For The Tribune
NORTH VERNON
Seymour was left wondering what might have been if not for an injury to a key wrestler after finishing third in Saturday’s Jennings County Sectional.
The Owls scored 177½ points, just seven behind runner-up Jennings County. Eighth-ranked Columbus East won with 293½.
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Seymour was missing Dorian Borom, who was seeded fourth at 220 pounds, but could not wrestle because of torn ligaments in his thumb.
“You throw that in the mix, and then maybe we have a shot at second place,” Seymour coach Todd Weaver said. “But we’re happy with the way we’re wrestling. It looked like our conditioning came back a little bit. We’re going to be ready to wrestle next week.”
Nine Owls qualified for Saturday’s Jeffersonville Regional with top-four finishes, including a pair of sectional champions. Juniors Alejandro Sachinas (182) and Kevin Corrales (195) won their respective weight classes.
Sachinas, a first-year varsity wrestler, pinned his first two opponents before beating East’s Noah White by a 12-4 major decision in the final.
“It feels great,” Sachinas said. “There’s no other explanation for it. I feel amazing for having worked so hard and accomplish so much. But there’s still more to win out there.”
Corrales pulled out three close decisions, including a 3-2 decision against Jennings’ Jaylan Kirchner in the quarterfinals. Corrales beat Madison’s Eric Leach 4-2 in sudden victory in the final.
“It’s definitely a lot of hard work, a lot of time put into the wrestling room,” Corrales said. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Isaiah Pichardo came close to making it three champions for Seymour, but fell to Columbus North’s Morgan Smith 5-3 in the 106-pound final.
Zack Newton (160) finished third for the Owls. Owen Chandler (113), Brandon Penegar (145), Jake Kriete (152), Jake Rotert (170) and Gabe Ramirez (285) all took fourth.
“We had a pretty good day,” Weaver said. “We had one or two kids that really outperformed what their seeds were, and that was great. We had a couple of kids that dropped a couple spots, which is always a little disappointing because we always want to improve on our seeds.”