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209 articles in this category
3169 1#MondayMatness: Glogouski Following in the Family Tradition
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Blake Glogouski wants to ascend to the top of the IHSAA wrestling hill and he wants to get there quickly.
The Fairfield High School senior sees speed as one of his weapons as he looks to add to a prep resume that already includes two trips to Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (he was a state qualifier as a freshman at 106 pounds and placed fifth at 113 as junior). He wants to compete “under the lights†this time around and speed will be part of the package.
“I always push the pace,†Glogouski said. “My coaches always tell me to move faster than the opponent and don’t slow down.â€
Falcons assistant Jesse Espinoza is taken with the intensity and toughness packed into an athlete who clocks in at 5-foot-7 and plans to wrestle at 120 on the back side of the 2015-16 season.
“It’s hard to explain,†Espinoza said. “He’s just one of those kids. You tell him to run through a brick wall and he’ll get through it.
“If you are wrestling in the (practice) room and he gets hold of a leg, it doesn’t matter what you do to him he’s not going to let go of that leg.â€
Dan Glogouski, Blake’s father and another assistant on Fairfield head coach Jim Jones’ coaching staff, has watched his son became more of a leader to his teammates.
Maturity and off-season work, including an appearance at the Disney Duals and workouts with older brother Forrest who will again be a teammate when he is joined by Blake at NCAA Division II Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, in 2015-16, have combined to make Blake a better Falcon since he went 52-3 last winter.
“Mentally, he’s gotten better,†Dan Glogouski said of Blake. “It’s from growing up, being a senior, being that leader. He’s the guy most of the kids on the team look up to.â€
Blake tends to be quiet, but when he uses his deep voice, he commands attention.
“He may be little, but he’s a mighty kid,†Dan Glogouski said of an athlete who was also an impact performer on offense, defense and special teams in football for Fairfield’s NECC big school division co-champions.
While Blake regularly works out with junior 132-pounder Dillon Yoder, he does not shy away from larger wrestlers in practice.
“He’s not scared of anybody,†Espinoza said. “Some kids will go after him, but after about 30 seconds or so they are done.
“He kind of turns it on.â€
Blake Glogouski began the season at 126, but intends to drop down to 120 because he thinks it gives him a chance to be stronger and for the most success. Of course, he has the prerogative to change his mind.
The highly-ranked grappler said his biggest area of improvement has come in takedowns. He uses about five or six and goes with the shots that opponents can’t easily stop.
With two State Finals appearances, 125 high school victories and numerous Indiana State Wrestling Association laurels coming into his senior season, Blake knows he will see the best others can throw at him.
“There’s definitely a target on my back,†Blake Glogosuki said. “I’ve just got to work harder.â€
As Glogouski and the Falcons head into the 2016 part of the calendar, the heat will go up in practice.
“We’ll turn up the intensity in practice as we get closer to our conference tournament and on into sectionals,†Espinoza said.
On Wednesday, Dec. 23, Glogouski became a four-time champion at Rochester’s John McKee Invitational. He was named the meet’s outstanding wrestler for the second time.
Fairfield is scheduled to host Churubusco in dual Jan. 5 with the West Noble Super Dual Jan. 9 and Goshen Invitational Jan. 16, followed by the Northeast Corner Conference meet Jan. 23 and Elkhart Sectional Jan. 30. After that comes the Goshen Regional Feb. 6, Fort Wayne Semistate Feb. 13 and State Finals Feb. 19-20.
2360 1#MondayMatness: Getting better all the time drives Norwell 220-pounder Gray
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Each time Cale Gray steps on a wrestling mat he wants to be better than the last.
The Norwell High School senior wants constant feedback.
The 220-pound Gray stays after workouts to consult with Knights head coach John Johnson, going over moves and studying film.
“He tries to be a student of the sport,” says Johnson, who has coached Gray since the sixth grade. “After every match he wants to breakdown how he wrestled. I don’t find a lot of guys like that.
“He really tries to improve technically all the time.”
With four pins in as many matches, Gray (18-0 so far in 2019-20) helped Norwell place fifth in Class 2A at the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Duals in Fort Wayne.
The Knights went 3-1, losing 44-32 to Western then beating West Vigo 51-21, Wawasee 46-27 and Oak Hill 36-33.
Asked his best quality as an athlete and Gray replies that is his willingness to take instruction.
“It’s my ability to listen to my coaches and take in information that they give me,” says Gray. “It’s constructive criticism. I take it into account.
“Coach Johnson always critiques me on my feet and he wants me to be more heavy-handed. I’m pretty light with my hands. I don’t use them enough. Whenever he critiques me, I’ll ask him to work with me after practice.”
Gray grappled at 170 as freshman, 182 as a sophomore and 195 as a junior.
“I’d like to think I was a bit under the radar,” says Gray. “No one knew my name.”
That started to change when he placed second at the Jay County Sectional and Jay County Regional and third at the Fort Wayne Semistate, avenging sectional and regional championship losses to Jay County’s Chandler Chapman.
Gray then placed sixth in his first appearance at the IHSAA State Finals in Indianapolis and finished the 2018-19 season at 31-7.
“Last year I was definitely predictable,” says Gray. “I had a good set-up and it got me pretty far on my feet. But when I got to the semistate and state that didn’t really work.
“I was kind of a one trick pony.”
This season, Gray has been helping Johnson to diversify his attack from his feet.
“We’ve worked this year on being able to attack both the trail leg and the lead leg,” says Johnson. “He’s a big, strong guy and super athletic for his size. He can do multiple things. It’s just doing them.”
“I’ve seen him hit probably three of four (Granby Rolls) already this year and you just don’t typically see a lot of big boys doing that.”
Gray is fond of an expression that sums up his approach.
“I like to be a jack of all trades and master of none, but it’s better than being a master of only one,” says Gray. “If I have only one thing to go to and it doesn’t work, I don’t have much to go off of.”
“I try embrace every aspect of wrestling except legs. I try to pick up things and know what to do in match situations.”
Gray long ago fell in love with weight training and even worked out with a strength coach in Colorado last summer.
That continued when he got back to Indiana and before his final season of high school football (he was an all-Northeast Eight Conference defensive end for the second straight year and also played fullback).
“When I was on my own time, I’d lift every day of the week I could and I’d eat like five to seven meals a day to get bulking,” says Gray.
“When football started coming around, I didn’t have as much time to eat those meals or lift. We only lifted three times a week and I’d have time to eat three of four meals a day.”
Gray, who also did some folkstyle wrestling in the off-season, got up to 235 pounds but was unable to pack on more weight and it was decided he would wrestle at 220 for Norwell instead of 285.
As Gray has gone up in weight, he has noticed a difference in styles.
“220’s do a lot more power ties and slide-bys and they move around for a snap single,” says Gray. “Hand-fighting is something I need to get better at.”
Gray hopes to wrestle in college and study exercise science and kinesiology. He has gotten attention from smaller collegiate programs.
“I only placed sixth last year (at the State Finals),” says Gray. “My goal is to become a state champion.
“Hopefully, those D-I’s will take notice at that point.”
Cale is supported by his family. He is the son of Mike and Tracy Gray and Chris and Danny Droke. His has and older brother (Dylan) and a twin sister (Cassidy).
Before the IHSAA state tournament series (sectional Feb. 1, regional Feb. 8, semistate Feb. 15 and State Finals Feb. 21-22), the Knights has a home dual against Leo Jan. 14, the Garrett Invitational Jan. 18, a road dual against South Adams Jan. 22 and the Northeast Eight Tournament at New Haven Jan. 25.
Johnson, who is in his fourth season leading the high school program, has watched Gray come a long way.
“Cale was a very average middle school wrestler,” says Johnson. “Even as a freshman, he was OK.”
Like with many successful wrestlers, something clicked and Gray became really committed to mat game.
“Once they start to buy in, there’s no ceiling for them,” says Johnson of the mentality he shares with his athletes. “At the end of the day it takes sacrifice.
“I don’t care if it’s your weight and staying after practice to watch because this is what’s going to make you stand out.”
The coach says shortcuts won’t help you get there.
“Make them beat you because they’re a better wrestler, not because you cheated yourself,” says Johnson.
For those dedicated like Gray, Johnson says wrestling is with them all the time.
“It really becomes a lifestyle that you have to buy into — some kids do it well and some really battle with it,” says Johnson. “That’s why wrestling is really the best preparation for just being an adult.
“I always make it about more than wrestling because it really is. I want to teach them about real life. Get to practice on time. Little things like that.”
Wrestlers who are late for practice at Norwell know they have running and/or suicides in front of them.
“If you’re going to commit to something, let’s do it well and be reliable,” says Johnson. “I want to make these young men ready to hit the adult world and be responsible and productive.”
3392 1 6#MondayMatness: From deaf slave to Warsaw wrestler, Linky has taken quite a journey
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Real adversity meets opportunity.
That’s the story of Jacob Linky.
The wrestling room at Warsaw Community High School is filled with pulsing music and coaches barking instructions as more than three dozen Tigers get after it.
One wrestler — junior Linky — goes through the workout, rehearsing his moves with his workout partner, cranking out pull-ups and running laps around the room.
But without the sounds heard by the others.
Linky lives in a world that is mostly silent.
Without his cochlear implants, Linky can’t hear much of anything.
There was one incident where smoke alarms went off all over the house where Jacob now resides with Nrian and Brenda Linky. It was 3 a.m.
“Jacob slept through the alarm,” says Brian Linky, Jacob’s legal guardian. “I woke him in the morning.”
The young man was not born deaf.
Now 18, Jacob was about 5 and in native Africa — Lake Volta, Ghana, to be exact — when he lost his hearing at the hands of his father.
“We were slaves,” says Jacob, speaking of his early childhood through interpreter Rebecca Black. “We helped my dad in his fishing business.
“I didn’t used to be deaf. My dad hit by head a whole bunch. That’s how I became the way I am.”
His father demanded that young Jacob dive into very deep waters full of dangerous creatures.
“I felt a pop in my ears,” says Jacob. “I was a kid.”
His native language was Twi, but he didn’t hear much that after his hearing was gone.
Growing up the second oldest of seven children, Jacob has a brother who was born to another family, rejected and traded to his father.
It was a life that is difficult to imagine for those in the U.S.
“My mom didn’t do anything wrong,” says Jacob. “She fed me.”
Wanting the best for Jacob, his mother placed him in an orphanage. He eventually came to live in Warsaw when he was adopted by Andy and Dawn Marie Bass and began attending the fifth grade at Jefferson Elementary in Warsaw. He received hearing aids and then implants.
“I’m thankful the Basses adopted me and brought me here,” says Jacob.
“I now live with the Linky family.”
Following grade school, Jacob went on to Edgewood Middle School in Warsaw and was introduced to wrestling.
“I knew nothing (about the sport),” says Jacob. “I played around.”
Drive and athletic prowess allow Jacob to excel on the high school mat.
“At times his feisty side comes out because of that past,” says Warsaw head coach Kris Hueber. “He’s channeled it well and we’ve been able to harness well most of the time.
“He has days where he is cranky and fired up, You know that he’s drawing from stuff that no one else has.”
After missing his freshmen season, Jacob made an impact with the Tigers as a 145-pound sophomore, advancing to the East Chicago Semistate.
“This year, I’d like to go all the way to State,” says Jacob, who spent the summer pumping iron and continues to eat a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables and protein while packing more muscle on a 5-foot-7, 160-pound frame.
“(Jacob) fell in love with the weight room,” says Hueber. “There is not much on him that is not muscular. He’s one of those guys with his energy level he needs to be active. As an athlete, he is a remarkably gifted human being. He’s able to do things no one else in the room can do. Between strength, balance and agility, he is uniquely gifted.”
Ask Jacob what his best quality is as a wrestler and says speed. His quickness and and strength come into play in the practice room with larger practice partners — 170-pound Brandon Estepp, 182-pound junior Mario Cortes and 195-pound senior Brock Hueber.
“I don’t like to wrestle light persons,” says Jacob. “It makes me work hard to wrestle the big guys.”
Warsaw opened the 2019-20 season Saturday with the Warsaw Invitational and Jacob went 5-0 with four pins.
Sign language and lip-reading help him navigate life as a teenager and athlete. When Jacob wrestles, Black circles the mat to maintain eye contact and relay information to him.
“She always looks where my head is,” says Jacob. “She always gets sweaty.”
Who gets sweatier during a match? “Me,” says Jacob, thrusting a thumb at his chest. “I’m a harder worker.”
Black has been around Jacob since he was in eighth grade.
“I feel privileged to be involved in his life,” says Black. “He’s an amazing person. He just is.”
Hueber has come to appreciate that Jacob has the ability to be both competitive and light-hearted.
“He’s ornery still, but in a good way,” says Hueber. “He has not been able to out-grow being a kid. I love that.”
While Jacob’s background and circumstance are different than his Tiger mates, Hueber says he’s “just one of the guys.”
“(They) don’t treat him differently in any way,” says Hueber. “They love being around him because of his charisma and personality. He’s a really great teammate.”
Hueber says working with Jacob has helped others recognize their influence.
“They might be able to goof off for two minutes and snap right back,” says Hueber. “If (Jacob) misses one line of communication, there’s a lot that he’s got to recover from.”
This means that workout partners need to be focused and attentive as well — not just for themselves but to also help Jacob. Hueber notes that Jacob has to concentrate and keep focused on his interpreter in class (his current favorite class in English and he is looking forward to Building Trades in the future) and practice.
“There are probably times when he’s looking for a break,” says Hueber.
“He’s on and he’s full-wired all day. That’s taxing mentally for sure.”
Brian Linky works in payment processing at PayProTec in Warsaw and Brenda Linky is the special needs coordinator for Warsaw Community Schools. The Linkys have two sons who played basketball at Warsaw — Zack (now 28 and living in Calfiornia) and Ben (now 22 and attending Indiana University).
Taking in Jacob means they have a teenager in the house again.
“He’s been nothing but polite,” says Brian Linky. “He’s hard-working around the house (mowing the lawn, making his bed, walking the dog and cooking his own meals). He has friends over. He’s very happy.”
As for the future, Jacob is considering joining the football team next year (he has never played the sport). He turns 19 in May.
A brother, Christian, lives in Virginia and communicates with Jacob and family in Africa through text.
“We’re going to save up so we can visit our parents in Africa,” says Jacob.
Right now, he is doing life as an Indiana teenager and wrestling is a big part of it.
Real adversity meets opportunity.
3091 3 1#Mondaymatness: From Columbus to Culver, Bryant striving for success
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
It didn’t take Manzona Bryant IV long to make an impact on Indiana high school wrestling.
As a Culver Military Academy freshman, the grappler from Columbus, Ohio, placed sixth at 132 pounds at the 2016-17 IHSAA State Finals.
