History of success: Seymour club producing champion wrestlers

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If there’s a state tournament going on, you’ll find the Seymour Wrestling Club there on the mats.

Chances are you will also see one of the wrestlers in the finals before they collect a medal.

In its five years of existence, the club has put 58 placers on state championship podiums.

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Wrestlers must finish in the top eight of their bracket to place.

The Seymour Wrestling Club recently traveled to Avon to compete in the Indiana State Wrestling Association’s Freestyle and Greco-Roman State Finals.

Seymour sent eight wrestlers, from elementary to high school, to the freestyle May 6 while three competed in Greco on May 7.

Nine-year-old Asher Ratliff won his freestyle competition in the 75-pounds intermediate division. On Day 2, Ratliff was runner-up in the same division for Greco.

In the freestyle, Ratliff opened with a pin in 1-minute, 15-seconds against Culver Academies’ Braddock Behling.

Ratliff followed by winning by fall in 3:12 against Cascade Youth League Wrestling Club’s Dayton Mink, and defeating Indian Creek Wrestling Club’s Elijah Guyer in 2:35.

In the championship, Ratliff edged Region Wrestling Academy’s Landon Hawkins by a 12-10 decision.

“It felt really good. I wrestled tough and stayed in good position for most of the match,” Ratliff said. “I had really good rolls and had good defense.”

In Greco, Ratliff won both his first two matches by technical falls, 12-0 and 14-4, before matching back up with Hawkins in the championship match.

Hawkins emerged victorious this time in the finals, pinning Ratliff in 42 seconds.

Ratliff has now two state finals to his name, as he won Greco two years ago.

“It was exciting. He’d never won freestyle before,” SWC coach Justin Ratliff said. “He was runner-up to the wrestler that he beat in the freestyle, and they were some exciting matches. I’m super proud of (my son). He has set goals and worked hard all season to achieve some of those goals.”

SWC’s Alejandro Sachinas was runner-up in the cadet 195-pounds, of four wrestlers, in the Greco State finals.

Sachinas went 2-1, winning 20-8 by technical fall against Jonathan Thomas of South Bend and by an injury forfeit. In freestyle, Sachinas placed third in cadet and fifth in junior at 195.

Isaiah Pichardo was champion in the junior 100 pounds for Greco, as he was the only wrestler to enter that bracket. Pichardo was runner-up to Sam Hein in two-man field freestyle tourney.

Zane Burton, 9, finished sixth in the 11-athlete field in the freestyle in the 60 pounds intermediate division.

After defeating Vincennes Grapplers Wrestling Club’s Parker Wanke 23-14 in a technical fall, Burton pinned Tell City Wrestling Club’s Brody Dixon in 1:34.

“The first guy I wrestled, he kept doing the same move over and over,” Burton said. “I kept doing my moves, and that’s how I won. I liked it because the first two weren’t too tough. The tournaments are fun. You get to wrestle new people. You meet new people.”

After a 10-0 loss to the eventual champion, Elijay Broady of Indiana Pride Wrestling, Burton fell short (18-8 technical) to Region Wrestling Academy’s Yusu Uribe for the fifth place match.

“We’re really excited about Zane,” coach Ratliff said. “He wrestled all the way through freestyle season, which started at the beginning of November. Most kids at this stage move on to another sport, but we have a handful of kids who wrestle that go on to wrestle in the Olympic styles.

Finishing 0-1 with a pair of byes, Caleb Elliott was fifth place in the schoolboy 152-160 pounds bracket.

Brandon Penegar (junior, 160 pounds), Zack Newton (junior, 170 pounds) and Owen Chandler (cadet, 126 pounds) all represented SWC in freestyle but did not place.

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The Seymour Wrestling Club has produced a lot of success stories in their five years of competition.

  • 58 state placers
  • 14 state champions
  • 14 state runners-up
  • 6 third places at state
  • 2 fourth places at state
  • 5 fifth places at state
  • 5 sixth places at state
  • 8 seventh places at state
  • 4 eighth places at state
  • 3 All-Americans
  • 1 triple crown winner
  • Fifth and Eighth place finishes at ISWA Elementary Duals.

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