Seymour’s Ricky Bogard wrestles at regional on Saturday at Jeffersonville High School. Bogard placed fourth at 126 to qualify for semistate.
Lea Chandler | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Sam Chandler wrestles at regional on Saturday at Jeffersonville High School. Chandler placed fourth at 152 to qualify for semistate.
Lea Chandler | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Ricky Bogard, left, and Sam Chandler stand for the national anthem ahead of competing at regional at Jeffersonville High School on Saturday. Both Bogard and Chandler qualified for semistate this weekend.
Lea Chandler | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Briley Compton wrestles his match at regional on Saturday at Jeffersonville High School.
Lea Chandler | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Charlie Bruce wrestles his match at regional on Saturday at Jeffersonville High School.
Lea Chandler | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Brenden Bridgewater wrestles his match at regional on Saturday at Jeffersonville High School.
Lea Chandler | For The Tribune
JEFFERSONVILLE — For the first time in their careers, senior Sam Chandler and sophomore Ricky Bogard are heading to semistate for Seymour wrestling.
Chandler, in the 152-pound weight class, and Bogard, at 126, both won their opening matches to place fourth overall and advance in the postseason tournament.
Bogard started his day by scoring a pinfall over Charlestown’s Noah Phillips at 3:49.
That advanced Bogard to the semifinal match against Corydon’s Zane Schreck. Schreck was able to score a fall over Bogard to advance to the championship match at 126.
In the third-place match, Bogard was pinned by Jeffersonville’s Collin Cain, but the initial victory was enough for Bogard to get to this upcoming weekend.
It was a similar path for Chandler, who started his day by scoring a quick fall over Charlestown’s Jordan Guerrero in 44 seconds.
In the semifinal match, Chandler was pinned by West Washington’s Wyatt Johnston. In the third-place match, Chandler lost by a 4-1 decision to Columbus North’s Josiah Green.
After Bogard and Chandler were the Owls’ top two finishers at sectional last week at Jennings County, head coach Dan Rasey thought they put themselves in good positions at regional on Saturday at Jeffersonville.
“These two have been in our top three or four skill-wise all year, and it is nice to see their hard work pay off,” Rasey said.
Seymour’s Charlie Bruce, Briley Compton, Brenden Bridgewater and Jesus Aguilar all competed at regional, too. Dane Botkin was unable to compete due to injury.
Bruce suffered a fall to New Washington’s AJ Franklin at 106, Charlestown’s Braden Moore topped Compton by a 14-5 major decision at 160, Charlestown’s Malachi Ross scored a fall over Bridgewater and Jeffersonville’s Ben Land won by fall over Aguilar.
Bridgewater was a senior for the Owls, while Aguilar is a junior and both Bruce and Compton are freshmen. Rasey is happy with the postseason experience his underclassmen have received throughout this year.
While the season ends for those four, Bogard and Chandler will look to put on a show this Saturday at the semistate with an opportunity to qualify for the state finals.
Bogard, 23-12 this season, and Chandler, 17-10, will compete at the Ford Center in Evansville on Saturday morning for semistate, starting at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and 8 a.m. Central Standard Time in Evansville.
Bogard’s first match will be against Evan Seng of Evansville Mater Dei, and Chandler will wrestle his opening match against Evan Roudebush of Bloomington South.