INDIANAPOLIS
Four Johnson County wrestlers finished their seasons with medals at the state finals Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. One ended his season as a champion.
Center Grove junior Brayden Littell won the 120-pound weight class with a 9-3 victory over Blake Boarman of Evansville Mater Dei in the championship match. It’s the Trojans’ first individual wrestling title in seven years.
Littell won all 44 matches he wrestled this season.
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Center Grove coach Maurice Swain had heard about Littell’s potential when taking the job last spring.
The junior didn’t just live up to the hype. He exceeded it.
“It’s really tough to win an Indiana high school state championship, and do it undefeated,” Swain said. “This is one class. You’ve got to beat everybody. You don’t have to beat 100 kids, you’ve got to beat 315 or however many there are.
“I told him all day, ‘You’re the best guy in the gym. You’re the best guy in this arena, and there’s no other place you want to be right now than right here.’ He went out there and took advantage of it and got it done. It’s awesome.”
Greenwood’s Nick Willham finished runner-up at 195 pounds, the senior concluding his impressive Woodmen athletic career with a 36-3 record on the mat. Willham lost to Silas Allred of Shenandoah, 11-2, in the final.
Peyton Pruett of Center Grove earned fifth place in the 160-pound division to end his final prep season 44-2. Roncalli senior Elijah Mahan, a , Bargersville resident, took home a third-place medal by winning the 170-pound consolation match, 13-10, against Derek Blubaugh of Bloomington South.
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