Three county wrestlers advance at state finals

INDIANAPOLIS

A pair of undefeated Braydens continued their dominant seasons Friday night with first-round victories at the state wrestling finals.

As a result, Center Grove’s Brayden Littell and Roncalli’s Brayden Lowery remained on a collision course inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The juniors could meet today in the semifinals of the 120-pound weight class.

Littell (41-0) is ranked first in the state, three spots ahead of Lowery (40-0).

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“We used to be, like, best friends during our freshman year,” said Littell, adding that both he and Lowery attended Perry Meridian at the time. “He was my practice partner. He’s just tough, so I think I’m going to have to out-tough him. He’s fast and has a lot of strategy and technique.”

Littell advanced with a 25-7 technical fall over North Central’s Logan Galbraith, while Lowery’s match contained far more suspense, a 3-1 defeat of Avon sophomore Tyler Conley. Littell’s quarterfinal foe this morning is William Finnearty (28-2) of Culver Academies; Lowery is paired against Wawasee’s Jace Alexander (30-10).

At 160 pounds, Center Grove senior Peyton Pruett upped his season mark to 42-1 by defeating Jaymiere Johnson of Hammond Gavit, 8-0. Pruett, who entered the postseason ranked No. 4 in the state, admits there were some nerves making his state finals debut.

“It’s a lot of expectations when it’s your last season to make sure you get on that podium and continue your season,” Pruett said. “Today it was just getting control of my offense. I let him get to his offense one time, but I stopped it. Then I got right to my offense and scored.

“It’s really exciting. I’m so happy to be All-State. We’ve all been looking forward to this tournament.”

Pruett’s quarterfinal opponent this morning is the state’s third-ranked 160-pounder, Perry Meridian senior Brooks Davis.

Greenwood senior Nick Willham was the final Johnson County competitor of the night, and he defeated Perry Meridian’s Austin Lane, 6-2, at 195 pounds. Willham takes a 34-2 record into his quarterfinal match this morning against Charlie Agnew of Huntington North (42-1).

Willham and Agnew are ranked fifth and third, respectively, in their weight class. Friday night marked the second time Willham wrestled Lane, the first being in the title match of the Mid-State Conference tournament.

“I beat him 10-1 in that. This match wasn’t really tougher, just more nerve-wracking,” Willham said. “There’s a lot on the line other than a conference title,” Willham said. “(Against Agnew) I just need to keep my head straight and keep being aggressive.”

Roncalli, which qualified five wrestlers, moved four of them through to this morning’s quarterfinals.

Lowery got things started at 120 with teammates Alec Viduya (132), Tyce Frieje (138), Elijah Mahan (170) also victorious. Senior John Harris lost his match at 285 pounds to West Lafayette Harrison junior William Crider, getting pinned at the 5:29 mark.