RICHMOND - The Batesville wrestling team took five wrestlers to the regional in Richmond Saturday and came away with three semistate qualifiers: Josh Mobley (34-3) won the 170-pound class, Alex Murphy (29-5) runner-up at 120 and Chase Hamilton (31-8) third at 195. BHS placed seventh as a team, scoring 49 points. East Central was far ahead of the pack with 175.
Mobley's regional title was the first for a Bulldog since Will Amberger achieved the same in 2015. The Bulldog senior pinned Tri's Connor Wayman in 40 seconds to ensure a spot at semistate. Not satisfied, Mobley won a 5-2 decision over Connersville's Jarred Barrett before edging EC's Brayden Huber in a marathon overtime final, 4-3.
Murphy pinned the hosts' Gavin McFarland in the third period to ensure a top-four placement. In the semifinals, the senior needed just 50 seconds to pin Shenandoah's Angel Deloney. Jesus Aquino-Morales of Union County was too tough in the final, taking Murphy by a 7-1 decision.
Hamilton also earned a pin in the opening round, finally putting Centerville's Jonny Snyder on his back late in the third period. The senior then lost 9-3 to eventual champ Ryan Bovard of EC before edging South Dearborn's Andrew Kemper in the 3rd-place bout, 3-2.
Sophomore David Maher finished his campaign at 20-15 after being pinned by Centerville's Devin Frazier in 90 seconds at 145 pounds. One class up, at 152, freshman Damien Dance (24-10) battled Knightstown's Luke Thomas before succumbing 16-12.
Other regional champs were Heather Crull of Northeastern (106), Carson Whitley of UC (113), unbeaten Blake Wolf of EC (126), Brevan Thrine of New Castle (132), Dylan Lengerich of EC (138), once-beaten Rider Searcy of EC (145), undefeated Corbin Walston of Lawrenceburg (152), Charlie Euson of EC (160), David Nash of EC (182), Brayden Rouse of EC (220) and unbeaten Jackson Goodall of LHS (285).
The New Castle semistate starts 9 a.m. Saturday. Mobley will have one of the top seeds in his draw, each Bulldog needing to win twice to advance to the state finals.