Rochester Regional Preview

As north central Indiana braces for this year's “storm of the centuryâ€, 112 wrestlers will be preparing for Saturday's regional tournament at Rochester High School. The weather may play havoc with the practices but all the schools will be dealing with the same issues. The Penn Kingsmen are the big story as they qualified all 14 wrestlers to regional and stand a good chance of qualifying all 14 to next weeks's semistate.

The heavyweight class is the deepest with three wrestlers ranked in the state's top seven. (Plymouth's Damon Howe, Bremen's Abe Hall, and Culver Community's Jeremiah Harvey). These three, along with the five other talented underclassmen in the bracket, will make watching the big boys entertaining throughout the day.

Another reason to focus on the Rochester regional will be to follow the return of Penn's Sara Hildebrandt and the undefeated march of Culver Military's Kayla Miracle. Both of these young ladies would like to be the first female to qualify for state.

103

Culver Military's thirteenth ranked freshman Kayla Miracle handled the spotlight (literally and figuratively) in the sectional finals last week at Plymouth. Despite giving up some early points, she did not panic and methodically put points on the board to win 11-4. Mishawaka's junior Scott Fozo comes in as a sectional champ and is battle hardened. Penn's promising freshman, Zach Davis is also worth keeping an eye on.

Best 1^st round Match: Darnell Johnson (South Bend Washington) vs. Greg Newman (Wawasee)

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112

A rematch of the Al Smith Invitational is highly likely here as the long and lanky Sam Ferdig of South Bend Adams looks to get another shot at Warsaw's Jarred Brooks. The 13^th ranked Ferdig is likely studying the tape intently in order to find a way to stop the high energy Brooks, who ended the regular season ranked 4^th in the state. Brooks only loss is by DQ to a Michigan wrestler.

Best 1^st round match – Sarah Hildebrandt (Penn) vs. Zech Weese (Rochester)

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119

The Plymouth sectional gets a chance to flex a little muscle at 119. Plymouth runner-up and third ranked Anthony McHugh will look to rebound from his first loss of the season. The transfer from suburban Columbus, OH was a state qualifier in Ohio Division II last year. Former state qualifier Garth Simpson of Rochester was the author of the upset. These two are the clear favorites to meet in a rematch.

Best first round Match: Mitch Emmons(Mishawaka) vs. Anthony McHugh (CMA)

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125

The Mishawaka sectional comes roaring back at 125 and they are favored to take all four tickets to Merrillville. Third ranked Layten Binion of Mishawaka is one of the most entertaining wrestlers in the state to watch. His conference and sectional rival is 11^th ranked Tyler Chapple of Penn. Chapple is a considerable talent in his own right and can hit throws from all angles.

Best first round match: William Howell-Bey(SB Washington) vs. Carlos Salinas(CMA)

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130

The northern boys continue to roll at 130 as they again look to be favorites in all the opening round matches. An almost unnoticed result from Mishawaka was South Bend Clay's sophomore Mitch Hartman finding the answer to Mishawaka's fourth ranked Taylor Wisler. These two along with Penn's Trevor Manspeaker are very close and it wouldn't be surprising if any of the three win a regional title. All three also have legitimate shots at qualifying for state regardless of where they place but going into semi-state as a regional champ will make the quest for Conseco considerably easier.

Best first round match: Josh Juarez (SB Riley) vs. Seth Fincher (Tippecanoe Valley)

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135

One of the few “sure things†at Rochester is that Penn's undefeated senior and fourth ranked Alex Gregory will be at the top of the podium on Saturday afternoon. Gregory has been dominant this year and should cruise to a regional title. Mishawaka's freshman Tristan Macri will likely get a rematch with his Penn rival in the finals.

Best first round match: Cliff McLeod (SB Riley) vs. Ian Randolph (Culver Community)

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140

The 140 class is the first class at Rochester that does not contain a ranked wrestler. Penn's sectional champion Dan Ginter has put together a fine 34-7 record and is a slight favorite over Riley's senior Joe Roland. Ginter edged Roland 6-4 in last weeks finals.

Best first round match: Kyle Jones (Mishawaka) vs. Justin Corl (Bremen)

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145

The four horsemen of the Mishawaka sectional make a repeat appearance in Rochester. These four closely matched foes include the sixth ranked Laquan Lunford of South Bend Clay and eleventh ranked Grant Anglemyer of Penn. The lofty ranking will not intimidate Mishawaka's Sidney Logan or SB Riley's Brandon Reynolds-Smith. Any of the four could win this on any given day.

Best first round match: Logan (Mishawaka) vs. Trent Bauters (Tippecanoe Valley)

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152

Eight closely bunched wrestlers are in the 152 bracket and that should make this weight class one of the more exciting to watch on Saturday. Three of the four first round matches should be doozies. The headliner of the first round is surely Mishawaka's fifteenth ranked Darius Marshall versus Rochester's tough Jacob Schroder. Marshall pinned Schroder in the semis at Al Smith but rumor has it that Marshall might be a little dinged up. The winner will likely face Riley's Kelly Kolat who seems to be peaking at the right time. The bottom of the bracket includes Penn's Mike Hummer and Tippecanoe Valley's Isaac Yoder.

Best first round matches: Marshall (Mishawaka) vs. Schroder (Rochester)

Hummer (Penn) vs. Ryan Lindsay (Wawasee)

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160

This class has both good quality and depth provided by the Mishawaka Sectional. Clay's 17^th ranked senior Davon Alwine has seemed to separate himself from the field after majoring 20^th ranked Carl McLeod of Riley. Alwine sports a fine 35-2 record and has been flying under the radar for much of the year.

Best first round match: Phillip Derrickson (SB Adams) vs. Everardo Ahuatl (Warsaw)

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171

Another South Bend wrestler that has been flying under the radar is Riley's Nate Coddens. Three losses by injury default at the Al Smith Invite have hurt his state wide notoriety but he is clearly the top dog at the Rochester regional. Warsaw's Zac Erba looks to break the Mishawaka sectional stranglehold on this weight class.

Best first round matches: Tyler Reinoehl (Mishawaka) vs. Nathan Benham (Plymouth)

Erba (Warsaw) vs. Zach Johnson (SB Clay)

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189

Two top eight ranked 189 pounders, Warsaw's eighth ranked Ross Hoover and Culver Community's 5^th ranked Matt Hurford headline this bracket and favored to meet for the second Saturday in row. Hurford nipped Hoover 8-6 in a hard fought battle. Penn's Mike Hamm was the suprise winner of the Mishawaka sectional and appears to be peaking at the right time.

Best first round match: Alex Skipper (SB Adams) vs. Lance Wright (Wawasee)

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215

Two more ranked individuals and a couple of others good enough to push the big names highlight the 215 bracket. South Bend Clay's Joe Gallegos is ranked 5^th in the state and owns a convincing win over ninth ranked Devin Reagan of Penn. These two junior will likely battle again on Saturday afternoon. Both of these studs will be working hard for the win because the loser could draw in to fourth ranked Tyler Kral at semi state.

Best first round match: Robert Deering (Mishawaka Marian) vs. Jacob Seagraves (Plymouth)

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285

The big boys represent the deepest field of any weight class at Rochester. Damon Howe is the clear favorite and owns victories over most of the field. The battle for the other three tickets to Merrillville will be well earned.

Best first round match: Kade Maggert (Penn) vs. Dmitri Kaplanis (Wawasee)

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