Centerville wins 5th straight TEC wrestling title, Northeastern puts 5 atop podium

STRAUGHN, Ind. — You’ve heard it before: Centerville wins another Tri-Eastern Conference title with multiple weight-class champions and the whole “It doesn’t get old” spiel.

While the Bulldogs did win their fifth straight conference championship Saturday, and they did have multiple individual champions and no, “it doesn’t get old,” head coach Mike Day is convinced “this one’s different.”

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“Whoo, we’ve had a rough year, man. You name it,” Day said before listing off everything his team has fought through so far this season. “Before Christmas, it was a low time, and I questioned a lot of things. But you know what? The guys we have kept at it and pieced it together … Even though we came up short in some weight classes, I’m just proud of the effort and togetherness of this group.”

You don’t have to just take Day’s word for it, this season has been different. First off, the Centerville has had injuries galore: two guys with broken ankles, two others with bad high ankle sprains, one with a bum shoulder and plenty more with other nagging injuries. The Bulldogs also had three wrestlers out with illnesses at the New Castle Invite in mid-December, which, combined with the injuries, led to an 0-5 showing and what Day called the low point of the season.

Centerville’s TEC win Saturday was by just 19 points over Winchester in second, a far cry from the 100-plus differential last year, and its two individual champs — Jackson Marker and Oshea Phillips — were only a fraction of last year’s eight. Yet, the Bulldogs found a way.

Last year:Centerville wins 4th straight TEC wrestling title behind 8 solo champs

“On paper before the year, we felt good about who we had back,” Day said. “I felt confident in what we had and that we’d be fairly competitive. Then, it just started falling apart … We lost a lot of battles this year, but we ended up winning the war.”

Northeastern finished third for the second year in a row, but this time was different for the Knights, too. Last year, head coach Corey Baker expected third place, and his team got third place. This year, with how spread out the talent was and how well his team had performed to that point, he had his eyes set on first.

“We really had our eyes on No. 1,” Baker said. “Of the people here, we’ve only lost to Winchester by six, and we beat Centerville a few weeks ago. I know that doesn’t matter, but I just thought we’d be in a good spot. Centerville and Winchester wrestled really good all the way through the bracket, but I’ll sleep fine with five champions.”

Northeastern’s five weight-class champions — Heather Crull, Kaiden White, Zane Schneider, Caleb Cohee and Michael Henderson — were the most of any other team Saturday. Five is also the most solo champs Baker has ever had as a coach, and he said that was another goal coming into the day.

“When they’re winning, you can tell the energy on the whole team is different,” Baker said. “Those five who won today are definitely our high-energy anchors who you can count on every single time. And not a single one of them is a senior, so these are all kids who are still getting better. I can’t say enough about how proud I am.”

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Hagerstown senior Chase Sutherland was the only other Wayne County wrestler to stand atop the podium, as he won the heavyweight division. He said he worked with Henderson “basically all spring and summer” to improve his craft, and finally seeing it all pay off was “amazing.”

“Just happiness,” Sutherland said of the emotions he felt once the match was over. “I came up short the past few years, so it was just happiness.”

Here’s a full list of Wayne County wrestlers who finished the TEC Tournament on the podium Saturday:

106 pounds

1^st – Heather Crull – Northeastern

4^th – Eli McCoy – Centerville

113 pounds

3^rd – Kyle Sheard – Centerville

4^th – Lucas Chamness – Northeastern

120 pounds

2^nd – Bryson Hale – Centerville

126 pounds

3^rd – Conner Frazier – Centerville

4^th – Aiden Capps – Lincoln

132 pounds

1^st – Kaiden White – Northeastern

3^rd – Owen Boyd – Centerville

4^th – Gage Sherwood – Lincoln

138 pounds

1^st – Jackson Marker – Centerville

2^nd – Zach Golliher – Hagerstown

145 pounds

1^st – Oshea Phillips – Centerville

152 pounds

3^rd – Ethan Neeley – Northeastern

4^th – Dylan Camron – Lincoln

160 pounds

2^nd – Luke Cannarella – Centerville

4^th – Owen Mitchell – Hagerstown

170 pounds

2^nd – Preston Mathews – Centerville

3^rd – Roy Thornbury – Hagerstown

182 pounds

1^st – Zane Schneider – Northeastern

4^th – Wyatt Matchell – Hagerstown

195 pounds

1^st – Caleb Cohee – Northeastern

4^th – Anthony Monaghan – Lincoln

220 pounds

1^st – Michael Henderson – Northeastern

2^nd – Nathan Westover – Centerville

285 pounds

1^st – Chase Sutherland – Hagerstown

2^nd – Coleson Campbell – Centerville

3^rd – Charlie Wadsworth – Lincoln

Zach Piatt is a reporter for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Centerville wins 5th TEC title in row, Northeastern has 5 solo champs