PREP WRESTLING: NorthWood's Lone, Lakeland's Miller advance to state quarterfinals
Feb. 19—NorthWood junior Kaden Lone and Lakeland senior Ben Miller both advanced to the quarterfinals of the state wrestling tournament Friday in Indianapolis. Lone pulled off a dramatic 2-0 overtime victory in his match at the 160-pound weight class, while Miller scored a second-period pin fall victory at 145 pounds.
Quarterfinal matches begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, with semifinal matches to follow. The consolation matches then start at 4:30 p.m., with championship matches in primetime at 7:30 p.m.
LONE, MILLER WIN
Lone was the first TGN area athlete to punch his ticket to the quarterfinals after a dramatic victory over East Central senior Charlie Euson. The 13th-ranked Lone and 16th-ranked Euson were about as evenly matched as their rankings would indicate, as the match remained scoreless through three periods, sending it to overtime.
In the sudden-victory period, neither man was able to score until Lone recorded a takedown halfway through the minute-long session. Lone and the NorthWood coaches reacted accordingly, getting fired up as the junior is now guaranteed to place on the podium Saturday.
The 160-pounder from NorthWood improves to 36-5 on the season. He'll get another ranked opponent in the quarterfinals Saturday morning in Avon's Landon Boe. The No. 4-ranked senior improved to 39-1 overall with a third-period pin fall victory over Merrillville senior Caleb Carter in Friday's opening round.
Miller's win was a little less dramatic than Lone's. The Lakeland senior scored two points in the first period over Knox senior Gunnar Krause. He then scored another point early in the second period before closing out the match in style, pinning Krause with 25 seconds to go in the frame.
With the win, Miller (46-4) advances to the to the quarterfinals. He will take on Perry Meridian senior Matthew Koontz, who is 40-0 on the season.
OTHER FOUR FROM AREA LOSE
The TGN coverage area wrestlers went 2-4 on the day overall.
Lone's training partner, NorthWood senior Trey Tobias, had a tough match with the top-ranked wrestler in the 182-pound weight class in Center Grove senior Drake Buchanan. Tobias struggled to match Buchanan's size and strength, as the Trojans' senior pinned Tobias in less than a minute. Tobias' season comes to a close with a 29-10 record.
Concord junior Armen Koltookian came up just short in his 195-pound match, falling to No. 10-ranked Samuel Saunders from Terre Haute North Vigo, 3-2. The match was scoreless after the first period, but then Saunders quickly went to work in period two. He escaped the grasp of Koltookian right at the start, then scored a takedown 20 seconds later to pick up his three points of the match.
Koltookian would escape that takedown to earn a point, then scored again after an escape with 1:10 to go in the final period. Unfortunately for the Minutemen junior, he was unable to score the rest of the match, bringing his season to a close with a 41-7 record. Koltookian won sectional, regional and semistate championships along the way.
In the night session of first round matches, Lakeland junior Keegan Schlabach lost by a 13-2 major decision at 126 pounds to Brownsburg senior Braden Haines, bringing Schlabach's season to an end with a 39-10 record.
Northridge senior Jasper Graber saw his season and high school career end, falling in the opening round at 132 pounds to Crown Point junior Anthony Bahl via technical fall, 20-4. Graber's senior season record ends up finishing at 23-7.
