New Palestine High School

Two New Palestine wrestlers - Gunner Butt and Colin Whetsel - both placed at Saturday's IHSAA boys wrestling State Finals. Butt finished fourth - placing for the second consecutive year - at 126. Whetsel was sixth at 190. After Friday's 9-2 victory over Floyd Central's Fynn Douglas, Butt advanced to the semifinal round with a 6-1 overtime victory over Jay County's Cody Rowles in Saturday's first match. He wrestled two close matches in the final two rounds, falling 3-1 to Evansville Mater Dei's Isaiah Schaefer in the semifinal, then 3-0 to Brownsburg's Braylon Reynolds in the third-place match. Butt finished the year 35-7. After Friday's 5-2 victory over Hobart's Aleksandar Tatum, Whetsel dropped his quarterfinal match Saturday morning, as he was pinned by Wabash's Elias Cressell in 2:00. Whetsel then won a back-and-forth 8-7 decision over Zionsville's Luke Penola in the consolation semifinal. He fell 10-1 to Center Grove's Kaden McConnell in the fifth-place match. Whetsel finishes the year 25-9.