Three weeks later, he took home the 145-pound title at the Indiana State Wrestling Association folkstyle tournament.
Certified for at 132 but also competing at 138, he has been dominating opponents and dazzling mat audiences so far during the 2017-18 high school season.
Bryant also continues to make his CMA teammates better with his infectious enthusiasm and athletic tenacity.
“He’s charismatic,” says 10th-year Eagles head coach Matt Behling. “When he steps on that mat, he’s bringing it every single time. The best thing that’s happened for our team is that attitude is contagious.
“He’s helping to elevate the wrestling in our (practice) room. It’s been trickle-down effect. It’s been great.”
The coaching staff, which also includes Andrew Basner, Josh Harper, Brandon James and Chris Prendergast, encourages Bryant to constantly push the pace and he takes that to heart.
“They tell me to just be relentless on the mat and don’t stop,” says Bryant. “I always strive to get better. If I do something wrong, I always want to get back in the room and fix it.”
Bryant produced the fastest pin of his high school career Saturday, Dec. 16 at Penn’s Henry Wilk Classic when he scored a fall in six seconds.
“The clock said :06, I’d like to say it was :04 or :05,” says Bryant, who did achieve a four-second pin in junior high. “I usually use a ‘cowcatcher.’ I ‘bulldog’ and throw deep and go fast.”
How deep is Bryant’s “bag of tricks”?
“I usually stick to the basics,” says Bryant. “I hit the usual shots or a front headlock. But if I’m out there and I need to hit something, I’ve got it. I pull out the little sack.”
Bryant, who carries the same name as his father, grandfather (who served in the U.S. Air Force) and great grandfather, began his competitive wrestling career at age 7.
“I had a decent season and my mom accidentally signed me up for the Tournament of Champions in Columbus and I got sixth,” says Bryant. “My mom (Theresa) thought it was some local tournament at the convention center.”
From there, Bryant enjoyed success at the local, state and national level. He won a title in Tulsa, Okla., as a sixth grader and was a two-time Ohio junior high state champion.
Bryant is an only child.
“Sometimes that’s a good thing,” says Bryant. “Other times, all your friends are gone and you’re at the house going ‘What do I do?’”
As a wrestler, he gets the chance to be social and hang around with like-minded friends.
“I’m a people person,” says Bryant. “I like to hang out with people. That usually leads to doing more activities.”
When those people are his wrestling teammates and coaches, they are often working on mat moves.
But don’t be surprised to see the Hacky Sack make an appearance.
“We find it interesting and fun. Our coaches like to get into it. Adam Davis is really good. It’s a good stress reliever. It calms you down and gets you ready.”
Bryant’s regular workout partner is freshman Eli Pack, who also hails from Columbus, Ohio.
“We’ve known each other for a long time,” says Manzona. “He was my workout partner in seventh and eighth grade. I told his parents about the wonderful opportunities (at Culver). We know each other so well. We know how to push each other. It’s kind of hard to describe.”
Bryant describes what it was like at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the State Finals last Feb. 17-18.
“On Friday night, I just concentrated and went into that match strong and positive,” says Bryant. “I took care of business that night. Going into the state tournament this year, I’m going to try to zero in on every match and take it like it could be my last one.”
Bryant says he would have attended a private school if he would have gone to high school in Ohio. He enjoys the lessons in self-discipline he is learning at Culver.
“I like it because it gives me organization,” says Bryant. “It helps me do the little things like make my bed, wake up on-time and to know where to be places and when.”
Culver Academies — Culver Military Academy for boys and Culver Girls Academy — is loaded with athletic students. There are nearly 30 interscholastic sports at the private school for Grades 9-12. Students who are not with a sports team must work out three times a week. Culver has a state-of-the-art fitness center for that.
“A lot of people are competitive,” says Bryant. “When we have unit games, you know everyone is going to fight.”
Contests get fierce when dodgeball, basketball or Eagle Ball (a game similar to ultimate frisbee played with a football and targets) is played between units.
The school has three battalions — Artillery, Infantry and Squadron. Bryant is in Battery C of the Artillery. He chose that battalion because they get to drive trucks during the various parade seasons.
“That’s a nice little break instead of marching all the time,” says Bryant. “Sophomores also get the privilege of firing the cannon at parades, Reveille and retreat.”
As a private school, students must qualify academically to get admitted.
“Our kids are very respectful,” says Behling, who is also a Culver counselor. “They’re in this leadership system so they understand what it means to be a leader.
“We don’t deal with some of the issues that maybe some of the public schools are dealing with in terms of academics. I don’t think I’ve ever had a kid who’s been sat because he couldn’t handle the academics.”
The school day contains four 85-minute class blocks and goes from 8:30 to 3:15 p.m. with wrestling practice from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Bryant’s favorite subject?
“Latin II,” says Bryant of the course taught in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages & Cultures. “It’s interesting. A lot of our words come from Latin. It’s nice to see those when I’m studying a new vocabulary list or something like that.”
Culver Academies requires students to take three years of foreign language. Next year, Bryant will take Latin III. As a senior, he has the choice of Advanced Placement Latin or pursuing an Honors in Language.
A four-year school with students from all over the globe, Culver wrestling does not have a feeder program such a junior high or a club.
Some — like Bryant — come to campus with wrestling experiences. Others are brand new to the sport.
“It comes down to having a really good coaching staff,” says Behling. “I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about surrounding myself with good people.
“Wrestlers’ first one or two years, they’re struggling. After that, they come in and make a significant impact in our program.
“If we’re blessed enough to have a kid that has wrestling experience, that’s great, too, because we can run with it. Kids know that if they come to Culver and they want to wrestle, they can have a real good wrestling experience.”
The Eagles have been strong enough to qualify a few times for the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals (which happen this season Saturday, Dec. 23 at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne).
“Here’s where the frustration is: We were right in the vote for going to Team State for the third time,” says Behling. “We didn’t get the vote because the selection committee needed to know — and this is the only question they asked us — who are your eighth graders who are going to make a contribution to your team next year? I can’t answer that in the spring so I had no response.”
CMA is the site of an ISWA/USA Wrestling Regional Training Center. Momentum for the sport really picked up after Daniel Young became the school’s first state wrestling champion in 2009. The Bloomoington, Ind., native went 48-0 as a Culver senior and then wrestled at West Point.
“The school got excited about that,” says Behling. “An endowment was established for wrestling. That endowment has really helped us in the last eight years. Our wrestling room is up there as one of the tops in the state of Indiana.”
That room is now occupied by the 2017-18 CMA Eagles.
“When our lineup is set and we clear out a few injuries, we can be a pretty tough team,” says Behling. “We’re excited about the future.”
That future includes a bundle of energy named Manzona Bryant.
2545 2#MondayMatness: Flatt Encourages Individualism for the Wildcats
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Bill Flatt does not try to fit a square peg in a round hole.
The 17th-year head wrestling coach at South Bend Riley High School knows that each athlete is different.
Flatt gets his Wildcats to play to their strengths and it has paid off with plenty of mat success.
“I don’t try to put them into a mold,†Flatt said. “It’s not ‘here’s how I want all of you to wrestle.’ I emphasize their individuality.â€
Flatt encourages his wrestlers to find what style best suits them and go with that. He will be there to help them refine it.
The veteran coach and is a former Mishawaka High School (Class of 1979) and Columbia University (Chicago) grappler. As an MHS junior, Flatt went 22-1 for Hall of Fame coach Al Smith. Flatt’s only loss came in the semistate semifinals to the defending state champion.
After college, Flatt was an assistant to Smith for one season before taking over the Riley program.
With all his time on and around the mat, Flatt knows that some wrestlers are better on their feet and others excel on top.
“The guys who are good riders and pinners, when they are on bottom, I don’t want them getting to their feet and getting escapes,†Flatt said. “I want them to get the reversals to get into their best position and score from there.
“I’m always looking to get them to their best positions, whichever that is. It may be a match-to-match situation.â€
With seniors Austen Laughlin (40-2 at 145 pounds) and Kassius Breathitt (38-4 at 152) and junior Tristan Goering (33-2 at 170) winning weight-class titles and senior RZ Teague (27-15 at 160) finishing fourth, again bolstered Riley as the Wildcats [laced third at the Mishawaka Sectional. Next up is the Rochester Regional.
“The middle of our lineup has really set the tempo for the team,†Flatt said. That tempo helped the Cats go 17-8 in 2015-16 duals and is leading to wins in the postseason.
“We want to just keep that momentum going,†Flatt said. “Get the points you need and get off the mat. This time of the year, it’s nothing but the W. Keep going to the right on that bracket. Go to the left and you lose another match and you’re done. So we want to keep going toward that championship bout.â€
Goering placed fourth at 160 at the 2015 IHSAA State Finals. Laughlin is a two-time State Finals qualifier and a 46-match winner in 2014-15.
“Tristan’s run in the semistate and state finals last year was tremendous,†Flatt said. “For Austen, it’s all about confidence. He’s wrestled so much, there’s always another trick in his bag, one more thing he can do. He breaks people and just gets them to submit.â€
Ultra-competitors Laughlin, Breathitt, Teague and Goering are regular sparring partners during intense Riley workouts.
“We hate losing,†Laughlin said. “That’s what motivates us to get better. It definitely gets heated in (the practice room).â€
When Breathitt looks at Laughlin, Teague and Goering, he sees driven athletes.
“They’re determined,†Breathittt said. “They want to go places. They love the sport.â€
“We all work hard in here and push each other to be better,†Teague said.
Goering said it’s a matter of iron sharpening iron.
“Austen is one of the best on our team technically,†Goering said. “Kassius stays in really good position. RZ is a combination of the two. He’s real-rounded overall. My strengths are my athleticism, my explosiveness. I’ve been told I’m hard-nosed. I’m not the most skilled, but I go out there real hard and that tends to break guys down.â€
One bit of advice from Flatt that sticks with Goering is focusing on each period instead of the whole six-minute match.
“If you win two minutes at a time, you will win the match,†Goering said.
The junior also serves notice about the 2016-17 Wildcats and sees Riley having a good shot at ending Penn’s stranglehold on the top spots in the sectional and Northern Indiana Conference.
“We’ll be better next year than we are this year,†Goering said.
Laughlin said it is his ability to adapt to many styles and to go against teammates in practice that know how to scramble to helps him win close matches.
While Breathitt is strong as a bottom wrestler, it’s also what he has between the ears that helps him be successful.
“It’s that mental toughness and staying strong throughout the match no matter what happens,†Breathitt said. “You’ve got to believe in yourself. You’ve got to think that you can do it.
“I’m pretty decent on my feet, but nobody can hold me down. I’m not staying on the mat. A sit-out hip-heist is kind of my go-to thing. I keep running those. I also have moves like Granbys and such.â€
Having drilled so much, Breathitt has confidence in his best set of moves.
“I keep running it until they stop it,†Breathitt said. “I don’t like to change it up for other people. I like to keep doing what I’ve trained to do.â€
It’s a pretty smart group, too. Flatt said Breathitt, Teague and Goering are on the their way to academic all-state honors.
Many Riley wrestlers compete throughout the year as a part of the South Bend Wrestling Club, which holds most workouts at Riley and South Bend Joseph.
The current pack of Wildcats are continuing a strong tradition of South Bend’s South Side. From 1960-15, Riley racked up 53 indivudal State Finals.
Jon Galloway (1964-65-66) was a three-time state champion for the Cats. Larry Katz (1963), Matt Wills (1991), Matt Nowak (1995) and George Malone (2007) also took state titles.
“We just keep producing,†Flatt said. “We bring kids in, give them the idea they can be successful and try to put their name on (Riley Wrestling Wall of Fame) list.â€
2543#MondayMatness: Family atmosphere, 'next guy in' mentality drives Penn success
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Penn has been an IHSAA state championship contender in most years since Brad Harper took over as head coach of the Kingsmen in 2006.
In 2015, Penn won its first state team title.
The goal every year is reach the top of the Indiana heap.
It’s also to grow the program’s reputation in the state and beyond.
At any given time during the high school season, there are around close to 100 wrestlers striving to get better while also forming a bond.
“The family atmosphere — that’s huge for us,†Harper said. “That’s why we have 90 kids on the team.
“We probably have 14 seniors and only three of them start. Why are you letting the seniors stay out? Because they want to be a part of it.â€
Long-time assistant coach Chad Hershberger, a 2000 Penn graduate, hears the word every time the Kingsmen break from a meet or a practice: “Family!â€
“That’s what we are,†Hershberger said. “We are a family from the time we step into that (practice) room until we leave. It’s 24-7, 365.â€
One of Harper’s teammates at Mishawaka High School (Brad won a state title in 1998 and was a state runner-up in 1999) was Mike Cramer, who is now associate pastor at New Life Baptist Church in Osceola.
Cramer has been coming to Friday practices for years to give motivational talks that relate life to wrestling. Topics include hard work, teamwork, determination and — of course — family.
Not every athlete buys into the family values that the coaching staff of 20 constantly talks about.
But most do and thrive because of it.
They gravitate to coaches like five men who have been at the core of the coaching staff for the past decade — Harper, Hershberger, Dave Manspeaker, Jim Rhoads and Tom Dolly.
They also go to the many longtime volunteers to learn wrestling technique, but also to be motivated or to just have a friend and role model.
“We mentor some of these kids,†Hershberger said. “Some of them don’t have much and they just want to be a part of something.â€
So while individuals set their own goals, the team goal is always a high one and everyone is expected to contribute.
At some schools, they call them “program kids.â€
At Penn, it’s “next guy in.â€
“You’ve got to be ready because you never know when someone is going to go down,†Harper said.
Getting wrestlers ready to jump into the fire is a schedule that has junior varsity wrestlers taking part in many varsity tournaments.
“The only way that some of these kids were going to be able to step into that role is to have the varsity experience,†Hershberger said. “Are we always going to win? No. But that’s not what we ask. It’s about getting better and getting that varsity competition so when we do have injuries, that next kid is ready to step in. They are battle-tested.â€
Penn, which placed sixth in Class 3A at the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals Friday, Dec. 23 in Fort Wayne, also derives success from its feeder program. Three middle schools — Discovery, Grissom and Schmucker are all on the same page with the high school.
The Penn Wrestling Club begins with pre-kindergarten grapplers and goes all the way through high school, where it’s known as Midwest Extreme Wrestling (MXW) and wrestlers come from all over to take part in national team events.
It begins with the Kings Kids (Pre-K through First Grade) and goes to the Noble Kingsmen (Grades 2-5) Elite Kingsmen (Grades 2-6) and Black Knights (Grades (6-8) before high school.
Chad Harper, Brad’s brother and a member of Mishawaka’s 1991 IHSAA team champions, is club’s event coordinator and vice president on the board of directors. He said there are currently 176 active wrestlers though eight grade and there are 40 or more in the high school club.
