Rochester girls wrestling has 4 individual champs, wins East Noble Invite

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Girls wrestling

Grace Hiroms

Led by individual champions Lilly Gerald (103-106), Kyra Doran (124-129), Laine Peppler (138-142) and Grace Hiroms (148-152), Rochester won the season-opening East Noble Invitational Saturday.

Rochester scored 175 points to top the 33-team field. Jay County and North Miami tied for second with 164.

Hiroms, a senior who was a state runner-up last year, won all five of her matches by fall. Her last three matches all took less than a minute.

Doran won all five of her matches by fall, including a win in 37 seconds over Shelbyville’s Sydney Dudgeon in the championship.

Gerald also won all five of her matches by fall, including two that lasted less than 30 seconds. She finished her day with a win in 1:27 over John Glenn’s Abrianna Elkins in the championship match.

Peppler went 5-0 with four falls and a 4-2 decision over Warsaw’s Mariana Castro in the championship.

All nine Rochester wrestlers finished in the top four in their weight class.

Makenna McKee was second at 124-130 after going 4-1 on the day. All four of her wins were by fall. Lakodah Clevenger was second at the 131-135 B class after going 4-1, and all four of her wins were by fall within the first minute.

Fourth-place finishers included Rilyn Strasser (108-113), Amber Blackburn (130-134) and Lexi Haughs (139-141).

Rochester will host their own invitational at 9 a.m. this Saturday.

Schedule highlights include the regional at Mishawaka on Dec. 30, the semistate on their home mats at Rochester on Jan. 5 and the state finals at Kokomo on Jan. 12.