On Jan. 11, the Indiana boys wrestling team came down to Altoona to face off against the Mountain Lions. Stakes were high, as this is the second out of three home matches the team has.
The match began with senior Wyatt Young going up against Sean Parks, and Young coming out victorious by pinning Parks. Senior Hayden McMillon won by forfeit. Next on the mat, junior Luke Sipes beat Will Turner.
“My feet felt a little slow, but I felt pretty good overall. I was just thinking about scoring points and getting to my offense. My season this year is going well. I’m not where I expected I would be right now, but the best is yet to come,” Sipes said.
Indiana’s Dominic Fanella won against sophomore Ty-Kear Davis, and Jackson Higgins also beat sophomore Julian Pringle, back to back.
“I just listened to music and did some stretching before I wrestled. In the end, I feel I could have done better and wrestled more with my feet because I ended up losing,” Davis said.
“I wish I could have performed a little better. But, it felt great getting my name called out like that and getting to wrestle someone. It was just great getting to be there,” Pringle said.
Seniors Evan Boose and Hayden Speece both came out victorious. Boose pinned Chris Segar, while Speece pinned Cash Allshouse. Following these back-to-back pins, freshman Dom Nardozza and sophomore Braiden Weaver both won by forfeits from Indiana.
“I felt the same way I do about every match; scoring and pinning the kid were the only things on my mind. I felt I wrestled well, but I could have done some things better,” Speece said.
The rest of the match resulted in losses for the Mountain Lions. Nico Fanella pinned sophomore Taber Baker. Carter Putt beat freshman Gavin Ciampoli as well. Tuscan Blystone pinned sophomore Philip Sarbo and Jake Snyder pinned freshman Luke Geishauser.
“My match specifically was pretty hard because I went up against the fourth-best in the state. In the end, I just gave it my all,” Baker said.
In the end, Altoona defeated Indiana with a score of 39-27. Their next home match is senior night against DuBois on Jan. 18 at 7:00 p.m.