When the high schoolers travel to Indiana events, they tend to go as the Penn Wrestling Club. At national tournaments, they tend to represent MXW.
MXW promotes wrestling regionally, nationally and possibly at the world level.
“It just makes for a good wrestling room,†Chad Harper said.
Through fundraising efforts (each wrestler has their own account), club wrestlers travel all over the nation — from Las Vegas to the Fargo Nationals to the Disney Duals in Florida and more.
“We’re seeing competition nationwide and that’s huge,†Brad Harper said. “Our goal is not just to be good in the state, we want to be No. 1 in the nation.â€
On April 7-8, 2017, PWC and MXW will again host a national dual tournament inside Compton Family Ice Arena at the University of Notre Dame. The 2016 duals — the first wrestling meet on the ND campus since 1992 — drew eight regional teams and the hope for 2017 is 16.
“We want to grow it every year,†Chad Harper said. “We want to help build up the Notre Dame club.â€
Fran McCann, who helps coach at the high school and club levels at Penn, was the Notre Dame head coach when the school discontinued intercollegiate wrestling.
Heading into 2016-17, Penn’s single-season leaders were Austin Kunze (217 takedowns in 2009-10), Tim Koch (37 reversals in 1987-88), Alex Gregory (35 pins and 50 wins in 2010-11), Derrick Jones (87 near falls in 1997-98) and Trevor Manspeaker (31 technical falls in 2012-13). Career leaders were Kenny Kaiser (331 takedowns from 1985-88), Tom Ginter (62 reversals from 2002-05), Alex Gregory (102 pins from 2007-11), Jeremiah Maggart (197 near falls from 2004-07), Trevor Manspeaker (93 technical falls from 2012-13) and Zach Davis (169 wins from 2011-14).
Penn won its first Northern Indiana Conference title in 1980. The Kingsmen went into this season with a five-year streak of NIC crowns.
4212#MondayMatness: Elkhart Lions are on the horizon, but now it’s about Central’s Blazers and Memorial’s Chargers
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Elkhart’s two high school wrestling programs — Central and Memorial — have been well-represented on the statewide stage over the years.
The Blue Blazers and Crimson Chargers have produced plenty of sectional, regional and semistate winners and state placers. Dave Riggle (98 pounds in 1973) and Barry Hart (119 in 1983) won state championships in a Central singlet.
Dan Kratzer (145 in 1973), Aaron Moss (135 in 1993), Nick Iannarelli (103 in 1999), Sean Drury (103 in 2003), Chris Miller (112 in 2004), Nick Corpe (171 in 2005) and Steve Stahl (189 in 2008) reigned over Indiana on behalf of Memorial. There were also state runners-up finishes for Chargers Frank Cockerham (heavyweight in 1981), Brent Lehman (119 in 1988), Sean Drury (103 in 2003), Ryan Stahl (140 in 2009), Zack Corpe (152 in 2010) and Christian Mejia (113 in 2016).
With the two becoming one known as the Elkhart High School Lions in 2020-21, Central and Memorial are in their final postseason push.
With their performances Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Goshen Regional, six — Central’s Eric Garcia (first at 126), Peyton Anderson (second at 170), Sea Davis (first at 220) and Jacob Sommer (third 285) and Memorial’s Kamden Goering (third at 160) and Clayton Lundy (first at 170) — have advanced to the Feb. 15 Fort Wayne Semistate at Memorial Coliseum. The top four placers in each weight division there will move on to the first round of the IHSAA State Finals Feb. 21 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“It’s very exciting,” says senior Garcia, who is 30-8 in 2019-20. “This is the best thing to happen to me throughout this whole six-year journey in wrestling (including junior high). It’s a big part of my life.”
What got Garcia his 8-6 victory against Northridge sophomore Jasper Graber in the regional finals?
“I’ve been praying for it, really,” says Garcia, who topped Graber 12-7 in the Elkhart Sectional championship. “It’s all in God’s hands. Not mine.”
Garcia says finishing his moves on the opponent’s legs has been key to his recent success.
“I used to have trouble,” says Garcia. “I would get the leg and stop right there. I wouldn’t go through.”
Garcia has reflected on the last season of Elkhart Central wrestling.
“I’ve thought about that a lot,” says Garcia. “It’s the community. It brings us all together. We all become as one.”
“It’s the last year. I know I have to put in a lot of effort to go through senior year.”
While Central and Memorial have not officially come together yet, Garcia says the idea of a unified Elkhart is happened.
“It’s already there,” says Garcia. “It’s just one big community.”
“Wrestling always brings people closer. You really get to meet a lot of good people. Even with the two schools going head-to-head, you still become close to those people.”
Davis (33-5) earned an 11-1 major decision against Northridge senior Omar Khaoucha in the regional final a week after beating him 6-4 for an Elkhart Sectional title.
“I controlled the tempo of the match really well,” says senior Davis.
“I controlled him when I was on-top and controlled the pace when we were both neutral.”
“That’s what I try to do well in most of the matches I wrestle. In my losses this season, I haven’t controlled that at all and I’ve been in bad positions.”
Davis has thought more about his final high school season than the last one for Central wrestling.
“I want to make my coaches proud,” says Davis.
He has enjoyed the rivalry with Memorial over the years and trying to be the program that owns the city title.
What does Davis think a unified Elkhart Lions will look like?
“For one thing, there will be a lot more people on the team,” says Davis. “There will be a lot more talent on the team and we’ll go to further heights.”
Anderson (25-9) was a regional runner-up, losing 8-4 to Lundy in the finals (Lundy won 11-3 when the two met for a sectional championship).
“I worked hard all week,” says senior Anderson of what it took to advance to semistate. “I’ve been putting in lots of effort.”
Each wrestler gets ready for a match in his own way. For Anderson, he sees his warm-up as very important.
“I have to be in the right mindset,” says Anderson. “I walk around by myself and don’t think of anything.”
“I don’t think about it. I just try to go do what I know.”
Anderson is pleased to still be representing Central on the mat. He also looks to the future, though he won’t be involved as an student-athlete.
“It’s nice to go as far as a I can for the school as a whole,” says Anderson. “It’s going to be interesting how it pans out next year with the teams.”
What’s his relationship to the grapplers on Elkhart’s west side?
“I love them,” says Anderson. “We wrestling with them at RTC’s all the time. They’re good guys. It’s fun.
“I’ll be back for (the Lions).”
Sommer (29-10) assessed his regional performance.
“I wrestled hard and I had a hard hand fight,” says junior Sommer. “I just stayed in front of my opponents and had better conditioning.”
As a heavyweight, Sommer has the distinction of being the last Elkhart Central wrestler to win an Elkhart Sectional title.
He is focused on the current season and will worry about the Elkhart Lions when the time comes.
“We’ll figure out what happens next year with everything,” says Sommer. “I wrestled in the off-season with a lot of (Memorial’s) kids. It’s not going to be too different.”
Goering (29-5) has his take on why he’s in the semistate and aiming even higher.
“I just pulled the trigger,” says Goering. “I believe in myself.”
“I’ve just been following through (in matches) with what I’ve been doing in practice. I’ve been continuing to gas my tank up.”
“I give all glory to God. Through Him, I can do all things.”
As for the last season of Elkhart Memorial wrestling, Goering has enjoyed the experience.
“It’s exciting. It’s kind of surreal,” says Goering. “It’s cool to be a part of. Other than that, it is what it is.”
Lundy (36-5) goes to the semistate after winning his second regional crown (he reigned at 160 in 2019).
What pulled him through in his most-recent championship?
“Just the determination that comes with the sport in general,” says junior Lundy. “It’s always my drive to keep myself high-spirited and keep my mentality strong during matches.”
“(Wrestling) consumes me. The competition is unlike anything else. I just have to keep my confidence up and know I have what it takes. I’ve put in the work to get here. I can’t let any lapses happen and just come out strong and keep it that way for the whole tournament.”
Lundy has looked at the last go-round for Memorial wrestling.
“It has a special meaning to it,” says Lundy. “I’m the last Elkhart Memorial sectional champion and the last Elkhart Memorial regional champ. I’m hoping to keep that rolling.”
Lundy says the Charger-Blazer rivalry remains until the end of this season and then it becomes about the Lions.
“Right now, it’s a matter of trying to beat each other and keep the big rivalry going,” says Lundy. “Next year, we’re going to be helping each to push into the state series.”
Zach Whickcar (Elkhart Central Class of 2006) and Brian Weaver (Elkhart Memorial Class of 1996) are the head coaches of the city’s two programs.
They both took a look at the present and the future.
“(Garcia, Anderson, Davis and Sommer) have a common characteristic in that they all work really hard,” says Whickcar, who is in his eighth season as Blazers head coach. “They’re focused. They’re dialed-in. They love to wrestle. When you practice and it’s fun and not work, that goes a long way.”
Central wrestling is winding up and Whickcar is soaking it up.
“I haven’t thought about the last ride per se, but it’s bittersweet,” says Whickcar. “There are a lot of challenges ahead of us. I’m just living in the moment, hanging out with these guys and enjoying what little time we have left.”
“I’m glad we ended with this group.”
Whickcar says he plans to apply to be the head coach for Elkhart High School wrestling. He notes that the two middle school teams have more than 60 wrestlers and there are quality returners expected at the high school level.
“Every senior is going to have a tall task,” says Whickcar of the first Elkhart Lions team. “We want to do it right. We want to create at culture. We’ve got to be in it together. We’re a family. We’re going to get better.”
“Whoever leads the program, it will be in good hands with the kids we have coming back. I love Elkhart athletics. Anything I can do to help keep that moving in the right direction, I’ll do it. It’s not about me, it’s about (athletes).”
Including assistant and head coaching duties, Weaver is in his 21st season of coaching wrestling at Memorial.
“This season has been a little rough,” says Weaver, who placed seventh at 130 pounds at the 1996 IHSAA State Finals. “We were down to 13 guys with only seven guys on our varsity roster, forfeiting 42 points (in dual meets).”
“Our main focus was the state tournament. For dual meets, we had to take those 42 points out of the equation. We’d go out and wrestle our matches and see where we’re at head-to-head.”
Weaver talked about Goering and Lundy.
“Kamden and Clayton are different kids,” says Weaver. “They both have a certain work ethic. They push each other when they wrestle with each other. The biggest thing is they have to believe in themselves to get to where they want to go.
“We just have to keep reaching our goals.”
Weaver says not yet decided if he will apply to be head coach of the Elkhart Lions.
“I’ve enjoyed the ride,” says Weaver. “It gets emotional when you think about it.”
Weaver and Whickcar are long-time friends.
“Zach and I get along extremely well,” says Weaver. “Our programs are very similar to each other. In the off-season,we work together and do tournaments together.
“Whatever happens to Elkhart wrestling, it’s going to be for the best if I’m the head coach or not or if Zach gets it. I’d like to have him on my staff if I get it. I believe he would feel the same way if he gets it.”
Weaver notes that rosters have shrunk in Elkhart sports at the middle school and high school levels. If students are taking seven classes, they must be passing six.
“It’s kind of hard to get your participation numbers up if you can’t get it done in the classroom,” says Weaver. “That’s been our biggest struggle: getting the kids to accomplish what they need to in the classroom so they can do the athletics.”
2728#MondayMatness: Eli Working on Another Podium Finish
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
David Eli got an up-close look at the big stage as a sophomore.
The Elkhart Memorial High School wrestler placed seventh at 182 pounds at the 2014-15 IHSAA State Finals.
A year wiser and stronger, Eli has his sights set on loftier heights in 2015-16.
Working with a Brian Weaver-led coaching staff that includes former successful Memorial wrestlers, Eli is honing his skills for a tournament run.
Eli spent the time between high school season attending Indiana State Wrestling Association Regional Training Center workouts at Penn and going to freestyle and folkstyle tournaments.
Just before the start of the current Crimson Charger slate, he went to Las Vegas and went 8-2 in two divisions of the “Freak Show.†Competing at 200 pounds, he won the varsity division and placed fourth in the elite.
That experience combined with plenty of time in the weight room led the a season filled with grueling training sessions and more victories on the mat.
“We’ve been working real hard,†Eli said after a recent win at 182. “I feel like I’ve got conditioning on some guys.â€
Weight workouts — especially with his legs — have added the muscle to help put away opponents.
His regular workout partner at Memorial has been senior 170-pounder Nick Ritchie and both have benefitted from pushing one another.
“For David to get down to the State Finals again this year, he needs opponents that can push him to his limitations,†Weaver said. “Nick Corpe, Shane Hendrickson and Tieshawn Johnson can push David to his limitations, get him where he needs to get.â€
Corpe and Hendrickson are EMHS assistant coaches and Johnson is a 2014 Memorial graduate.
Corpe was a state champion for the Chargers at 171 in 2004-05 and went on to compete at Purdue University.
Hendrickson, a 2010 Memorial graduate and two-time semistate qualifier and Northern Lakes Conference champion, wrestled for Trine University.
Johnson, who placed fifth at the 2013-14 State Finals at 195, wrestled at Indiana Tech.
“It really helps me out, them coming into the room and working with me,†Eli said.
Corpe has been impressed with Eli’s work ethic and athleticism.
“He doesn’t miss any practices,†Corpe said of Eli. “He just keeps getting better.
“He digs for his ties and gets to his positions. When he hits his moves, he’s explosive. He stays in control of the match.â€
While Eli has been successful with blast double, high crotch and headlock combinations, Corpe wants him to add to his arsenal.
“To win a state title, you need more than one shot,†Corpe said. “You’ve got to be able to scramble and know your positions. On top, he’s good. He’s a strong kid. But it usually comes down to the feet game. You need to compete with everyone on your feet.â€
Eli has taken this to heart.
“I can be one-dimensional,†Eli said. “I’m working on scoring from more positions.
“No matter who I’m wrestling, I’ve got to make sure I’m finishing my shots. Everything needs to be crisp.â€
Hendrickson said it is the basics that make Eli so good.
“He is one of the more fundamentally-sound wrestlers I’ve ever seen in high school,†Hendrickson said of Eli. “That’s what we continue to work on. Fundamentals — David has gone them down. That’s why he’s ranked so high. That’s why he’s going to do damage at the state tournament.â€
Hendrickson sees Eli stay in what he calls “power positions.â€
“He’s always in a good stance,†Hendrickson said. “He doesn’t expose his side or his hip as much as he can help it.â€
Weaver, who placed seventh at the State Finals at 130 in 1996, said Eli and other high school (folkstyle) wrestlers have benefitted from freestyle wrestling.
