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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Rochester’s Makenna McKee, Lilly Gerald and Laine Peppler are going back to the state finals.
The three Rochester wrestlers all advanced to state by finishing in the top four in their weight class at the Rochester regional Friday.
McKee won the regional title at 125 while Gerald was third at 105 and Peppler was third at 170.
McKee and Peppler also made state last year while Gerald made state as a freshman in 2023.
This marked the second straight year that Rochester hosted the regional but the first time as an IHSAA event. The IHSAA sanctioned the sport last April.
McKee, ranked No. 9 in the state per IndianaMat.com, finished third at the sectional at Columbia City last week but blew through the competition this week. She pinned No. 15 Makyila Rubush of Kokomo in 2:43 in the first round and clinched a state spot when she pinned West Lafayette’s Macy Fordyce, ranked No. 4, in 2:00. A 16-0 tech fall over Carroll (Fort Wayne)’s Madison Waltz in the semifinals got her to the finals.
She then dominated Logansport junior Olivia Gibson 14-0 in the final, getting two takedowns and two near-falls for the title.
Gerald, ranked No. 4, pinned Twin Lakes’ Abby Edmond in 52 seconds in the first round and beat Zionsville’s Breana Chau by an 18-3 tech fall in 5:07 to earn her state ticket. But she lost to Lafayette Jeff’s Senniah Henderson, ranked No. 11, by fall in 2:44 in the semifinals. Gerald was leading 11-0 in the match when Henderson reversed the momentum. She then bounced back to beat Benton Central’s Laurana Dillon by a 19-4 technical fall in the third-place match.
Peppler, ranked No. 3, advanced to the round of eight thanks to a forfeit. She then pinned Tri-County’s Kylee Kleist in 55 seconds to punch her state ticket.
She then lost by fall to Tipton’s No. 16 Emersyn Adkins in 5:02 but bounced back to win a hard-fought match over Lebanon’s Claira Gramlin 6-0 for third place. Peppler earned a four-point near-fall at the buzzer against the fifth-ranked Gramlin.
McKee, Gerald and Peppler were three of seven Lady Zs who competed.
freshman Elise Enyart got within a win of making state but lost by fall to Western freshman Ava Roe in 1:51 in her ticket match after a first-period fall over Lebanon’s Mikayla Rosenbaum in the first round.
Lexi Haughs (145) also won her first-round match over Delphi’s Annabell Grimes by fall in 1:35 before losing by fall to Western’s Jade Chloe Johnson by fall in 4:00 in the ticket round.
Rilyn Strasser (110) lost by a 7-4 decision to Crawfordsville’s Emely Herrera in the first round to finish 14-11 on the season.
Sophomore Kyra Doran’s season ended in the first round at 130 with a loss by fall in 2:00 to Clinton Prairie’s Brooklyn Bates.
Rochester scored 71.5 points and finished sixth out of 60 schools that had at least one regional qualifier.
New Haven won with 130.5 points, 39.5 more than runner-up Columbia City.
The state finals are at the Corteva Coliseum, formerly known as the Indiana Farmers Coliseum, in Indianapolis next Friday.
Caston
Both of Caston’s wrestlers made the regional, but both were eliminated in their first match Friday.
Sophomore Emmeline Zabel lost by fall to Greencastle’s Aurora Roberts in 53 seconds and finished her season 7-8.
Piper Roudebush ended her freshman season with a 5-6 record after a loss by fall to North Montgomery’s Hailey Kunz in 1:14 in the first round.
Pioneer
Jaylyn Layman was Pioneer’s lone regional qualifier, and she lost to Carroll (Fort Wayne)’s Waltz by a 14-10 decision in the first round.
She finished 13-12 on the season.
Beach’s season ends at Goshen regional
Culver junior Madison Beach was the lone RTC area wrestler to compete at the Goshen regional.
Beach lost her first-round match to Highland’s Kate Robisnon by fall in 40 seconds. She finished her season 8-6.
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