CONNERSVILLE – The annual two-day Connersville Spartan Classic took place Thursday and Friday at Spartan Bowl, with teams from every corner of the state descending on Fayette County.
Area teams, in addition to the host Spartans, included Union County, Franklin County, Greensburg and Rushville. Connersville’s Orlan Foster (31-2) won at 195 lbs. while FC’s Colin Troyer (18-1) was runner-up at 120. FC tied for 13th with Eastern Hancock; team champ was Greenfield-Central.
At 106 pounds, Greensburg’s Tristan Smith pinned Will Hruskoci of Fishers and Bryce Bruns (1st-round bye) of FC; Smith then lost by fall to Northeastern’s unbeaten Heather Crull. Zakk Reed of Rushville pinned Southern Wells’ Max Miller, then suffered the same fate against Jett McGuire of GC. The Spartans’ Audrj Turley was pinned in the first round, as was Sayre Fitchpatrick of UC (by DeWayne Sawyers of Purdue Polytechnic). Crull is now 19-0 after taking 1st place.
FC’s Cole Freese took his first loss of the season in the 113 bracket, by 13-0 major decision to GC’s Lincoln Parsons after a bye and pin of EH’s Griffin Knight. UC’s Cal Rudnick followed up a bye with a 6-5 win over East Noble’s Tommy Brinker; he was then pinned by Brody Hurd of Mississinewa. Aiden Maze of CHS pinned Rushville’s Blake Hunt (1st-round bye) and Rizael Payne of Hagerstown before being pinned by eventual champ Cole Vandygriff of New Palestine.
Troyer’s day saw a bye, a pin of New Castle’s Andre Suggs, an 8-2 win over Jasper’s Hayden Biggs and 7-0 shutout of GC’s Cade Zuber; in the title match, he suffered a 9-0 shutout to NP’s Bryce Doss. Kian Nash of Rushville, after a bye, was pinned by Zuber. Landon Myers of UC also began with a bye, then a 10-2 major of Beech Grove’s Parker Pettigrew and a 5-4 overtime loss to EN’s Ayman Ahmed. Connersville’s Dylan Poff was pinned in his first match.
Jesus “Chewy” Aquino-Morales of Union Co. entered the 126 draw unbeaten and got up to his 25th season win after a bye and pins of EN’s Ameer Ahmed and Charlestown’s Noah Phillips. He was then pinned by NC’s Tylin Thrine, who went on to take first. FC’s Ty Bruns pinned Jude Peter of Jasper before getting pinned by Phillips. Greensburg’s Landen Shepherd was majored 16-8 by Ahmed; Rushville’s Pacey Dye lost 6-4 to GC’s Dylan Luther.
Tuff Tackett of Rushville started 132 with a bye, then edged Western Boone’s Trey Fuston 4-3 before a 7-1 loss to Bishop Chatard’s Sam Bustamante. Avery Crouch of FC pinned Kamarien Bell of EN but suffered a sudden-victory overtime loss to Purdue Poly’s Greg Turner. Preston Merritt of Greensburg fell 9-7 to Valpo’s Xavier Roberts, UC’s Carson Whitley lost 5-0 to Pike’s Brevin Cannon after a bye and CHS’ Matt Koons was pinned in his opener. Champ was Justice Thornton of Columbus North.
No area athletes advanced at 138, all pinned in their first go-round. Tacoma Nicholas (G) fell to NC’s Gavyn Whitehead, Trevor Bruns (FC) to NP’s Elijah Alonso, Tanner Burns (UC) to BG’s Ethan Thompson after a forfeit win, Denver Campbell (R) to Charlestown’s Austin Tullis and Eric Fox (C). Winning was Purdue Poly’s Silas Foster.
UC’s Evan Wolf began 145 with a bye, then pinned Shelbyville’s Julian Eads before losing 6-2 to Emmanuel Akpadjia of Pike. Eli Pavey of Rushville was taken down in OT (6-4) by Anderson’s Jaron Poole. FC’s Dakota Schwab fell 6-3 to Chatard’s Ethan Brown. Another New Castle Thrine, Brevan, took the title.
The Spartans’s Jeamel Carter made a run at 152, pinning UC’s Noah Mullins, Shelbyville’s Brady Bryant and Valpo’s Zen Smoot before being pinned by Purdue Poly’s Canaan Miller. Rushville’s Trenton Dyer was pinned by Chatard’s Charlie Rushenberg while FC’s Keegan Clark had the same fate versus Fishers’ Stephen Breck. GC’s Isaiah Holden won the bracket.
At 160, UC’s Jordan Takara lasted into the second day. The Patriot had a bye, then earned a technical fall (16-0) over Anderson’s Jensen Shryock and a pin of Richmond’s Kevin Handley, Jr. before a 7-3 loss to NC’s Wyatt Maiden. FC’s Hayden Newell defeated Daleville’s Reazon Davenport 5-1 and Charlestown’s Braden Moore 4-2 ahead of being pinned by eventual champ Jeb Prechtel of Jasper. Matthew Komlanc of Rushville pinned River Forest’s Jose Alvarez and lost by major decision (11-3) to Fishers’ Xavier Smith.

Jadon Napier (FC), Cash Boulware (C) and Sam Pavey (R) earned early pins over NE’s Luke Lykins, Daleville’s Brenden Powell and Job Winters of River Forest, respectively. Boulware was then pinned by division champ (and still unbeaten) Clay Guenin of GC. Pavey fell 8-3 to EH’s Gabe Johnson and Napier was pinned by Anderson’s Treymayn Brown. UC’s Matt Wooley was pinned by EN’s Sam Stretter.
At 182, Lane Westerman of FC pinned Blayden Schomber of Southern Wells before losing a tight 9-7 match to Valpo’s Luke Thiel. Jack Barnes of Rushville also won early, pinning Sergio Rodriguez of Providence Cristo Rey; he was then pinned by NE’s Zane Schneider. Leighton Jones of UC took a pin loss to Pike’s Kameron Biven and CHS’ Kaiden Woods the same to BG’s Jacob Conaway. Brayden Tincher of EH was first.
Foster’s title at 195 saw him open with a bye before pins of NC’s Quinten Mosier and Mississinewa’s Peyton McCoy; he then earned a tech fall over Jasper’s Jaylon VanSlyke and edged NP’s Shaun Glass 4-3 in the championship. Lendon Sizemore of FC followed up a bye by losing by fall to VanSlyke. Greensburg’s Will Cunningham was pinned by BG’s Julius Florence.
Levi Degroat had a decent go at 220 for the Spartans. After a bye, he pinned Valpo’s Parker Gleason and Kyrese Rhodes of Cristo Rey; he lost 6-2 in the semis to eventual champ Hadyn Ball of Triton Central. Jordan Collins of Rushville pinned Kyren McComas of Mississinewa, then was pinned by Rhodes. FC’s Nathen Noble suffered a pin against Purdue Poly’s Antonio Cisneros-Rod.
At heavyweight, Greensburg’s Robert Eisert was through to day two after pinning W. Boone’s Joshua Dickey and FC’s Clayton Bolser (Bolser had earlier earned a fast pin over Daleville’s Franklin Gormely) and winning 2-1 over Jasper’s Evan Nordhoff. Eisert was then pinned by bracket champ John Broadwell of BG. Trey Newman of Rushville was pinned by EN’s Keean Hess.