“There are more angles to freestyle and you can lock hands,†Weaver said. “(Freestyle) helps with mat awareness. Anytime you expose your back to the mat, it’s two points. A freestyle match can go very quick. You have to keep yourself in very good position the entire match.â€
Some folkstyle matches become a contest of playing near the edge of the mat. That’s not the case in freestyle.
“Freestyle does not allow you to play the out-of-bounds line,†Weaver said. “(The official) will blow the whistle and take you right back to the center. They don’t want the lag time.
“I’m hoping that Indiana will go to the college rules where if you have any limb inside the circle, it’s still live wrestling. It will eliminate playing the out-of-bounds line game.â€
Taking his knowledge of freestyle and his work ethic, Eli is aiming high this season.
Next up for Eli and the Chargers is a dual against Northridge Tuesday, Jan. 19, and the NLC Tournament Saturday, Jan. 23 — both at Memorial.
2102 1#MondayMatness: Donnie Crider has unique style
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
It’s hard to miss Donnie Crider at a wrestling event.
At 6-foot-7 and often wearing an orange T-shirt between bouts, the Harrison High School (West Lafayette) senior stands out from his opponents.
But Crider is not just tall, he’s good enough that he went a combined 106-10 in his sophomore and junior seasons, qualifying for the IHSAA State Finals in 2016 and placing sixth in 2016 at 220 pounds.
Crider, who weighed in at 238 at the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals in Fort Wayne where Harrison placed 10th, is enjoying a strong final prep go-round as a heavyweight.
While Crider is upbeat and bringing a smile to his teammates’ faces off the mat, he’s all business inside the circle.
“He’s aggressive and not afraid to get out there and be physical and take his shot,” says Harrison head coach Johnny Henry. “He sticks to his game plan.”
More of a unorthodox kind of counter wrestler early in his high school career, Crider has simplified his attack to his best couple moves on top and on bottom.
“He doesn’t try to go into funky scrambles,” says Henry, a former Benton Central High School and University of Indianapolis wrestler who took over leadership of the program this season after four years as a Raiders assistant. “We’re not trying to do 20 moves out there. He’s just matured.”
Crider has heard the talk about his style.
“Freshman and sophomore year, they thought I was funky because I used to roll around all the time,” says Crider. “Now, I’m more skilled.
“(Scrambling is) not really effective when you hit semistate,” says Crider. “They’ll catch you. I’d rather pin them fast if I can.”
The past two summers, Crider has gained experience while competing in the Disney Duals — earning Gold and Silver All-American accolades.
During the high school campaign, Crider has really emphasized using his speed and finishing what he’s started.
“I’m faster than most of the heavyweights that are out there,” says Crider. “I try to do my moves all the way through instead of stopping midway. I just keep driving.”
To give Crider different looks, a number of different coaches and wrestlers grapple with him in practice.
While he’s trying to hone his set-ups and his shots and trying to get up from the referee’s position, Donnie is working against a lot lot of muscle and different body types.
He regularly mixes it up with Harrison assistants Andy Cline, Kevin Elliott and Dustin Kult as well as bigger wrestlers like juniors Willy Alvarez and William Kern and sophomores Cade Borders, Seth Chrisman and Will Crider (his little brother).
Donnie comes from a large family. At 25, Jordan is the oldest. At 5, Clinton is the youngest. Besides Donnie and Harrison 220-pounder Will, there’s also Brian Jr., Justin and Megan.
Father Brian is 6-3 and mother Michelle 6-foot, so Donnie gets his height honestly.
Donnie also knows that an opponent can use it against him since he can be a large target for those seeking double-let takedowns and such.
Each day in practice, he works on getting low — something he also knows from being a defensive lineman on the football field.
“I make sure that when I’m in my stance I’m at their chin with my forehead,” says Crider. “I make sure I’m lower than them.”
Donnie looks to study business and likely wrestle in college after highs school.
How high he goes as a Harrison Raider will play out in the coming weeks. Harrison competes in the Sectional in Jan. 27, regional Feb. 3, semistate Feb.10 and State Finals Feb. 16-17.
3034 2#MondayMatness: Diaz brothers showing mat moves, smarts for Wheeler Bearcats
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
The Diaz family was on the ground floor in building the wrestling program at Wheeler High School.
Now, two Diaz siblings are reaching for the heights during the 2017-18 IHSAA state tournament series.
At the Jan. 27 Crown Point Sectional, senior Jose Diaz Jr. placed second at 113 pounds and sophomore Giovanni Diaz finished first at 106. They both move on to the Feb. 3 Crown Point Regional.
“He’s very intelligent,” says third-year Wheeler head coach Robin Haddox of Jose Jr. “He knows the sport very well. He’s extremely fast. He’s strong. He’s got the whole package.”
A 106-pound Jose Jr. became Wheeler’s first State Finals qualifier in 2016. He placed eighth at 113 in 2017. Giovanni was an East Chicago Semistate qualifier at 106 in 2017.
Jose Jr. explains why he enjoys wrestling.
“It’s you and another person,” says Jose Jr. “You go out and show who you really are. It’s what you decide to put on the mat.
“Winning feels great. Every time I get my hand raised, it feels great and motivates me to keep going.”
Giovanni likes to be pushed to his limit — something that he gets with wrestling.
“I like everything about it,” says Giovanni. “Most days, we try to push ourselves even when it’s supposed to be a light day.
“You’ve got to have a certain mindset. If you want to achieve your goals, you’re going to have some toughness and think you’re going to break.”
While they sometimes drill with other wrestlers in practice, Jose Jr. and Giovanni often trade moves.
“It’s always close when we wrestle,” says Jose Jr. “It’s always fun.”
Says Giovanni, “sometimes it get a little rough, but we keep it under control.”
The Wheeler Bearcats officially hit the mats six years ago. Jose Jr. was a seventh grader. Giovanni was a fifth grader. Father Jose Sr. introduced the boys to the sport soon after they were born.
Jose Sr. wrestled at Taft High School in Chicago, placing fourth in the city championships — just one win from the Illinois State Finals — as a senior in 1999.
“I loved it,” says Jose Sr. of the sport. “Wrestling helped me stay out of trouble. That’s what it does for a lot of Chicago Public Schools kids.”
The elder Diaz and wife Patty moved their family to unincorporated Valparaiso near uncle Luis Del Valle.
“It was one of the best decisions we made,” says Jose Sr. “It’s a better than the life I lived.
“There have been a lot of opportunities for all of my kids (Jose Jr., Giovanni, third grader Aidan and second grader Emma).”
Jose Sr. knew he wanted his boys to wrestle and they began training at home, but he waited for them to commit to competition. When Jose Jr. was in third grade and Giovanni first grade, they joined the Boone Grove Wrestling Club as athletes and their father as a coach.
Then came the Wheeler Wrestling Club and the high school squad. Steadily the numbers have grown. This winter, the Bearcats filled nearly every weight class in most duals. The club has swelled to more than 40 wrestlers and the middle school team competed for its second season.
“Wheeler is not a dominant program yet, but we have guys who go down-state,” says Jose Sr., a construction contractor.
Jose Jr. likes the idea of leaving a legacy.
“I want to be remembered at this school as a good wrestler,” says Jose Jr. “When I was a little kid, I always wanted to be a role model. I was always shy. (Success in wrestling) helps me understand that I can be. It helped me with my confidence.”
Jose Jr. stays after high school practice each day to help younger club grapplers and is proud of what Bearcats wrestling has become.
“I love coaching the little kids and giving back to the community,” says Jose Jr. “With our numbers. our program has started getting 10 times better. Being part of this program means a lot to me.”
The Diaz boys will also leave their mark at Wheeler for his academic achievements.
Jose Jr. carries a 4.089 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and is on his way to making the Wheeler Academic Hall of Fame. Giovanni has a 4.105 GPA.
“Wheeler is great for academics,” says Jose Jr. “Teachers are always there for you.”
With about 500 students, the teacher-to-student ratio allows for one-on-one attention.
Jose Jr., a National Honor Society member, has been accepted at educationally-prestigious Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., where he will compete in NCAA Division I wrestling. He plans to study health science with the aim of becoming a physical therapist.
“It’s a perfect fit for Jose,” says Jose Sr., of Franklin & Marshall, where Mike Rogers in head wrestling coach. “It’s a small private school. The student-to-staff ratio is 9-to-1. The school has history. It’s like an Ivy League school. A degree from there opens up a lot of doors. You go to Franklin & Marshall for academics, not for wrestling.
“I get a good feeling, handing over my son. Jose has been coached by me. I’ve been his dad and his coach. It’s a big step. I wanted to make sure Jose goes into a program that fits him.”
Jose Jr. knows it will be transition.
“I’m nervous to not have (my father) in my corner,” says Jose Jr. “He’s been there since Day 1. He sees what I don’t see. He tells it straight on.
“I’m not always happy about it, but it helps me tremendously.”
The student half of student-athlete is important throughout the Wheeler wrestling program.
“This is the highest grade-point average team I’ve ever been involved with,” says Haddox, an industrial construction manager. “The majority of our kids are 3.0 or better. We have not had to worry about grades at all with any of our wrestlers.”
Haddox wrestled at Chesterton High School, where he graduated in 1981, and the University of Tennessee. After a time in Texas, he moved back to northwest Indiana and began helping with the Portage High School wrestling program before Wheeler came calling.
Besides Haddox and Jose Diaz Sr., the Bearcats are coached by Alex Bravo (former Valparaiso High School wrestler) and Yusef Mohmed (who has a background in mixed martial arts).
2500#MondayMatness: Demien Visualizes Himself on Top
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Tanner DeMien likes to see his success even before he achieves it.
The NorthWood High School sophomore wrestler has learned to use visualization to take him to the next level. As a freshman, he placed seventh at the IHSAA State Finals at 106 pounds and his sights are set even higher this winter.
“I see myself running through my moves and getting my hand raised,†DeMien said. “I think about previous matches and how I can fix those mistakes.â€
Fourth-year NorthWood head coach Damon Hummel said DeMien has gotten better in many aspects of wrestling, but it is between the ears where he has shown the most improvement.
Hummel said DeMien gets the mental game.
“He understands how to go into a tournament (with four or five matches) and mentally prepare himself,†Hummel said. “Kids have a tendency to wear themselves out by the end of the day. He prepares himself to be better at the end of the day.â€
With his wrestling I.Q., Tanner is able to diagnose his issues about as quickly as Hummel and his staff.
“He’s been around wrestling enough that he knows what to do and what not to do,†Hummel said. “He picks himself apart more than most coaches do.â€
Between matches at a super dual, Tanner will go into a quiet place and do visualization exercises and run the halls to keep his heart rate up.
These are lessons that Tanner has learned from the many camps and off-season programs — he toured the western U.S. with the Ohio All-Star Travel Wrestling Team for 45 days last summer — he’s attended.
Tanner, 16, is thankful for his father, Jason, who got him into wrestling as a 45-pound peewee at around age 6, for his help and guidance.
“He’s a big part of what I am and what I’ve accomplished,†Tanner said of father, who is also a NorthWood volunteer assistant coach. “I give my props to him. He’s been teaching me ever since I can remember.â€
The DeMiens have heard highly-decorated coaches like Dan Gable speak on the importance of visualization.
“A lot of camps we’ve been to have really talked about the mental game,†Jason DeMien said. “It’s seeing the match before you step on the mat.â€
While rotating between 106 and 113 pounds, Tanner has also refined his moves on the mat.
“I’ve gotten better in the top position and I’m able to turn people and put them away,†Tanner said. “It’s more about technique than a strength thing. I want to get more points for my team.â€
Jason DeMien said his son has learned to apply more pressure on top, gotten good at escapes as well as movement on his feet.
“As he has gotten older, he’s learned to get angles and work those really hard,†Jason DeMien said.
Tanner goes into each practice with a game plan. He knows what he wants to concentrate on and he does so with intensity and is a believer in Hummel’s insistence on repetition.
“If I’m going drill high crotch, I’d rather do that 50 times then run five moves 10 times each,†Tanner said. “It’s just getting a couple of moves down and running them.â€
Hummel calls Tanner a “drill king.â€
“He loves to hit the move and hit the move,†Hummel said. “We talk to all of our kids about repetition.â€
Hummel and his coaching staff do not throw the kitchen sink at the Panthers. The idea is to be proficient at the things they do and not how many things they do.
“When you get close to January, there’s not much more you can teach the kids,†Hummel said. “They’ve learned what they’ve learned. Now we need to fine-tune everything. You need to be ready for sectional at the end of the year.
“Kids think they can do everything, but you’ve got to teach them two or three good moves. Some of these kids can get a couple nice takedowns and go to state with that if you’re good at it.
Practice intensity goes up while duration goes down.
“When you’ve only got one guy per weight class, you can’t beat the heck out of them everyday in 2 1/2 practices,†Hummel said. “A lot of coaches believe in a lot of moves. We believe in a smaller move base and hit them harder and faster.â€
While Tanner sees plenty of mat time during the year, he is not just a wrestler. He plays tennis for NorthWood in the fall.
“It’s great for a kid to do that,†Jason DeMien said of the multi-sport appoach. “It gives them a break from being on the mat where your body just gets worn down. Doing something different gives your mind a break.â€
Not that Tanner didn’t use his mental skills on the court.
“There’s a lot of carryover between tennis and wrestling,†Jason DeMien said. “Tennis is a very mental sport and agility is huge. I noticed that his mental game was so much stronger than kids who have been playing a long time.â€
Look for Tanner and his NorthWood Panther teammates Wednesday, Dec. 23, at Rochester’s McKee Memorial Invitational and Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 28-29, at Mishawaka’s Al Smith Classic.
2397#MondayMatness: Curtis and Laughlin lead tough Yorktown team
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Yorktown won its third Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals Class 2A title in five years two days before Christmas in Fort Wayne.
Among those leading the Tigers were senior Brad Laughlin and sophomore Brayden Curtis.
Both are ranked No. 1 as individuals — Laughlin at 160 and Curtis at 106. Curtis competed at 113 for Tigers coach Trent McCormick at the IHSWCA State Duals.
Laughlin’s career mat resume includes three trips to the IHSAA State Finals — he was a qualifier at 120 as a freshman, fifth-place finisher at 138 as a sophomore and took third place at 145 as a junior.
Curtis wound up seventh among 106-pounders at the 2016 State Finals.
McCormick, who is in his 29th season at Yorktown with more than 500 dual victories, 92 state qualifiers, 50 state placers and three state champions (heavyweight Ross Janney in 2010, 138-pounder Devon Jackson in 2012 and 160-pounder Rhett Hiestand in 2014), explains what makes Laughlin and Curtis special.
For West Point-bound Laughlin, it’s his willingness to do whatever it takes to get better. He takes very little time away from the mat or weight room during the year.
