PERU — Logansport was defeated by Eastern 45-33 Wednesday night here at a wrestling team regional.
The Berries ended their dual-meet season with a 16-7 record. Eastern went on to lose to Harrison, 55-18, in the regional final later Wednesday night.
“Give our kids credit, they went out and battled,” Logan assistant coach Bucky Kramer said. “A couple weight classes went out and won a couple of tough matches. ... A few matches we probably should have won, but we had a couple unfortunate circumstances happen and we didn’t come through. That swung the match in the other direction instead of putting us up against Harrison, which you never know how that match would have turned out.”
The Berries were seeking their 10th regional title. They won their 30th sectional title last weekend, tying them for fifth most in the state.
“Our team was depleted this year with injuries and other circumstances,” Kramer said. “Our kids stepped up to the challenge to win the sectional and advance to the team regional, and we’re really proud of the kids for that. You can never take that sectional championship away from them.”
Derrick McQuiston (189 pound weight class) started the night off with a pin for the Berries to give them an early 6-0 lead. After three straight Eastern wins, T.J. Preston (112) won by forfeit and Brandon Preston (119) won by an 8-3 decision to get Logan within 16-15.
Eastern then reeled off two straight pins before Logan answered with two of its own by Ulises Contreras (135) and Chris Espinoza (140) to get within 28-27. But Eastern answered with three straight wins, two by pin, to take a 45-27 lead with just one match to go. Dalton Christensen (171) closed out the match with a pin for Logansport.
The Berries will have nine wrestlers compete in the Logansport Individual Regional on Saturday.
