DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
INDIANAPOLIS – Gavin Davis finally got his state medal.
And he had company.
After one of the most storied careers in Bellmont High School history, Davis finished his career with a fourth-place medal and he was joined as a medalist by teammate Xavior Palacios, who took home eighth place.
In a tournament dominated by the big schools in Indiana, with Brownsburg annihilating the state record for points scored at the State Finals, there were only two public high schools in Indiana (Rochester and Prairie Heights) smaller than Bellmont who brought home multiple medals.
Overall, there were just seven schools participating in the IHSWCA’s traditional 1A and 2A Team State tournaments who managed to win multiple medals.
Only 16 schools in Indiana with less than 700 students managed to compete in the tournament’s second day, winning 24 medals, while the big schools took the other 88. A third of those 88 medals were won by the state’s top four teams.
Bellmont entered the tournament with three participants. Sophomore Henry Faurote made his second visit to the IHSAA State Finals, but was turned away from a Saturday appearance by Justice Thornton of Columbus North, who went on to finish seventh in a very talented 138 field.
Faurote’s loss came at 18-2 as the wrestlers representing the Fort Wayne Semi-State bowed out of the state tournament, going 0-4 against the Evansville representatives, who took home first, second, fourth and eighth place on Saturday.
In the second Friday session, Davis secured Bellmont’s place on Saturday with a pair of first-period takedowns against Israel Sinnott of Hanover Central on his way to a three-minute pin to secure his medal.
20 minutes later, Xavior Palacios showed that he belonged at the State Finals with a simple, quick pin (see below) of Aiden Granger of Hobart in 32 seconds.
The pair of Braves thrilled fans in Indianapolis and back home in Decatur with their Saturday performances. Davis controlled his quarterfinal, Michael Cain of Hamilton Heights, building a 6-2 lead before yielding a late takedown to advance to the semifinals with a 7-5 victory, continuing the Braves’ presence at the semifinal round in recent years.
Palacios drew a much tougher task in Kyle Harden, who looked to be much the better wrestler in the early going, but Harden decided to stop wrestling midway through the bout and was continually hit with stalling warnings in the second and third periods.
The final stalling warning came with nine points and was worth two points to Palacios, drawing the score to 10-7, but Harden did enough in the final moments to avoid risking a disqualification.
Palacios will be part of a talented field of returning 190 medalists next season. Al Smith champ Caesar Salas of Crown Point was fifth, while Michael White of Lawrence North reached the finals. Harden will join the three of them as seniors next year.
After falling to eventual state champion Adrian Pellot of Merrillville in his semifinal match, Davis was quickly taken down and pinned in the third-place match by Evan Roudebush of Bloomington South to round out his career.
Palacios faced a familiar opponent in the consolation semi in Devin Kendrex of New Prairie and scored the opening takedown, but the senior, who switched schools over the summer from Mount Vernon, dominated the rest of the match, winning 11-6 on his way to sixth place.
Palacios was in his match for seventh place when he chose bottom, trailing 1-0 going into the third, but he, too, was pinned in the medal round by Seer Godwise of Perry Meridian.
Bellmont finished the state meet with more team points than all but 22 teams in the state of Indiana, continuing the program’s long tradition of competing against the state’s very best.
To put Davis’ career in perspective, only ten wrestlers in school history had ever won 132 or more matches and finished and wrestled in a state semifinal match. Injuries in his freshman year, coupled with sitting out several events his junior year to save his shoulder likely cost him as many as 30 or 35 varsity victories, a total that would have put him in the top four all-time.
Speaking of the top four in wins, that is exactly where Xavior Palacios will finish if he repeats (or betters) his junior year performance of 46 victories.
Henry Faurote, meanwhile, is still on course for his own historical career with two appearances already in the State Finals. Another 40-win season for Faurote like this year’s will leave him in the Top 25 in program history heading into his senior season. He will be joined on the team next year by his brother, Charlie.
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