Karl's Komments on the Rochester Regional

Take 'em as gospel or take 'em with a grain of salt but here they are:

106 – A potential Mishawaka sectional sweep here with Penn’s junior Kory Cavanaugh leading the way for the flyweights. South Bend Adams frosh Vincent Calhoun will likely meet Cavanaugh in the finals for a second week in a row. I like St. Joe’s Matt Cysewski in a close one over Culver Military’s Spencer Penrose in the 3^rd/4^th match.

113 – Penn’s Austin Slates is clearly the top dog at 113. The Best match in the bracket might be the semi final battle between Wawasee’s freshman, Braxton Alexander and Adams’ Joey Zahl. Alexander was very impressive in winning the Plymouth sectional title and Zahl is a proven tough competitor. Culver Academy should get their 2^nd semistate qualifier in junior Robert White.

120 – A strong class for the Plymouth Sectional with a trio of former semistate qualifiers looking to return to the region. CMA’s Adam Davis, Triton’s Malachi Greene, and Plymouth’s Zane DeVault all have enough firepower to make the trip to East Chicago but all three together might be needed to slay Penn’s mighty Drew Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt has gone wire to wire as the state’s top ranked 120 pound wrestler.

126 – The fab four out of the Mishawaka sectional stand a great chance of moving on to East Chicago. Mishawaka’s Ryan Hardesty has put together an excellent senior season and won last week versus rival Jarrett Selis of Penn. An all Catholic clash will probably make up the 3^rd place match with St. Joe’s Jared Kazmierczak and Marian’s Nick Blasko.

132 – The Green will be mean at 132. South Bend Washington’s Tondrew Tyler comes in with an excellent 38-1 record and a state ranking of 14^th. His likely finals opponent, Tristin Ponsler of Wawasee has been under the radar all season but has state level talent. I like Mishawaka’s Preston Risner and Rochester’s gritty senior Aaron Orr to move on as 3^rd and 4^th place finishers.

138 – This should be a fun weight class to keep an eye on this Saturday. Warsaw’s Kyle Hatch is the clear favorite based on his two state medals but he should be challenged by Clay’s exciting Rishod Cotton in the semis. Penn’s Trace Manspeaker squeaked a victory out over Cotton last week and it set him up well in the regional bracket. I like CMA’s Steven Muthart to be the fourth to move on.

145 – I may be biased but I think this is the strongest weight class at the Rochester regional. Two state qualifiers are here in Riley’s Austin Laughlin and Culver’s Triston Rodriguez along with a senior from Penn that has beaten both of them in Cameron Beam. I like Plymouth’s Bodie Neidig to be the fourth qualifier. This regional will create some bad draws for the other regionals at East Chicago.

152 – If 145 is not the strongest class then 152 might be. The top five here are all excellent and someone will be ending their season much sooner then they would have liked. The first round tilt between Bremen’s Alex Bollenbacher and South Bend Adams’ Tavris Evans will be a slobber knocker. Penn’s Denzyl Prentice would love a rematch with rival Kassius Breathitt of Riley but first must overcome the ‘rastlin’ Rockie’, Micah Calhoun of Plymouth.

160 – These middle weight classes at Rochester will be worth the price of admission and the rivalry between Adams’ Tavonte Malone and Penn’s Jarod Swank will highlight this division. Both are serious threats to be on the podium in a couple of week at Banker’s Life. With Triton’s Gage Waddle added into the mix, there are three legitimate studs at 160.

170 – South Bend Riley’s Tristan Goering is the clear favorite here. He has followed up last year’s magical post season run (finishing 4^th in the state) with an outstanding junior campaign. No serious challengers to the junior Wildcat have emerged in the regional area.

182 – A trio of grapplers have separated themselves from the rest of the field in the 182 weight class. Austin Faulkner won a pair of tight matches last Saturday to put himself in a great position this weekend. He has the easier path to the finals where he will probably meet either conference rival, Mason Cao of Clay or Jeremy Splix of Plymouth. Young Max Chaffee will likely be the fourth qualifier.

195 – Wide open would the way to describe the 195 pound class at Rochester. Penn’s Cedrick Vakalahi and Plymouth’s Nate LaFree are the likely finalists but no wrestlers in this weight class have particularly distinguished themselves this season and upsets could likely occur here.

220 – The big boys should provide some entertaining wrestling for the fans at Rochester. State champion and Purdue recruit, Kobe Woods is the headliner but there are four other studs that have state level talent. One will be heading home. Bremen’s Tyler Moser has put together an excellent 34-2 record and a sectional championship. Marian’s Patrick Ernst and Culver Academy’s Simon Griffith will square off in a great first round match. Warsaw’s Andrew Brock is the other likely qualifier.

285 – South Bend Washington’s Isaiah McWilliams is the favorite here with his 36-3 record and sectional championship. On the other side of the bracket is Rochester’s big man, Dan ‘#TRUCK’ Clark, along with an interesting match up between St. Joe’s veteran Michael Koebel and Culver’s young Alecks McBee. Will Vakalahi, the undersized Penn heavyweight is the other likely semistate qualifier here.