“He’s got a great work ethic,†McCormick said of Laughlin. “He’s put a lot of time in during the off-season.â€
Until this year, Laughlin and Cael McCormick (Trent’s son and the fifth-place finisher at 152 at the 2016 IHSAA State Finals) were primary drill partners for about six or seven years.
“They sharpened each other’s edge in the practice room,†Trent McCormick said.
Laughlin is a student of the sport and studies FloWrestling video of himself and others and incorporates it into his system.
And this Tiger likes to pounce.
“I love to attack,†Laughlin said. “I think that’s one of my strongest suits. I attack, get takedowns and put points up on the board.â€
Laughlin, who placed fourth in the Super 32 Challenge in Greensboro, N.C., in October, signed to wrestle at Army — fittingly — on Veterans Day.
He chose West Point because he likes the idea of fighting with “boots on the ground.â€
“On the ground with a rifle, that’s something that appealed to me,†Laughlin, a Yorktown team captain, said.
Having Army wrestling in his future has benefitted his high school team and his senior season.
“He knows he’s wrestling at the next level,†Trent McCormick said. “He’s shifted his training to more of a collegiate style. That helps him now, whether it’s being aggressive or proper positioning and those kinds of things.â€
McCormick enjoyed wrestling success himself at Delta High School (at 185, he placed fourth at the State Finals as a junior for team state champions in 1985 and first as a senior to team state runners-up in 1986; he went 35-1 that final prep season) and remembers what teammate David Palmer (state champ at 167 in 1981 and 177 in 1982) always used to say: “You can either hate drilling or hate losing.â€
Yorktown practices are drill-heavy and McCormick sees Brayden Curtis as someone who’s benefitted from hard work and daily challenges from teammates.
“You have to have good drill partners if you want to be good,†McCormick said. “Everyday he’s wrestling Josh Stepehson. Zachary Todd and sometimes his own brother (junior Xavier Curtis), Brayden will wrestle anyone in the room if you ask him to. He just wants to get better everyday.â€
Brayden has been using his older brother as a wrestling role model for years.
“It started in eighth grade,†Brayden Curtis said. “I saw my brother have success and I just wanted to be great like him.
“He’s a real good counter to me because he’s tall and lanky and I’m very short and stocky. I have a little bit of quickness.â€
While being ranked No. 1 might be flattering, Curtis. Laughlin and McCormick are quick not to place too much stock in it.
“It’s not something I’m too concerned about,†Laughlin said. “I just want to go out there and compete. Rankings are made for the fans.â€
“At the end of the day, it’s just a ranking. I just want to improve from last year when I got seventh (at the IHSAA State Finals),†Brayden Curtis said. “I just want to be satisfied with what I do.â€
Getting people talking about the sport is never a bad thing, but there’s more to it than that.
“It’s always nice to see your name in lights, a little recognition for the work you’ve put in,†McCormick said. “(Being ranked) doesn’t mean anything when you step on the mat. You’ve got to take care of business.â€
But Yorktown wrestling, which was IHSAA state runners-up in 2010 and 2013 and third in 2014, is not only about the business of wrestling.
McCormick and his coaching staff wants their young Tigers to go on to be productive members of society.
“We try to use wrestling to instill life skills into our kids,†McCormick said. “We talk about these things all the time — say please and thank you, don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, do good things in life. don’t always make the easy choice, make the right choice. It’s all those things that kids need to hear these days.â€
3442 1#MondayMatness: Current Adams Central team keeping up BAGUBAs tradition
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
When you grow up in the Adams Central Community Schools district and are inclined toward the wrestling mat, you begin dreaming about grappling for Adams Central Junior-Senior High School.
AC calls its athletic teams the Flying Jets. The wrestling team also goes by the acronym adopted by original head coach Barry Humble (1970-71 to 1990-91) — BAGUBA (Brutally Aggressive Guys Uninhibited By Adversity).
“It just means when you step on the mat, you have have a mindset of toughness, hard-nosed, gritty, tough wrestler,” says fifth-year Adams Central head coach Tony Currie. “You’re not going to back down and you’re not going to quit.”
AC wrestlers are taught to be mentally as well as physically strong. “Wrestling’s a tough sport,” says Currie. “It rarely goes just like you want it. You have to have that strong mind.
“We ask them to control the controllable — focus on you and what you can control.”
Senior 132-pounder Logan Mosser, a state qualifier at 120 in 2018, explains it.
“You have to stay focused on your goals and fight through it,” says Mosser, whose brother Anthony wrestled for AC and graduated in 2017 as a two-time state qualifier (113 in 2015 and 132 in 2017). “Remember why you’re there.”
Currie competed at the IHSAA State Finals his last three seasons wearing a singlet for the BAGUBAs — qualifier at 140 pounds in 1993, second at 145 in 1994 and third at 151 in 1995.
Since Jack Bersch in 1977, AC has produced 78 state qualifiers through 2018. The Jets have had at least one state qualifier every season except one. Troy Roe was a state champion at 105 in 1985. Besides Currie, Lynn Fletcher (112 in 1980), Ray Ashley (119 in 1984), Mark Griffiths (125 in 1990) and Andy Bertsch (135 in 1996) have been state runners-up. Adams Central has qualified for every Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals and won the 2018-19 Class 1A title in Fort Wayne, besting Prairie Heights 35-32 in the finals.
“It was a total team effort,” says Currie of AC’s third IHSWCA State Duals championship (the Jets also reigned in 2013 and 2015). “At the 1A level, every roster has three or four top-end guys. But it’s the depth. If you can run out a solid kid at every weight class, you can do well.”
Eighteen BAGUBAs competed for Adams Central and helped the team win four duals. Logan Mosser went 4-0 at 132, senior Jashawn Berlanga 3-0 at 220 and 1-0 at 285 and junior Paul Faurote 2-0 at 160 and 2-0 at 170. Fourteen others won at least one match.
Why have the Jets enjoyed success?
“A big part of that would be our coaches,” says Mosser. “All have good knowledge to spread around.”
Currie is assisted by Bobby Perry, Doug Linthicum and Doug Schultz. Volunteers include Hunter Bates, Aden Feasel, Brian Jordan and Zeke Schultz.
“(Currie) preaches hard about working hard in the practice room,” says Mosser. “It’s paying off on the mat.”
Parker Bates (170) credits experience for helping with this season’s accomplishments.
“We get really good senior leadership,” says Bates, one of 11 members of the Class of 2019 and the younger brother of 2016 graduate Hunter Bates (who placed eighth in the state at 152 as a senior and grappled two seasons at Wabash College). “They’ve grown up through the (Jet Wrestling Club, which currently includes about 75 pre-kindergarten through fifth grade).
“They’ve seen upperclassmen succeed and that’s what they want to do. They don’t want to be the ones to let the town and community down. We wrestle as much for our fans and hometown as we do for our team. Our fans travel really well. It helps us a lot. It picks up the intensity and gets us more hyped-up for matches.”
Adams Central edged Jay County to win Allen County Athletic Conference tournament title. Weight class champions for the BAGUBAs were Mosser (33-1) at 132, senior Logan Macklin (20-3) at 145, Bates (26-1) at 170 and Berlanga (30-3) at 220.
AC’s IHSAA state tournament series path includes the Jan. 26 Jay County Sectional, Feb. 2 Jay County Regional and Feb. 9 Fort Wayne Semistate prior to the Feb. 15-16 State Finals.
11988 1#MondayMatness: Crown Point’s Mendez runs table as a freshman
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Jesse Mendez had a “blast” in punctuating his freshmen wrestling season at Crown Point High School with a 2019 IHSAA title.
The 126-pounder started off his finals match with a “blast double” takedown and went on to a 6-0 win against Avon junior Raymond Rioux to cap a 42-0 season.
Mendez reigned in a stacked weight division. He pinned Western freshman Hayden Shepherd in 1:02 Friday and Mt. Vernon (Fortville) senior Chase Wilkerson in 3:58 in the quarterfinals before earning a 13-4 major decision against Jimtown senior Hunter Watts in the semifinals.
“He’s a tough wrestler and a tough opponent to get by,” said Mendez of Watts, who was a champion at 120 in 2018, runner-up at 113 in 2017 and sixth at 106 in 2016.
Rioux, who had placed third at 120 in 2018 and sixth at 106 in 2017, beat Yorktown senior Brayden Curtis 3-1 in the semifinals. Curtis was a champion at 113 in 2018 and at 106 in 2017 after finishing seventh at 106 in 2016.
And yet Mendez was dominant. How did that happen?
“I work hard in the (practice) room,” said Mendez. “My coaches and I are always trying to get to my attacks more often. I just trust in what they’ve been teaching me and it’s been working.”
Bulldogs coach Branden Lorek has been impressed with the ability and work ethic of Mendez.
“He’s got all the attributes — he’s fast, strong, physical, smart,” says Lorek. “He listens very well. He’s very coachable and a student of the sport.
“He’s the first guy in the room and the last guy to leave. For a freshman, he’s not afraid to speak up and pick guys up. He’s a welcome
addition.”
While there plenty of eyes on him at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and on television, Mendez was not intimidated.
“I’ve been wrestling in big tournaments my whole life,” said Mendez, 15. “I’ve been in tight situations in front of big crowds.
“I think I thrive off of it.”
Mendez is confident in his abilities.
“If I wrestle my match I can beat anybody,” said Mendez. “If I get my attacks going, there’s nobody who can stop me.
“I think I can really open kids up a lot. I’m really good at moving my feet and my hands.”
As his head coach puts it, Mendez wants to “be the hero.”
“He wants to go out and get bonus points and do whatever he can for the team,” said Lorek. “If we bump him up a weight class, he has no problem doing that. If we need him to wrestle for a major, he’ll get the job done.”
Around 7 or 8, Mendez put aside his other sports and focused on the mat. He hooked up with the Region Wrestling Academy.
“Those coaches are great,” said Mendez, who grew up in the Lake Central district before moving to Crown Point in middle school. Hector and Monica Mendez have three children — Payton, Jesse and Lyla.
“My family’s really important to me,” said Jesse. “They sacrifice a lot for me.”
There won’t be much time spent basking in his state title for Mendez. After a brief break, he’s going to start working again to get ready for meets like the FloNationals, Iowa Folkstyle Nationals, World Team Trials, Super 32, Fargo and Who’s No. 1?.
In other words, the wrestling world will be hearing more from Jesse Mendez.
3134 1 3#MondayMatness: Confidence carries NorthWood’s Lone to mat success
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Jake Lone has developed an edge in his junior season as a NorthWood High School wrestler.
Lone was second at the Elkhart Sectional, third at the Goshen Regional and a qualifier for the Fort Wayne Semistate as a 160-pound freshman. As a 170-pounder junior, Lone won sectional and regional titles, placed second at semistate and then eighth at the IHSAA State Finals. As a 182-pound junior, he is 30-3 after winning another sectional title. The 2019 Goshen Regional is Feb. 2.
Lone, who first competed in Indiana State Wrestling Association events at age 4, is gaining confidence.
“As the season has progressed, I think I’ve developed a little bit of an attitude out on the mat,” says Lone. “There’s a little more aggression.”
Shoulder surgery after the 2018 State Finals meant that Lone was away from competition for the spring and summer.
He was only cleared to play football for NorthWood during the week of the season opener. Switched from linebacker to defensive end, he had a sensational season while helping the 2018 Panthers aka “Black Crunch” go 11-1 under head coach Nate Andrews.
Lone was selected for Class 4A honorable mention all-state honors by the Associated Press.
Then it was back to the mat.
“I think I’ve gotten tremendously better,” says Lone of his progress since the beginning of the 2018-19 wrestling season. “I’ve been getting back in the swing of things after surgery last spring, getting my conditioning up and knocking all the rust off.”
“Having Coach Andrews is the room to push me has been great.” Andrews, who won a 171-pound IHSAA state title as a NorthWood senior in 1996, took over as wrestling head coach this winter.
He has watched Lone get better and better.
“It certainly opens up his offense when he’s lighter on his feet and when his motion is vertical and horizontal at the same time with 1-2 and 3-4 combinations,” says Andrews. “When he opens that up and puts pressure on people, he can be dangerous.
“A lot of he team aspects and leadership qualities that he learns in football he brings to the wrestling mat.”
Lone has fed off Andrews’ enthusiasm and intensity.
“What I get from him is always pushing the pace, staying aggressive, never stop,” says Lone. “It’s that never-quit attitude.”
Lone knows that there are differences and similarities in his two sports. “Football shape is short bursts,” says Lone. “Wrestling shape you have to go the full six minutes without stopping.”
While he played some wide receiver or tight end on offense, Lone really enjoyed playing on the other wide of the ball.
The hand and body fighting and one-on-one battles that a defensive linemen encounters translate to the wrestling circle.
“I love defense,” says Lone. “I was able to use by wrestling technique for tackling.”
Andrews, who counts Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Famer Dennis Lewis plus Jim Matz and Elisio Roa as assistants, says beefing up the NorthWood schedule was helpful for Lone. “He was able to see a little tougher competition,” says Andrews. The Panthers took on LaPorte, Merrillville and Knox at the LaPorte Super Duals, Churubusco, Eastside, Garrett and Jay County at the Fort Wayne Carroll Super Duals. NorthWood also faced Wawasee, Goshen and Jimtown in duals at home and took part in the 32-team Al Smith Classic at Mishawaka.
Inclement weather Jan. 19 caused cancellation of the Northern Lakes Conference varsity and junior varsity tournaments.
“For our program and where we are now, we were devastated,” says Andrews. “A week ago we were really in good shape to do our best and climb another rung on the ladder as we try to build our program.” That meet was to be the last for JV grapplers.
“The kids who come out and go through this grinder of a season, they didn’t get rewarded,” says Andrews. “They didn’t get to play in their Super Bowl. It’s very, very unfortunate.”
Andrews said the focus turns to individuals still alive in the state tournament series, but he is still trying to “rally the troops” for those who saw their season come to an end.
The Panthers are young with just two seniors on the squad.
“I’m looking forward to the future,” says Andrews.
Jake has been in wrestling practice rooms since age 3. His father, Rod Lone, was head coach at NorthWood for seven seasons. After two years as a volunteer assistant at Jimtown, he has returned to NorthWood as head middle school coach. He is also a volunteer with the high school and helps the NorthWood Wrestling Club.
A former wrestler at Clinton Prairie High School and then for Tom Jarman at Manchester College (now Manchester University), Rod Lone has witnessed a rise in his eldest son’s confidence level.
“With that confidence he’s gotten more aggressive and that’s shown in his matches,” says Rod Lone. “He’s never been that fast-twitch, go-get-em kind of kid. This year, he’s finally starting to get there.”
“He’s trying to control the match instead of letting the match come to him.” Says Andrews, “He should be a pretty confident kid the way it is. He’s been on the mat a long time. He had a good sophomore campaign.”
