody Baumann sparks Mater Dei to 46th successive sectional wrestling title

"Last year I was ranked No. 2 and beat the No. 1 guy by pin. This year feels just as good considering it's my second time winning."

Critchfield decisioned Columbus East’s Tommy Morrill 3-0 in the championship match at 220 to improve to 33-0.

“Yeah, it’s awesome getting to ride the momentum those guys build up before my matches,” Critchfield said.

In August 2020, before what was expected to be his senior year at Mount Carmel (Illinois) High, Critchfield was diagnosed with cancer. He had a tumor removed inside his spinal cord.

After sitting out the 2020-21 school year, Critchfield’s parents moved from Mount Carmel to Evansville and he enrolled at Mater Dei last fall. Critchfield finished third at 170 in the Illinois Class A state meet two years ago. But he said the atmosphere at Ford Center was far superior to that in the State Farm Center in Champaign, site of the Illinois state wrestling tourney.

While the State Farm Center was mostly empty, except for athletes, coaches and a handful of fans, Critchfield enjoyed the more frenzied atmosphere at Ford Center.

"In Illinois, there were way less people," he said. "It was a lot of fun to win the semistate at Ford Center."

More: Nathan Critchfield overcomes cancer, becomes SIAC champ; Mater Dei wins 12th title in row

For his part, Baumann had to beat Memorial’s Aiden Farmer for the fourth time.

“It’s tough to beat a good guy like Farmer,” Baumann said. “I was just focused on widening the gap and getting better each time we wrestled. We have wrestled four times and I wouldn’t be surprised if we meet again next weekend.”

He was glad to see the semistate back at Ford Center. Last year it was at Jasper, with fans restricted because of COVID-19.

“It was a fun environment and gets you prepared for Gainbridge the following weekend," Baumann said. "I’m chasing that state title and I’m going on keep working to be at my best."

Baumann won state last year at 160 while Sollars took the state title at 182; each moved up a class this season.

"There's going to be a little bit of pressure," Baumann said. "But I'm enjoying my senior year. I want to make the most of it. I want to have a good time with my teammates."

As for the semistate, Baumann said there are always going to be heartaches as well as quality wins.

"I'm super proud of all the guys," he said. "We're stronger in the upper weight classes, which is pretty unusual. Evan (Seng) had a tough loss (5-4 in the title match at 113)."

Four knocked from unbeaten ranks

Castle senior Ashton Hayhurst (14-1) was pinned by Brownsburg’s Gavin Garcia in 2:31 in the title match at 138. Senior teammate K.T. Nelson (40-1) rebounded from a loss in the 126 semifinals to decision Center Grove’s Michael Tharpe 8-3 in the third-place match.

While both Knights advance to state, Tell City junior Coy Hammack and North Knox senior Beau Noland were ousted at semistate. Hammack pinned Mater Dei's Matthew Herrmann in 4:16 in the first round at 132, but then lost by pin in 34 seconds to Center Grove's Wyatt Krejsa in the second round to finish 32-1.

Noland won by pin in 2:10 over Heritage Hills’ Hunter Kolley in his opening match at 285, but was decisioned 10-4 by Franklin Community’s Jacob Johnson. Noland ended 26-1.

Contact Gordon Engelhardt by email at gordon.engelhardt@courierpress.com and follow him on Twitter @EngGordon.

EVANSVILLE SEMISTATE WRESTLING

Saturday at Ford Center

Top 10 teams: Brownsburg 195.5, Mater Dei 136, Center Grove 120, Columbus East 74.5, Avon 59.5, Castle 51, Bloomington South 44, Floyd Central 43.5, Memorial 35, Whiteland 31.

Championship matches involving area athletes

113: Preston Haines (Brownsburg) dec. Evan Seng (MD) 5-4

120: Lane Gilbert (Sullivan) pinned Jared Dunn (Princeton) 3:15

138: Gavin Garcia (Brownsburg) pinned Ashton Hayhurst (Castle) 2:31

170: Brody Baumann (MD) won technical fall over Aiden Farmer (Memorial) TF-1.5 4:43 22-7

195: Gabe Sollars (MD) dec. John Purdy (Castle) 7-0

220: Nathan Critchfield (MD) dec. Tommy Morrill (Columbus East) 3-0

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Mater Dei wrestlers Brody Baumann, Nathan Critchfield win semistate