Trio of local wrestlers prepping for New Castle Semistate

A pair of Golden Bears and one Tiger are two wins away from qualifying for the 87th Annual IHSAA Boys Wrestling State Finals.

Shelbyville’s Brady Bryant and Reuben Martins-Thomas and Triton Central’s Dayne Bailey compete Saturday at the New Castle Semistate. Each needs to win their first two matches to qualify for the state championship meet at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The New Castle Semistate features qualifiers from regional tournaments conducted at North Montgomery, Pendleton Heights, Perry Meridian and Richmond.

The first to take the mat Saturday will be Bryant at 157 pounds. The Shelbyville junior, 37-7 this season, faces Hamilton Southeastern’s Landon Hicks (25-7), ranked No. 20 in the state.

If Bryant wins the first match, he will face either No. 17-ranked Kaleb Wilburn (39-2) of Milan or Pendleton Heights’ Jackson Gipson (28-12) in the “ticket round” to try and punch their “ticket” to the state finals.

There are three more state-ranked wrestlers at 157 pounds in the 16-wrestler bracket. Chatard’s Daniel Adams (31-7) is in the bottom half of the bracket with Bryant.

Warren Central’s Christian Arberry (34-3) is ranked No. 4 while Rossville’s Jacob Weaver (40-1) is ranked No. 10. Those two could meet in a semifinal round match.

Bailey will not have to defeat a state-ranked wrestler at 175 pounds to punch his ticket. Three of the four ranked wrestlers in New Castle are in the top half of the bracket.

Bailey (21-9) battles East Central’s Brody Wingate (30-4) in his first match. The winner advances to face either Crawfordsville’s Braeden Hites (27-3) or Anderson’s Jensen Shryock (23-4) in the ticket round. 

Warren Central’s Waylon Cressell (39-2), ranked No.  1 at 175 pounds, will likely be waiting in the semifinal round.

The top half of the bracket features No. 2 Xavier Smith (36-3) of Fishers, No. 9 Jaylin Hill (39-3) of North Central and No. 19 M.J. Morton (30-7) of Roncalli.

There are five state-ranked wrestlers at 190 pounds in New Castle and Martins-Thomas (18-14) drew one for his semistate debut. He will face No. 5 Kyle Harden (33-2) of Cathedral. Either Parke Heritage’s Tucker Conley (25-8) or Rushville’s Sam Pavey (31-6) will be waiting in the ticket round.

The bottom half of the bracket includes No. 11 Chris Quarles (33-5) of Fishers, No. 12 Seer Godwise (27-5) of Perry Meridian and No. 25 Nathan Shafer (26-1) of New Castle.

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