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Taylor leads Lakers at Salley George It was another tough tournament for Indian Lake’s wrestling team Saturday at the Salley George Invitational, but it was another strong finish for the Lakers. Indian Lake finished third in a 19-team field with 176.5 points. Host Marion Pleasant won the tournament with 245.5 points and Marysville was second (184.5). The Lakers were aiming for a top-two finish. Head coach Bill Fulton had mixed feelings about how his squad placed. “We were aiming for the top two so I was somewhat disappointed,” said Fulton. “But we were eight points away from Marysville so we weren’t that far off. If we had any little bit go our way it could have changed the outcome. “I would have liked to see more guys in the finals, but we had four guys come back to place third. We placed 10 of 12 guys and we are wrestling well even though the team is not at full strength.” Senior 215-pounder Thomas Taylor led the way for Indian Lake by winning his weight class. Taylor first pinned Seth Holmes of River Valley in 1:48 and followed with a 14- 1 major decision over Jakub Purchlik of Liberty Center. He then beat Brock Rickert of Ontario 6-4 in overtime in the semifinals. Taylor earned an 8-2 decision over Nate Weeks of Marysville in the finals. “Thomas did a great job in reaching the finals,” said Fulton. “He won pretty commandingly in the finals. It was a close match at first, but then he really took control.” Four other Lakers placed third. That group included Steven Wray (119), Mikael Neeley (140), Dane Cope (171) and Matt Marshall (189). Neeley and Cope showed a lot of fight by coming back from first-round losses. Neeley beat Brandon Cruise of Marysville 6-3, while Cope pinned Brandon Flaherty of Hamilton Township (3:51) to place third. “I really have to commend Dane and Mikael,” said Fulton. “To come back and get third is a long road to go on.” Wray beat Nathan Black of Grandview Heights 5-1 and Marshall edged Aaron Webster of Upper Sandusky 3-2 in the finals to round out the thirdplace finishers. Finishing fourth for the Lakers was Kevin Christman (140). The sophomore gave a standout effort in the semifinals as he fell to Pleasant’s Mike McCoy 8-6. In Christman’s final match, he lost to Shane Hoerig of Mohawk 4-2. Indian Lake’s Chris Schulz (112) placed fifth with a 2-0 win against Craig Parker of Mohawk. Scottie McMillen (135) and Cody Ray (152) each earned sixth-place finishes. McMillen received a default from Justin Tackett of Hamilton Township and Ray fell 5-3 to Ryan DiSabato of Olentangy. Indian Lake travels to Columbus DeSales on Thursday for a tri-meet with Columbus East. |