Getting down to Indianapolis and competing at Bankers Life Fieldhouse has helped fuel the self-assurance.
“After going to State last year and having all that experience, I feel I know what it’s like,” says Jake Lone.
Rod and Denise Lone’s second son — eighth grader Kaden — just won an ISWA Middle School State title at 132 pounds. He has a chance to be the first NorthWood wrestler to go unbeaten through their middle school career (sixth, seventh and eighth grade) with three Big 11 Conference championships.
Jake and Kaden work out together and use the wrestling room in the family basement.
“We go down there and roll around a lot,” says Jake Lone. “It’s fun.”
Given the size differential, Kaden has to use his quickness against his big brother.
“He can’t muscle things and just rely on strength,” says Jake Lone.
“That’s been great bond at home,” says Rod Lone. “They push each other in a very positive way.”
2219#MondayMatness: Clicking at the Wright Time
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Confidence and conviction can take you a long way.
Kokomo High School wrestlers like junior 113-pounder Jabin Wright (45-5) and senior 145-pounder Szhantrayl Roberson (42-10) have taken that and landed in the IHSAA State Finals — Wright for the second time and Roberson for the first.
These two Wildkats are the 14th and 15th state qualifiers in Ryan Wells’ eight season as head coach.
“My coach said I can be the best in the state if I continue to attack and continue to put pressure and I did that today,†Wright said after winning at the Fort Wayne Semistate. “He told me I can beat anybody if I keep working hard. I can’t thank him enough for that.â€
Wright said he “turned it up a notch†as the 2015-16 postseason has approached.
“I want to get better and better and I want to be on top of the podium on Saturday,†Wright said. “Coached told me, ‘Now’s your time. Now is when it really matters.’â€
Wells, a former Kokomo wrestler who graduated in 2001, asks his Kats to keep it simple and to stay aggressive and in good position. He has seen Wright stick to that plan and it has him back at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“He is really peaking at the right time,†Wells said of Wright. “He’s just wrestling so well with his takedowns. He’s really confident.
“He’s getting deep on shots, finishing and staying in great position all the time. He’s really, really wrestling well.â€
Wright placed third at semistate and lost in the first round in 2015. As a returnee, he will have familiarity with the situation this time.
But not only that.
Wright’s first-round draw on Friday night (Feb. 19) is Logansport junior Donovan Johnson, a fourth-place finisher at the East Chicago Semistate. It will be the fourth meeting between the two during the 2015-16 season.
After losing 7-2 and 17-6 to Logansport’s Donovan Johnson during the season, Wright topped the Berries grappler 8-2 in the finals of the Jan. 24 North Central Conference tournament.
Like many wrestlers, Wright listens to music before his matches. He was scene doing dance moves prior to wrestling moves at Fort Wayne’s Memorial Coliseum.
“It calms me,†Wright said. “The music kind of just takes me. I don’t want to stress out about my matches and go out there and not stick to my gameplan.â€
And Wright’s pre-match tunes of choice?
“Music you can dab to,†Wright said.
Besides former successful Kokomo wrestlers coming into the practice room to give athletes like Wright and Roberson a different look, there are current Kats like Rafael Lopez (126) and T.T. Allen (138) to help make them better.
“Since he’s a little guy, he’s real quick,†Roberson said of Wright. “His quickness makes my reaction time better. My strength and my length makes him better because he sometimes has to face tall, lanky guys who are strong. We help each other throughout the season.â€
Roberson lost to Yorktown’s Brad Laughlin in the “ticket†round at semistate last year and now he’s going to the Big Show where he will face Evansville Mater Dei sophomore Joe Lee, a champion at the Evansville Semistate, in the first round.
What has gotten this Kat to Indy?
“I’m pretty good on my feet,†Roberson said. That’s my strength. “I like to use a Russian into a sweep single on the right side. A duck-under into a high crotch. I finish a lot with that, too.â€
Roberson also has a pre-match routine. After a talk with his coaches, he puts on his headphones for “hype-up†rap and R&B songs.
“I turn the music up real loud and get in my zone,†Roberson said. “I get my adrenaline going for the match. It usually helps.â€
4452 2#MondayMatness: Chesterton's Davisons making their mark on wrestling world
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Take the tenacity of the middle brother, the unpredictability of the youngest one and add the bloodlines of a two-time Indiana state wrestling champion and you get a formidable family combination: The Davisons of Chesterton High School.
Andrew Davison, a 195-pound senior, and Lucas Davison, a 182-pound junior, are both ranked high statewide in their respective weight divisions and are out to make their mark this winter for the Trojans.
Father Keith Davison, who won IHSAA state titles for CHS at 171 as a junior in 1988 and senior in 1989, is there as an assistant coach and inspirational figure along with long-time Chesterton head coach Chris Joll.
Andrew has been to the State Finals twice already — placing fifth as a sophomore and bowing out in the first round as a junior. He missed his freshman season with a back injury.
Lucas was a regional qualifier as a freshman and semistate qualifier as a sophomore.
Jack Davison, now a student at Indiana University, was a three-time semistate qualifier as a Chesterton wrestler.
Last summer, Andrew and Lucas both placed first at USA Wrestling Folkstyle nationals in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Five of eight All-American honors at the USA Wrestling Nationals in Fargo, N.D., were from Chesterton — four for the Davison boys and one for Eli Pokorney. Lucas was second in freestyle and fifth in Greco-Roman. Andrew placed seventh in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.
In 2015, Andrew finished first in Greco-Roman and third in freestyle at Fargo while Lucas was second at folkstyle nationals.
Keith Davison was a two-time All-American at the University of Wisconsin, where he grappled two years at 177, redshirted then two more at 190. Andrew is bound for the Big Ten as a signee with the University of Michigan, where is projected as a 197-pounder.
For the 2016-17 prep season, Andrew and Lucas have flip-flopped weights. A year ago, Andrew was at 195 and Lucas at 182, but both grew during the off-season. At 6-foot-2, Lucas is slightly taller than Andrew and Keith.
Keith sees Andrew as a wrestler willing to constantly push the pace.
“(Andrew) doesn’t mind getting tired,†Keith Davison said. “He has a high threshold for pain and fatigue and he attacks a bunch, too.
“He enjoys dragging people into the deep water (a phrase popularized by NCAA champion Isaiah Martinez of Illinois).
Andrew explains his admiration for Martinez.
“I hear he won’t leave practice until he has to crawl off the mat,†Andrew Davison said. “He’s pretty inspirational.â€
While tired himself, Andrew uses his opponent’s fatigue as motivation to fight through the pain.
“It’s late in the third period, you’re gassed and breathing hard and you see your opponent is also gassed,†Andrew Davison said. “I’ve learned to push through stuff. It’s made me a much better and tougher athlete.â€
Having one last chance to climb to the top of the podium in Indiana inspires Andrew on a daily basis.
“I’ve been thinking about it non-stop,†Andrew Davison said. “I can’t wait to get back down there (to the IHSAA State Finals). It’s definitely been motivating, just thinking about it all the time.â€
There won’t be many — if any breathers — along the way with tough Duneland Athletic Conference duals plus appearances in the Munster Super Dual, Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals and Mishawaka’s Al Smith Classic all happening before the end of 2016.
“We’ve got a loaded schedule this year, to say the least,†Andrew Davison said. “That’s awesome. We don’t get to wrestle a whole lot of Indy teams. Hopefully we get to do that (in the IHSWCA State Duals Dec. 23 in Fort Wayne). That will be good for us. You want to wrestle the best of the best.
“When you love it so much, it’s like more of a privilege. It’s such a cool experience. I’m really enjoying it.â€
Andrew chose to wrestle at Michigan because he saw himself as a good fit after being recruited by the Wolverines and making a visit to the Ann Arbor campus.
“I saw how hard all these kids were working,†Andrew Davison said. “They have a common goal. They all want to be great at what they’re doing. I wanted to be somewhere they took wrestling seriously and academics just as seriously.â€
Though currently undecided on his college major, Andrew is considering pre-medicine.
Lucas, a frequent workout partner, addresses his brother’s wrestling strengths.
“He’s really good on his feet,†Lucas Davison said. “As a seasoned Greco-Roman wrestler, he can go from the upper body to low singles and anything in-between. He can attack the hips and launch you if it’s there for him. He’s dangerous from anywhere.â€
Joll credits hard work and being the off-spring of two athletes (mother Jennifer was a runner in her days at Chesterton High School) for Andrew’s success.
“He has a great set of genes,†Joll said. “Dad was a very good wrestler in high school and college and he has made a commitment to making those boys the best they can be.â€
There is no doing things half way when Keith is around. That goes for all Chesterton wrestlers — not just his boys.
“We’re not too concerned with pushing them past the point of exhaustion,†Keith Davison said. “We keep the intensity very high and try to be very physical. We’ll taper practices when we get ready for big competitions.â€
Keith sees Lucas as a versatile wrestler who can combine sound fundamentals as an attacker and defender with a few unorthodox moves.
“Luke is pretty uncanny at his scrambling abilities,†Keith Davison said. “You think he’s in trouble and he comes out of danger on top a lot.â€
Lucas sees his long arms and legs and his mat experience as assets.
“I’m a pretty tall guy and that leads to some clunkiness, but I’m able to manage that pretty well,†Lucas Davison said. “Being at one of the bigger weights, there’s a lot of strong guys. I’ve been around the sport my whole life. It’s huge to be able to understand the sport. I feel things other people wouldn’t be able to feel.â€
Lucas enjoys being versatile on the mat.
“I try not to wrestle predictably,†Lucas Davison said. “You don’t want to move the same over and over. You want to change it up. I like to attack from everywhere. It’s important to have a big bag of tricks and be able to switch things up. You do something that’s super easy to key off of for an opponent.â€
Chesterton wrestlers employ a variety of styles.
“We’re striving to be diverse wrestlers and have styles that would be hard to scout as opponents,†Lucas Davison said. “The goal is to have clean impeccable technique. It doesn’t matter if they know what’s coming.â€
Joll emphasizes the same point.
“We have some basics that we go by, but let kids focus on their strengths,†Joll said. “As coaches, we try to foster individually.â€
And there’s also the old steel sharpens steel thing going on in the wrestling room.
“Having a drill partner like my brother, you get to defend better than the average guy,†Lucas Davison said.
Joll said wrestling builds camaraderie and life-long friendships because of all the hard work the athletes put in together.
“The most rewarding thing for me get wrestlers to their potential,†Joll said. “Their accomplishments are just important to me as the high placers.
Joll also likes to see them give back to the sport.
That’s what Keith Davison is doing as a coach. Keith is also president of the Chesterton Wrestling Club (formerly the Duneland Wrestling Club). The group is open to all students from DAC schools and is based at CHS. The club has 70 to 80 members in Grades K-12.
Among the ones making a name for themselves are the Davison boys.
4029 1#MondayMatness: Central Noble making presence known as small-school mat program
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Mighty in achievement if not mighty in size.
That describes Central Noble High School’s wrestling program. The Cougars went 15-8 in 2016-17 dual meets and earned the school’s first sectional runner-up finish, trailing perennial powerhouse Prairie Heights at Westview while sending 10 to the Goshen Regional, where the squad finished 10th and advanced two to the Feb. 11 Fort Wayne Semistate.
In December, Central Noble placed eighth in the Indiana High School Wrestling Association Team State Duals. The school was there for the second time in three seasons. If not for a disappointing day at the 2015 sectional, the Cougars might have gone three straight years.
“(Team State Duals) gives us a chance as smaller schools to showcase ourselves. Getting 10 underclassmen to regional (in 2016-17), we’re in pretty good shape to go back again,†says Central Noble head coach Chuck Fleshman, the 1989 CNHS graduate who has served in various capacities in the program for 27 years (among those he’s coached are current Center Grove head coach Cale Hoover). “We talk about that. I’m an honest coach. We don’t have a state champion on our team. We’re not at that level. But I’ve got a couple who might medal (at the State Finals) if they put that work in.â€
Watching his wrestlers at the high school and junior high at the past few years, Fleshman knew the Cougars could be pretty good.
“We’ve been seeing this coming,†says Fleshman. “I’ve got a lot of kids that put in the time in the off-season.
“That’s a positive.â€
Instead of just one or two, about a half dozen wrestlers spent last summer at tournaments and in training. This at a small school where eight of 21 wrestlers are three-sport athletes.
“It’s hard to focus on wrestling like some of the bigger schools,†says Fleshman, who counts Josh Dull, Randy Handshoe, Jonathan Pearson, Andrew Pyle and Tyler Rimmel as assistant coaches. “I’ve got a good group. They’re buying into what we’re coaching and teaching.â€
It’s all about the discipline to make weight through Thanksgiving and Christmas and beyond and all the grueling workouts in Central Noble’s three-tiered converted cafeteria of a wrestling room that make the Cougars a success inside the circle.
When you are among the smaller schools on the scene, depth is a rarity.
Even schools with a considerably higher enrollment than the just over 400 of Central Noble struggles to fill all 14 weight classes.
While the Cougars did not have a 106-pounder for most of the season, there was plenty of competition in the wrestling room for many other varsity spots.
“This is first year I’ve ever had 21 kids,†says Fleshman. “Some of these older kids better watch out, they’ve got freshmen there to push them.
“We’ve got a group of kids who have worked and want to work.â€
Those grapplers include:
• Sophomore Tanner Schoeff (sectional champion, third at regional and a semistate qualifier at 113).
• Junior Ray Clay (third in sectional and regional qualifier at 120).
• Junior Austin Moore (sectional and regional champion and a semistate qualifier at 132).
• Sophomore Jadon Crisp (sectional runner-up and regional qualifier at 138).
• Junior Tadd Owen (third in sectional and regional qualifier at 152).
• Junior Connor Mooney (sectional runner-up and regional qualifier at 160).
• Freshman Austin McCullough (fourth in sectional and regional qualifier at 170).
• Junior Jordan Winebrenner (fourth in sectional regional qualifier at 195).
• Sophomore Levi Leffers (sectional runner-up and regional qualifier at 220).
• Junior Jesse Sade (fourth in sectional and regional qualifier at 285).
Sophomore Giran Kunkel might well have been in the mix after going 33-4 as a freshman, but he suffered an ACL injury before the season and did not get to compete.
2114#MondayMatness: Cartwright looking to punch his ticket to state
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Heavyweight wrestler Alex Cartwright was very close to representing LaVille High School at the IHSAA State Finals in 2016-17.
An overtime loss in the East Chicago Semistate “ticket” round separated the big Lancer from appearing on the mats at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Cartwright took part in his first state tournament series as a sophomore and won the 285-pound title at the LaPorte Sectional, pinning his last two opponents.
He placed second at the Crown Point Regional, defaulting in the finals because of a neck injury.
