(Talk of the Town photos provided) Above, ISMS wrestlers hold their trophy high in celebration of their conference win. Below, ISMS activities coordinator Andrew Wagner holds the trophy as wrestlers and fans celebrate the win.
Article provided
The Indian Springs Middle School wrestling team captured its first ever Northeast Hoosier Middle Level Conference Championship last week at Summit Middle School.
ISMS had a total of 339 team points to beat out Bellmont with 313.5 points. Maple Creek finished 3rd with 299 poins. Schools competing in the Northeast Hoosier Middle Level Conference were ISMS, Carroll, Bellmont, Maple Creek, DeKalb, New Haven, Summit, Norwell, and Woodside.
The tournament started Tuesday night and after the first two rounds, ISMS advanced 18 wrestlers to the placement rounds, with 10 advancing to the championship round. 
At the 75 lbs class, Westley Goodman, a 6th grader, battled back and defeated Nick Gordon from Norwell by pin to place 5th. Coach Brian Bills noted, “Winning by pin was big because it generates more team points.” In the 80 lbs class, ISMS got its first conference champion of the night with Hunter Langeloh. Langeloh, another 6th grader, defeated a tough Trevor Gray an 8th grader from Bellmont by a 10-2 decision. In the 85 lb class, 6th grade Nathan Smith had to overcome illness and battled for a 6th place finish. In the 90 lb class, 6th grader Adam Dziabis pinned Bevin Hall from New Haven in the championship round to become ISMS’s second champion of the night. In the 95 lb class, Drake Dewitt, a 7th grader, battled last year’s champion, Zach Krumlauf of DeKalb. Dewitt was unable to overcome a first period take down by Krumlauf and lost 2-0 in the championship round to take 2nd place. Trey Hinen, an 8th grader, also advanced to the championship round and faced Matt Gase of Bellmont in the 105 lb class. Gase defeated Hinen by pin giving Hinen the runner-up spot. In the 115 lb class, 6th grader Haiden Slabaugh advance to the placement round and placed 5th by defeating Chase Blotkamp of Carroll by pin. In the 120 lbs class, 7th grader Kyle Burns advanced to the championship round and had to battle Alex Amey of Carroll. After 3 periods, the score was 0-0. Burns was able to get a takedown in overtime and defeated Amey by pin, making Burns ISMS’s 4th champion of the night. In the 125 lbs class, Tyler Olson, an 8th grader battled Noah Gray of Carroll. The match went into overtime and Olson beat Gray by pin to place 3rd. Landon Hodges, an 8th grader, remained undefeated for the year, and pinned Zach Stoffer of Carroll in the 3rd period to become ISMS’s 5th champion of the night. Payton Walter, an 8th grader, advanced to the championship round in the 135 lbs class and battled undefeated Stallone Yovanovitch of Maple Creek. Walter battled hard, but eventually lost to Yovanovitch 8-1 to place 2nd.. Tristan Anglin, a 7th grader, wrestled in the 140 lbs class. Anglin defeated Ben Lutz 12-8 of Summit to place 3rd. In the 155 lbs class, Josh Whitehead, a 7th grader, advanced to the championship round to face Carroll’s Brandon Le. Whitehead defeated Le 8-1 to become ISMS’s 6th and final champion of the night. In the 165 lb class, 7th grader Drew Cummings advanced to the placement rounds and placed 6th. Connor Cochran, an 8th grader, battled back to place 3rd in the 175 lbs class by pinning Wyatt Clem of Summit in the first period. In the final championship round for ISMS, Brandon Ray faced undefeated Guadalupe Cruz of DeKalb. Ray was defeated by Cruz by pin to become runner up for ISMS. In the 230 lb class, Bryan Day defeated Dominic Palermo of Carroll on Tuesday night to advance to the placement rounds. However, due to illness, Day was unable to compete on Thursday, placing him at 6th.
Other members of ISMS are Logan Wait, Brodey Hurst, Christian Baker, Landon Yaunt, Ricky Day, Noah Ray, Micheal Wright, Chris Machlan, Devon Hanbleton, Quinten Scroggs, Dakota Nelson, Riley Harter, Jade Hendrey, Braxton Goodman, Tristan Alfano, Loren Decker, Dakota Schilling, Andrew Graves, and Jaeger Kreps.
To capture the championship, it was a total team effort. For the betterment of the team, Langeloh, Dziabis, and Whitehead all wrestled up a weight class. For the total tournament, ISMS also amassed a total of 22 pins and 7 major decisions and gave up only 9 pins and 3 major decisions, which greatly attributed to the win.
Coaches for ISMS are Nick Slain, Jeremiah Blaugh, Braden Jones, Brooks Langeloh and Brian Bills.
At the conclusion of the tournament, the championship trophy was handed to the ISMS team by ISMS Activities Coordinator Andrew Wagner. The team was then treated with a police escort by the Columbia City Police Department through the city of Columbia City.
ISMS will conclude its season Saturday at Whitko by competing in the NELMS conference tournament.
