New Palestine High School

Four New Palestine wrestlers have earned spots at the IHSAA State Finals by virtue of winning their ticket-round matches and placing in the top four at Saturday's New Castle semistate. Gunner Butt (126) and Bryce Doss (144) will be making their second State Finals appearances. Cole Vandygriff (132) and Colin Whetsel (190) will be headed to the finals for the first time. Butt won the title at 126. The IHSAA State Finals will be held Feb. 16-17 at the Ford Center in Evansville. At 126, Butt (31-5) advanced with two pins - in 5:53 over Pendleton Heights' Max Bowers and in 2:56 over Franklin County's Colin Troyer. He then beat Guerin Catholic's Peter Nguyen 5-0 in the semis and Mt. Vernon's Eli Broady 7-3 in the championship match. At 132, Vandygriff (132) advanced with a 9-1 major decision over Zionsville's Jalin England and then pinned Eastern Hancock's Cameron Volz in 5:13. He finished second, winning his semifinal match by fall in 3:55 over Hamilton Heights' Isaac Kuhn, then falling 12-5 to New Castle's Tylin Thrine in the final. At 144, Doss (30-9) punched his second straight State Finals ticket with a 15-1 major decision over Zionsville's Hank Phenicie, and then a 7-4 decision over Centerville's Oshea Phillips. He finished third, dropping a 3-1 decision to Cathedral's Dillon Graham in the semis, then beating Southmont's Marlin Williams 4-3 in the third-place match. At 190, Whetsel (22-6) had a 51-second pin of Pendleton Heights' Chris Crank to advance to the ticket round. There, he won one of the day's most thrilling matches, building an early lead against Hamilton Southeastern's DeShawn Ternoir with a takedown and an escape. He then used a third-period takedown to go up 6-4. He was reversed in the final minute of regulation, sending the match to overtime. There, he took down Ternoir to earn his State Finals spot. Whetsel lost his semifinal match to Rossville's Noah Weaver by fall in 1:12. He then pinned New Castle's Nathan Shafer in 4:37 in the third-place match. Four other Dragons wrestled Saturday, with three advancing to the ticket round. At 138, Peyton Hornsby dropped a close 9-7 decision to undefeated Gavyn Whitehead of New Castle after pinning Providence Cristo Rey's Delin Jones in 5:09 in the first round. At 157, Jaedyn Jeffries won his first match in overtime 9-7 over East Central's Brody Wingate. In the ticket round, he was pinned in 31 seconds by Noblesville's Aidan Kincaide. At 215, Shaun Glass pinned North Vermillion's Aidan Hinchee in 1:06 in the opening round, then dropped a 5-2 decision to Cathedral's Jackson Weingart. At 165, Gabe Flick dropped a 14-4 decision to Fishers' Xavier Smith in the opening round.