This past weekend the Indy
wrestling team captured the sweep of region 6 championships by
winning the individual region tournament. Independence has now
won the dual tournament and the individual tournament two years
in a row! This weekend was one to remember due to a couple of
wrestlers unable to wrestle due to injury. The Eagles only
entered 12 wrestlers out of the 14 weight classes and all 12
wrestlers qualified for the state tournament, a record for
Independence and the Eagles are sending the most of any team in
the state. Two Eagle wrestlers stood out the most this weekend,
Austin Heithcock @ 135 and Kevin Bratt @ 119. Heithcock was the
# 6 seed going into the tournament and had to place top 3 to
advance to state. He defeated the #3 seed first round and then
in the semi finals was trailing his opponent(the #2 seed) 8-2 in
the 3rd period when Austin pinned his opponent to
make the finals and seal up spot to the state tournament. Kevin
Bratt by far was the most impressive on the team this past
weekend. Kevin was the #5 seed and fought his way into the 3rd
and 4th place match. Needing to get third to
qualify, Kevin was up against Brentwood, and his opponent placed
2nd the previous year at the state tournament!
Brentwood Josh Overmyer had beaten Bratt two times during the
year, once by 15 points and the second time by 2 points. This
time Kevin scored 4 points in the last 10 seconds of the match
to win by 2! Kevin was so excited and there was a great story
in the Tennessean that went into detail about Kevin’s great
win! "The team wrestled amazing this weekend and we are excited
about our chances with 12 wrestlers headed to Chattanooga this
week for the state tournament" according to Coach Grindstaff.
Below is a list of placement @ our region tournament.
112 Ernie Overton 3rd
119 Kevin Bratt 3rd
125 Chase Beazley 1st
130 Austin Cox 2nd
135 Austin Heithcock 2nd
140 Seth Seneca 1st
145 Brennen Cox 1st
152 Chris Sinsheimer 1st
160 Taylor Dixon 1st
171 Stephen King 1st
189 Christian Tambellini 4th
(this weight class took top 4 to state)
215 Thomas Berry 1st