At East Chicago, he won his first match then lost in overtime to Merrillville’s Brandon Streck.
“It was kind of a kick in the butt,” says Cartwright of the narrow defeat that denied him a trip to Indy. “I was wrestling kind of nervous. That’s when I learned you can’t let things get in your head. You’ve just got to go when it’s your time. It’s been kind of motivational. I’ve got my head right this year.”
The best opponent he saw last season?
Cartwright says it’s Chesterton’s Eli Pokorney, who he beat 7-5 at the Knox Super Dual.
Back for his junior season in 2017-18, Cartwright is ranked among Indiana’s top 285-pounders. He is currently No. 6.
But he doesn’t dwell on it.
“You never want to get ahead of yourself,” says Cartwright. “I just think of it as a number.”
Alex is the “baby” in Clyde and Shirley’s family of eight. There are four boys and two girls. Alex’s brothers are Corian Correll, Chris Cartwright and Tom Cartwright. Their sisters are Lindsay Scott and Alison Cartwright.
Alex first got interested in the sport by watching big bro Corian, participated as a sixth grader and then came back as a freshman heavyweight.
Correll grappled at 195 for LaVille, graduating in 2016 and is now a part of the coaching staff.
“He’s taught me a lot of about throwing and a lot about the basics, the necessities of wrestling,” says Alex of Corian.
Learning throws from Corian and by attending a Greco-Roman camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center on the Northern Michigan University campus in Marquette, Mich., last summer (one of his opponents was Colton Schultz, who recently became the first American to win a cadet Greco-Roman world title in 20 years), Cartwright has added to his arsenal.
While Corian does spar some with Cartwright (who tipped the scales at the season-opening Jimtown Super Dual Saturday, Dec. 2 at 275 pounds), it’s 220-pound junior Anthony Hatter that serves as his workout partner.
“We do a lot of drilling,” says Hatter. “I teach him things and he helps me work with my moves.
“He’s been working on technique and speed. There’s some quick heavyweights and he’s one of them.”
Cartwright is a mobile big man.
“I shoot and not a lot of heavyweights do,” says Cartwright. “It’s a mixture of speed and strength. It takes a lot of strength to get your shot fully in.”
Cartwright remembers the words of former assistant coach Ronnie McCollough.
“He taught to be more aggressive,” says Cartwright. “Even when you’re on bottom, you don’t sit. You’ve got to move. Just simple things that stick in my mind as a wrestler.”
For his post-high school future, Cartwright is considering two diverse career possibilities.
“I’m looking at going to Seattle for schooling in under-water welding or going local for marketing and business.
“I’ve been looking into (under-water welding). It looks really enjoyable.”
Cartwright has done dry-land welding in his agriculture power class at LaVille.
Current Lancers head coach Sean Webb talks about Cartwright’s improvement on the mat.
“His work ethic has been a lot better,” says Webb, who had been working as a wrestling official and stepped in to run the program when Mike Bottorff had to back off because of health issues. “He’s working really hard and figuring out how to beat the buys he lost to last year this year. He’s trying to do that now rather than later.”
“He knows what he needs to do. Now I’ve just got to push him harder and harder to make sure he doesn’t go out in overtime and he finishes that match.”
Webb, who wrestled for LaVille for four seasons, bumping up in weight each year from 103 to 112 to 119 to 125 for his senior season in 2011, stresses being in proper position then helps tailor a style for each of his athletes.
“The one thing about wrestling is when you keep your stance and keep your hips set and ready to go — in position, as we like to call it — we can ready think about what kind of moves we can do.”
Bottorff was head coach for 26 years. This past year, he suffered a stroke. Three weeks after leaving the hospital he contracted endocarditis, a blood disease that causes inflammation of the heart’s inner lining. He went for daily treatments for two months and then had a heart check.
Having received a mechanical valve in 2007. The next day he was at a wrestling meet. Three times that year, he had to have his heart shocked back into rhythm.
Ten year later, Bottorff went in for another heart procedure.
“Now, I have two mechanical valves and it’s hard for me to get my strength back,” says Bottorff, who was at the Jimtown Super Dual. “I can’t lift over 20 pounds right now. I kneel down on the mat with the kids and I can’t get back up from that.
“I just had to give it up. My health and seeing my grandkids is more important.”
A 1970 LaVille graduate, Bottorff went to college to play basketball. He came back home and joined the football coaching staff at his alma mater when a need popped up in the wrestling program. He was eventually convinced to take it over.
“For three years in a row, I said “no. I know nothing about it,” says Bottoff, who left coaching 16 dual-meet wins shy of 400. “I’ve been here ever since.”
Under the advisement of his heart doctor and his wife of 16 years — Nancy — he is not supposed to get excited or stressed. He had his heart shocked back into rhythm two weeks ago.
“I told the kids I’ll be here to watch them and root them on,” says Bottorff. “My wife says I’m allowed to do that but if she hears me yelling and screaming and getting upset over anything, she won’t let me do it anymore.”
Bottorff enjoyed coaching so much because of the relationship he built with kids. He is hoping for big things from Cartwright.
“He’s a kid you want on your team because he says ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir,’” says Bottorff. “If he does something wrong and you tell him about it, he says ‘OK.’ He never has an excuse. That goes for wrestling or anything. His mom and dad brought him up right. He’s a perfect kid.”
Bottorff does wish Armstrong and Hatter would take to the gridiron.
“I’ve twisted the arms of Armstrong and Hatter in attempt to get them to play football,” says Bottorff. “They’re two of the strongest kids in the school.
“LaVille is a small school and we need three-sport athletes. I do my best to try to talk them into it.”
2598#MondayMatness: Carroll's Byman setting an example on and off the mat
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Joel Byman is an example for current and future wrestlers at Carroll High School in Fort Wayne.
Not only is the senior 126-pounder a fine grappler for the Tim Sloffer-coached “Super Chargers,†he is ranked No. 1 in a class of about 500 and has been accepted to Harvard University.
Byman has never gotten a B in his life.
“I once got an A-minus,†Byman said. “Calculus is a lot of fun and I enjoy (Advanced Placement) Spanish.â€
He looks forward to the rigorous academics of the Ivy League.
“It opens so many doors for the future,†Byman said. “I’ll probably study economics. I want to get a degree I can use to get into another country. My ultimate goal is to be a missionary or pastor overseas.â€
While he is not planning to wrestle at Harvard at this point, Byman does not rule out continuing his mat career should it become an option.
When he’s not wrestling or helping a teammate with his studies, Byman might be playing the trumpet in the Carroll jazz band or the piano at church.
Sloffer, who is in his first season as Carroll head coach but involved with the program since his elementary school days, is proud to say that Chargers wrestling is “sending good characters, good men out into the world†and Byman is a prime example.
“He’s a leader in everything he does,†Sloffer said. “He leads by example. He excels in everything that he does.
“I would never bet against him.â€
While they all won’t be at the top of their class or go on to Harvard, Sloffer said Byman is leaving a legacy for his younger teammates and future Chargers.
“I think the kids see that,†Sloffer said. “Our juniors (who will be seniors next year) will remember what these seniors did and Joel’s the biggest part of that. We have a group of seniors (including Stone Davidson, Lucas Hook, Jessie Lawson, Tristan Lerch, Tyler McKeever and Travis Sloffer ) which have done a nice job this year.
What does Byman do best on the mat?
“I’m pretty good on top with keeping control, especially in tight matches,†Byman said. “I’ve got to give all the credit to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t be anywhere without Him. Also, my family and my teammates (junior Grant Byman is also a Carroll wrestler), the way they encourage me is just awesome.â€
Byman was one of 11 Carroll wrestlers to qualify for the 2016 Fort Wayne Semistate and got better in the off-season at the Disney Duals in Florida.
He’s having a solid senior season for a squad which spent the Christmas holiday break by placing eighth in Class 3A at the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals in Fort Wayne (up from 12th the year before) and fifth at the 32-team Al Smith Classic in Mishawaka (up from 10th).
“We’ve progressed each year,†Byman said. “We want to take our team to another level and set an example for future years.â€
Coach Sloffer agrees with that assessment.
“Things are really starting to look up for us,†Sloffer said of a high school program which is supported by the Carroll Wrestling Club, which includes grapplers from Arcola, Cedar Canyon, Eel River, Hickory Center, Huntertown, Oak View and Perry Hill elementaries as well as Carroll and Maple Creek middle schools plus high schoolers. “It’s just been a big effort from a lot of people, really for generations.
“We’re just trying to make a better program and get the parents involved.â€
Carroll, who counts Sloffer, Joe Caprino, Kyle Wood, Logan Lee and Justin Smith on the coaching staff, has earned six straight sectional and four consecutive regional championships and is seeking its first semistate team crown.
Crowds at Fort Wayne’s Memorial Coliseum Expo Center and Mishawaka’s “Cave†impressed Byman.
“It’s crazy to see how many people are supporting wrestling and are excited about it,†Byman said. “It’s awesome.â€
Byman said a typical Carroll practice includes plenty of live wrestling.
“That’s really helped us get in shape,†Byman said.
Sloffer said Byman was attracted to wrestling as a Carroll Middle School eighth grader because of the challenge it presented.
“Wrestling is the toughest sport there is,†Sloffer said. “Even if he has a loss, he’s not one you have to worry about. He’s going to come back and get re-focused.
“Wrestling will be a part of who he is.â€
4587 6 3#MondayMatness: Bellmont, family tradition carries on with Ruble brothers
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
It’s an Indiana tradition unique to wrestling and two brothers from Bellmont High School will follow in the footsteps of so many Braves that came before them.
Qualifiers for the IHSAA State Finals will parade into Bankers Life Fieldhouse before first round of the tournament Friday, Feb. 15 and Jon and Isaac Ruble were be representing their family as well as their storied mat program.
“That’s pretty exciting, especially for their parents, Becky and Joe,” says Bellmont head coach and former state champion Paul Gunsett.
“They’ve done a lot for those two. They’ve traveled everywhere for these two to wrestle. They’ve earned it with all the time and effort they’ve put in.”
Jon Ruble is one of Bellmont’s captains and often leads the squad in during warm-ups at practice.
“He’s a leader in our program,” says Gunsett of the older Ruble boy.
“He’s been real reliable for me. He’s pretty special. He spends a lot of time with our younger kids. He spends more time with them than he probably needs to. He’s helped groom them and made them better.”
Freshmen Carter Thomas (120) and Dominic Litchfield (113) are Isaac aka Ike’s usual workout partner during practice.
Like many wrestling families in and around Decatur, Ind., there is a mat legacy. Joe Ruble is one of Bellmont’s many State Finals qualifiers, competing at Market Square Arena in 1991. The boys’ uncle Paul qualified for State and blew out his knee the week of the meet and was unable to compete.
Joe Ruble’s uncle Kent Buuck was a a standout Braves wrestler. His best friend was Bill Schultz (uncle to Becky Ruble). When Buuck died in a highway accident before his senior year, Schultz dedicated his training to Buuck and became the second state champion in Bellmont program history, winning the IHSAA heavyweight title in 1977.
The Braves’ first state winner was Phil Lengerich (138 pounds in 1969). Gunsett reigned at 135 in 1988. On 10 other occasions, a Bellmont wrestler has ascended to the top of the victory platform —Chris Mahlan (185 in 1979), Brent Faurote (98 in 1981), Paul Baker(130 in 1988), Tim Myers (119 in 1993 and 130 in 1994), Jason Baker (125 in 1996), T.J. Hays (152 in 1996), John Sheets (103 in 2000), Matt Irwin (135 in 2006) and Billy Baker (215 in 2009).
The Braves reigned as team state champions in 1987, 1988 and 1994 and were runners-up in 1979, 1999, 2006.
Jon Ruble (36-6) took an early 2-0 lead and made it stand in beating Rochester senior Drew Sailors in the Fort Wayne Semistate championship match.
“I got that two-point lead and I’ve been riding leg stuff all year so I put the legs in and tried to ride it out and possibly get turns,” says Ruble, who was a state qualifier at 145 in 2018. “(Winning the semistate) means a lot. There’s such a big difference between second place and first place. You’re setting yourself up for that state run.”
Both Ruble brothers —#DosRubles on social media — placed first at the Jay County Sectional and Jay County Regional. Isaac Ruble (36-6) placed second at semistate.
Sharing the season and the State Finals experience with his sibling is something the older Ruble brother does not take lightly.
“This is the only time we get to wrestle together,” says Jon Ruble.
“This means the world to me. “We talk about it all the time.”
What does Jon see in Isaac the athlete?
“He’s a competitive kid,” says Jon Ruble. “He always thinks he’s the best.”
With his family history, Jon Ruble was destined to be a wrestler.
“I had no other choice,” says Jon Ruble. “Being a part of Bellmont history means the world. They’ve had such a great program forever. To be a part of that tradition is amazing.”
The youngest Ruble brother has soaked up his learning opportunities in his first high school season.
“I learn things and try to get really good at the — like firemen’s carries,” says Isaac Ruble. “It really helps me out.
“There are certain things (Gunsett) gets on me about — like keeping my head up — and I fix them.”
Given the age and size difference, do the two brothers wrestle against each other?
“I can’t hang with him,” says Isaac. “He’s pretty good.”
2936 1#MondayMatness: Attica Red Ramblers’ Douglass goes far and wide to get better
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Jorden Douglass wears the singlet of the Red Ramblers of Attica Junior/Senior High School. So its fitting that this standout wrestler has done plenty of traveling to improve his skills.
After becoming his school’s first IHSAA State Finals qualifier in 2018, Douglass hit the road again to find wrestlers and coaches that could make him better. Last summer, he made the trek to Avon to work out at Chad Red’s Red Cobra Wrestling Academy. He also competed with the Indiana Flash, led by Wheeler High School coaches Jose Diaz and Yusef Mohmed. He’s gone with the Outlaws in Virginia Beach, Va.
Douglass has trained with Warren Central’s Brice Coleman and Antwaun Graves. He has worked out at clubs and in wrestling rooms all around Indiana and competed all over the Midwest. Since he was about 8, parents Dan and Tamara Douglass has supported his dedication to the mat sport.
“My parents pay a lot of money for me to do that sorts of stuff,” says Douglass, now a 145-pound junior who takes a 36-0 record into the East Chicago Semistate on Saturday, Feb. 9. “I always want to improve.”
“I don’t want to feel like I plateau.”
Dan Douglass wrestled at Clinton Central High School, graduating in 1987. Greg Moe was head coach of the Bulldogs when he was in elementary and junior high. Dan Callahan was his high school coach. He has watched his youngest son put in the mat time.
“Jorden has worked hard,” says Dan Douglass. “He’s never satisfied where he was at. He’s tried to make himself better each year.”
While his older brothers wrestled some before concentrating on baseball (Jacob, a member of Western Hugh School’s state runner-up in 2016, plays at Trine University and Joe, an all-stater at Clinton Central, played one season at Trine), Jorden made the mat his sport.
“He loves the discipline,” says Dan Douglass. “And that does not have to rely on anybody else for his success.”
Ryleigh Douglass, an eighth grader, looks forward to being a wrestling manager at Attica with his brother on the team.
Dan Douglass was an assistant to Dean Branstetter at Clinton Central and is now on Branstetter’s Attica coaching staff along with Josh Barnett, Blair Brindle and Jay Hodge.
Branstetter, a 1983 graduate of South Adams High School, where his wrestling coach was Steve Tatman, was head coach at Clinton Central 1988-2001. He spent one season at Mona Shores High School near Muskegon, Mich., then started the wrestling program at Marmion Academy in Aurora, Ill., and guided the Cadets for a decade before returning to Indiana at Attica in 2012.
“He’s gotten a lot better on his feet,” says seventh-year Ramblers coach Branstetter of Jorden Douglass. “He was always good on-top. He can control and shorten a match on top.”
Jorden Douglass looks to strengthen his weak areas.
He was not very good from the bottom and his coaches avoided choosing that position for him. He has worked to make himself better there. It also helps when you don’t get put in that position too often.
Douglass has not yielded a takedown so far during the 2018-19 season.
“I like to push the pace,” says Douglass. “I try not to leave the opportunity (for my opponent) to get (a takedown) before I do.”
Branstetter echoes that point.
“If you get taken down and the kid is a hammer on top, it’s going to be hard to win,” says Branstetter.
Douglass took the 2019 Lafayette Jeff Sectional and Logansport Regional titles with six first-period pins.
“During tournament time, if the opportunity is there for the pin, I go for the pin,” says Douglass. “There’s no reason to make a mistake and go on my back.”
The program and, consequently, Douglass have benefitted from a team schedule that has included the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals (the team placed 10th in Class 1A in January. It was the third appearance for the Ramblers in four years).
Attica has 199 students and 15 of those are on the wrestling team.
“It’s a hard sport,” says Branstetter. “Practices are tough and they have to be watching their weight.
“The State Duals have been really neat for us.”
There was also a two-day New Year’s Challenge in Danville, Ill. There, Douglass faced off with ranked grapplers from Illinois and Wisconsin. This season was the second that the Ramblers have taken the same postseason path. When Douglass was a freshman, Attica went through the Crawfordsville Sectional, North Montgomery Regional and New Castle Semistate.
As a 132-pound freshman in 2017, Douglass won sectional and regional crowns and lost to eventual semistate champion Breyden Bailey of Indianapolis Cathedral in the “ticket round” at New Castle. As a 145-pound sophomore, he earned sectional and regional titles, placed second at semistate then lost by technical fall in the first round at the State Finals to eventual third-place finishers Jake Schoenegge of Columbus East.
The level has been raised in the Rambler practice room this season with nine wrestlers qualifying for regional and seven others making it to semistate along with Douglass — junior Jack Hargan (first at 195), junior Avery Miller (second at 106), senior Koaldon Kerr (second at 160), junior Jordan Hodge (third at 120), senior Jacob Demumbrun (third at 195), junior Johnny Synesael (fourth at 160) and senior Hunter Purple (fourth at 152).
Douglass says he would like to wrestle in college and study to become a conservation officer with a degree in criminal justice. While the Douglass family has about three acres at home, they like to hunt on property owned by good friends in Parke County.
But his current focus is on what’s in front of him and that’s the East Chicago Semistate and a chance to be Attica’s first two-time state qualifier.
2362#MondayMatness: After semistate run as junior, Hebron Hawks' Donovan aiming high in senior campaign
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Ewan Donovan has made a bigger and bigger impact on the wrestling scene as the Hebron High School grappler has gotten bigger.
Now a 195-pound senior, he hopes to end his prep career in a big way.
“I’m really looking forward to the state series,” says Donovan, who among Indiana’s top-ranked grapplers in his weight class. “I really want to get going. I really want to make some noise.
“It’s the heart. I have a desire to be the best. I never want to settle for mediocrity. I push myself.”
Ryan and Shayne Donovan have four children — Heaven (20), Ewan (17), Myah (14) and Hadley (10).
Ewan is the line boy. He has been encouraged by his father in all that he does, including wrestling. Ryan Donovan was an assistant at Hebron when his son took up wrestling around the fifth grade.
“He always told me the best I can be in anything I do in life,” says Ewan Donovan of his father. “He’s been huge in my wrestling career.”
A four-year varsity competitor, Donvan was a 160-pounder as a freshman. He worked out and bumped up to 182 as a sophomore. Working even harder, he went to 195 as a junior.
Donovan has sweated with the trainers at Sports Medical Institute in the off-season to increase his power, speed and strength.
“They shaped me into a better athlete,” says Donovan. “I really couldn’t have done it without them.”
He also put in long sessions at Calumet-based Regional Wrestling Academy led by Alex Tsirtsis and practiced his moves around northwest Indiana.
“There’s definitely a special breed around The Region,” says Donovan.
“It’s a really good environment.
“I love the feeling of all the mat rooms around here.”
Donovan enjoyed a strong junior season, losing just two matches.
Unfortunately, one of those setbacks — against Calumet's A.J. Fowler — came in the “ticket round” at the Merrillville Semistate. Fowler has
moved up to 220 in 2018-19.
Donovan has wrestled bouts at 195 and 220 this season and was on-pace to become Hebron’s all-time victory leader, topping the 81 wins of 2014 graduate Giovanni Phan.
Hawks head coach Todd Adamczyk, who has Donovan in a weightlifting class, and has watched the biggest wrestller on the current squad add to his successes.
“He goes above and beyond and does all the extra things,” says Adamczyk, who is his 12th season in charge at Hebron. “Like most freshmen, he had a rough transition middle school to high school. But he made up for it the next couple years.
“He’s the whole package right now.”
Adamczyk’s advice has stuck with Donovan.
“He says you need to push yourself when you’re training,” says Donovan. “Your mind is telling you stop, but you have to push yourself to keep going.
“Wresting is definitely a lifestyle and it’s year-round and you have to be fully-committed. It teaches you life and about putting in the hard work and trying to be the best you can be at everything.”
That work ethic extends to the classroom for Donovan, who carries a grade-point average in the 3.7 range (on a 4.0 scale). His favorite subjects are History and English.
After high school, he hopes to continue his wrestling career while attending college as a double major for business and environmental. This will help him as he is next in line to run the family farm. The Donovans grow corn and soybean on more than 2,000 acres around Hebron. Hebron had wrestling for two years in the early ’80s then the program faded away. Adamczyk brought it back, first as a club sport, then two years with a junior varsity schedule. The first varsity season with 2009-10.
There were growing pains, but the Hawks have come a long way since then.
“When we first started, we asked ‘are we ever going to get there?,’” says Adamczyk. “We don’t fill every weight class. There’s only 320 kids in the school. We do the best with what we’ve got.”
Adamczyk wrestled at Hammond High School for head coaches Karl Deak and Bill Malkovich. His Hebron staff includes former Crown Point grappler Troy Bush (who is also middle school coach at Hebon) and Hebron grads Ryan Perez and Raul Fierro. Perez is also on the roster at Calumet College of St. Joseph.
2605 1#MondayMatness: After missing a junior season, Peru’s Sturgill focused for last high school go-round
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Trey Sturgill can hear his coach’s words of advice ringing in his ears.
“He’s always told me to never live with regret,” says Sturgill, a 113-pound senior competing for Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Famer Andy Hobbs at Peru High School. “I’m
determined. I’m driven. My job is to get the job done and be the best person I can be.”
Sturgill, who Hobbs likes to call “Pancake” after a mat move of the same name, says he excels from the top position.
“I’m a dog on top,” says Sturgill. “I like to get the pins.”
So far, 65 of 96 career victories have come by fall. Sturgill (30-3 in 2019-20) won the 113 title at the Three Rivers Conference meet Saturday, Jan. 25 at Maconaquah.
“He’s got a pretty good skill set,” says Hobbs of Sturgill. “He’s very savvy.”
Sturgill missed all of junior season with an injury he can trace back to the freshmen-sophomore state when he was a freshmen. He continued to wrestle through his sophomore year, qualifying for the 2018 IHSAA State Finals at 106.
“I really wanted to make my state run,” says Sturgill.
The pain got to be too much and examination revealed Trey had four torn tendons and a broken shoulder. He them fixed and began physical therapy.
“I wanted to be stronger for my senior season,” says Sturgill, who was cleared to wrestle the week after the 2019 State Finals. His off-season included meets in Michigan and Ohio. “My shoulder is doing fantastic right now.”
Sturgill has multiple workout partners at Peru from 106 to 138.
“We have a pretty open room,” says Sturgill. “Each kid’s different. It helps me with my defense and what to look for in a real match.”
Trey is not the first member of his family to step into the circle.
His father, Bill Sturgill, wrestled for Northfield High School and was a semistate qualifier.
Trey was hooked on the sport when Bill took his youngest boy to a Peru Wrestling Club event at 3.
Brother Peyton Sturgill, who graduated from Peru in 2016, was a two-time state qualifier. Half brother Kane Rockenbaugh (Peru Class of 2013) was a semistate qualifier. Mother Rana has been there to cheer them on.
Peyton Sturgill is on his way to earning his college degree and becoming a math teacher. Trey Sturgill has sights set on teaching high school physical education.
“I’m still deciding on wrestling (in college),” says Trey. “We’ll see how this season goes.”
Away from wrestling, Sturgill likes to play disc golf at courses in Peru or Wabash.
“I like getting out and enjoying the fresh air and nature and being with my buddies,” says Sturgill.
Hobbs, a Tipton High School graduate, is in his 34th season as a wrestling coach and 25th season as head coach at Peru.
“I’ve enjoyed every year of it,” says Hobbs, who has 453 dual meet victories and leads a Tigers program with the motto is “ No Magic, Just Hard Work!!!.”
The veteran coach teaches his grapplers to “never walk past a piece of trash on the ground” and to “be humble enough to prepare and bold enough to compete with the very best!”
“You control what you can control and don’t worry about the other guys,” says Hobbs, who has produced 41 state finalists — 39 at Peru and two while coaching at Princeton. “You drop the hammer and take more shots.“
“Those are the ways you have success in the sport.”
Hobbs, who is also a health teacher, believes in having and following a plan.
“We’re specific with everything,” says Hobbs. “With nutrition, we avoid process sugar and drink a lot of water.
“We get sleep, wash hands and wear hat and a coat. Everybody’s got to
learn that curve.”
Hobbs’ coaching staff features Daric Fuller (two-time state qualifer), Zak Leffel (two-time state qualifier), Colin Quin (two-time sectional two-time sectional champion), Jordan Rader (three-time state qualifier and 2018 state runner-uo at 170), Kegan Kern (four-time semistate qualifier and Al Smith Classic finalist) and Chris McKinney (conference and sectional champion). Fuller (history), Leffel (math), Quin (P.E.) and McKinney (chemistry and physics) are teachers. Rader is an Indiana University student. U.S. Air Force vet Kern is Miami County Sheriff. Kern owns his own law firm. McKinney served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army.
3724#MondayMatness: Adam O'Neil Takes Over at Clay
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
“Who wants to learn?â€
Adam O’Neil invites his athletes to one side of the South Bend Clay High School wrestling room.
There, the second person ever to win an IHSAA state mat title for the Colonials (Randy Goss was the first in 1964 and 1965) shares his knowledge as Clay’s first-year head wrestling coach.
A little later, O’Neil gets in front of the group and tells them about stance.
“Keep your chest up,†O’Neil tells them. “I don’t want hunching down, alright? We don’t want to see the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
After all, an opponent can control, if a wrestler is hunched over.
O’Neil also instructs his Clay grapplers how to sprawl and demonstrates with a series of “burpeesâ€.
But he stresses the basics.
“Even the best guys have to do the basics,†says O’Neil. “We’ll get into the flow of the different moves and when we do them later.
“I can only teach them what I know.â€
What O’Neil knew when he wore a Colonial singlet was strength and a solid stance and form and loads of mat know-how gained from coach Al Hartman, an Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Famer.
It helped O’Neil win 154 matches. He went 45-0 as a senior in 2003-04, reigning as the 160-pound state champion.
That season, O’Neil tied for first in single-season wins with Jaylin Allen, Shakir Carr, Joe Gallegos, Mitchell Hartman and Laquan Lunfiord. Gallegos and Allen were state runners-up in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
O’Neil set Clay school records with 26 pins in both the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.
Any one of those accomplishments should give the 30-year-old instant credibility with these teenagers. But O’Neil doesn’t see it that way.
“I still need to prove myself to them,†says O’Neil, who went into this season ranked No. 4 on Clay’s all-time win list (behind Mitchell Hartman’s 164, Jake Hartman’s 156 and Steve Salinas’ 156. Places 5 through 12 were held by Kevin Hartman, 145; Gallegos 142; Lunsford, 121; Ryan Salata, 114; Garret Gleuckert, 112; Jeremy Burnside, 112; David Elliot, 109; and Dustin Swindeman, 108). “One of my biggest challenges is getting all the kids in here at the same time and getting them to listen. I want them to focus and listen to what I’m saying. If they are not listening, they are not absorbing.
“I’m only here a couple of hours a day with them. I try to have them learn as much as I can.â€
After two seasons as a Clay assistant, O’Neil has taken over the reigns of the program from Hartman (who is still involved, mostly at the junior high level).
“It’s been a dream of mine to coach wrestling,†says O’Neil. “When I had the opportunity, I took it. Coach Hartman really helped me prepare for it. He pushed me to do it.â€
A frozen foods frozen manager for Martin’s Supermarkets during the day, O’Neil relies on assistant coach and Clay teacher Jay Love to take care of administrative details and monitor the wrestlers during the school day.
“He helps me out a lot,†says O’Neil of Love. “He does paperwork and helps me recruit kids.â€
Love also helps teach the sport to the Colonials.
The lessons have yielded a 9-1 start to 2015-16 season (5-0 at the South Bend Clay Super Dual and 4-1 at the Elkhart Central Turkey Duals).
O’Neil said he considers two-time semistate qualifier Rishod Cotton plus Mason Cao and Andrew Taborn to be his top three wrestlers as the season begins. But it’s steady improvement from he group that he seeks.
“Seeing them get better everyday is what I want,†says O’Neil.
Before the practice closes, O’Neil gets his wrestlers in a circle for a chant.
When the volume and enthusiasm are not right, he yells, “That was weak. Get back here.â€
Then they do it to O’Neil’s satisfaction: “Clay on 3. 1, 2, 3, Clay!â€
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