KLH

Date: Saturday February 10th, 2024
Admission: $12 per person. Children age 5 and younger admitted free.
Streaming: A bundled package that includes access to all four semi-state sites, as well as next weekend's state finals, is available via IHSAAtv.org and the IHSAAtv suite of apps (iPhone, Android phone, Roku, Amazon Firestick, AppleTV, and Android TV) for $25. Access to all four semi-states only is available for $15. If you have a FloPro+ plan, you may also view the livestream at FloWrestling.com.
 
1. East Chicago Central (John C. Baratto Athletic Center) | 9 am CT 
Feeder Regionals: Crown Point, Hobart, Logansport, Penn.
TrackWrestling Brackets
IndianaMat Brackets
EastChicago.pdf
Pick'ems Link
 
2. Fort Wayne South Side (Allen County War Memorial Coliseum) | 8:30 am ET 
Feeder Regionals: Carroll (Fort Wayne), Goshen, Jay County, Peru.
TrackWrestling Brackets
IndianaMat Brackets 
FortWayne.pdf
Pick'ems Link
 
3. New Castle (New Castle Fieldhouse) | 9 am ET 
Feeder Regionals: Frankfort, Pendleton Heights, Perry Meridian, Richmond.
TrackWrestling Brackets
IndianaMat Brackets 
NewCastle.pdf
Pick'ems Link 
 
4. Evansville F. J. Reitz (Ford Center) | 9 am CT 
Feeder Regionals: Bloomington South, Castle, Jeffersonville, Mooresville.
TrackWrestling Brackets
IndianaMat Brackets 
Evansville.pdf
Pick'ems Link
 
Pick'ems History
Click here for a full pick'ems history
 
Articles and Podcasts
#MondayMatness with Steve Krah: DeKalb’s Waldon heading back to Fort Wayne Semi-State with focusHigh School Wrestling Weekly
#WrestlingWednesday with Jeremy Hines: Thornton ready for another trip to state
Lake Central’s Mason Jones Drives Into Potential State Finals Run with Renewed Confidence
Gorilla Radio 172- Fort Wayne Semi-State
Gorilla Radio 173- Evansville Semi-State
Gorilla Radio 174- New Castle Semi-State
Gorilla Radio 175- East Chicago Semi-State
State Finals streak on the line
 
Gorilla Radio Schedule
Monday- Mike, Joe, and a special guest talking about Fort Wayne Semi-State 
Wednesday- Mike, Joe and our southern correspondent talking about Evansville
Thursday- Mike and Joe talking about East Chicago and New Castle
 
 

By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
 
Jeb Prechtel was the first Jasper wrestler to call the school’s new coach, Alex Lee last season. He wanted to see who would be teaching him for the next few years.
 
So, Prechtel gave Lee a call and asked if they could practice together.
 
“I kind of wanted to see if I could beat up on him,” Prechtel joked.
 
The coach and the student wrestled that first day and Lee scored a few takedowns on the young grappler. Prechtel wanted to learn how he got those takedowns and how he could stop them in the future.
 
“He called me that night and was asking what he was doing wrong and what he needed to do better,” Lee said. “He expects to beat everyone. He doesn’t care if you’re the coach or Jordan Burroughs. He expects to win. I knew right then this was a special wrestler. It bothered him that he didn’t know some things and he stayed up trying to figure them out. Once you tell him, you don’t have to tell him again. He’s is a very good learner.
 
Prechtel is currently ranked No. 3 in the state at 160 pounds. The senior is undefeated at 30-0. And, almost shockingly, he is coming off of his very first sectional championship last week.
 
Prechtel is almost the poster child for bad tournament luck throughout his career.
 
In his freshman season he ran into a very talented Gavinn Alstott in the Southridge sectional final. He fell to Alstott and then, for the next two seasons, he lost to eventual state champion J Conway in the sectional finals.
 
“Winning a sectional actually felt really good,” Prechtel said. “Having J Conway in sectional the last two years has really be a learning experience for me. I have learned how to take losses early in the post season. Now I’m wrestling with a lot more confidence.”
 
Prechtel has one goal this year – a state title.
 
“Jeb is determined,” Lee said. “He works tirelessly. I’m fully confident that he will reach his goal. I really expect to see him wrestling under the lights.”
 
According to Lee, Prechtel is a student of the sport. He soaks up as much wrestling knowledge as he possibly can and he’s a relentless worker.
 
Despite his work ethic and hunger for wrestling knowledge, Prechtel had a weakness he didn’t know how to overcome. He almost feared close matches.
 
“I’ve dealt with a lot of mental battles in my wrestling career,” Prechtel said. “I lost in semistate one year by one point. I was always scared of one-point matches. That was something I’ve tried very hard to overcome. It was a mental block with me.”
 
So Prechtel talked with his coaches in high school and his coaches at Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club. He desperately sought answers to how he could overcome his mental block with those one-point matches.
 
“I told them, I just don’t know how to fix this,” Prechtel said. “I’ve lost my two most important matches of my career by a point. I don’t know how to overcome this.
 
“So they told me that I’m going to have one point matches. They said I have to go out there and just know that I trained harder than the other guy and I worked harder than he did. I have to have the confidence in those close matches that I am the better wrestler and I am going to win.”
 
So, this year he’s had that mindset in every match he’s wrestled. He said he treats every match as if it’s the state championship.
 
“Every match I’m zero and zero and I’m wrestling for a championship,” he said. “This year I have a totally different mindset. It started at the end of the offseason. I’m more confident. In my mind, I know I outwork anyone. I can push myself further than I have before.”
 
Lee knows that the sky is the limit for Prechtel because of the amount of work he is willing to put in.
 
“He’s been a captain of this team for three years,” Lee said. “He’s an awesome leader. He leads verbally. He leads by example. He works harder than anyone I have ever coached.”
 
When he’s not wrestling, Prechtel enjoys hunting, fishing and snow skiing. He plans to wrestle in college and study business management, but he is currently undecided on where he will go.
 

By Blaze Lowery
  
Is IU better than we thought?
Unranked Indiana defeats #23 Princeton, pushing the Tigers out of the rankings. Although Princeton was without #2 Pat Glory, the Hoosiers dominate them with a 22 – 13 upset. IU has continued to show improvement since last season’s dissatisfactory finish.
 
#19 D.J. Washington then goes on to wins Army’s, Black Knight Open at 174lbs, beating #21 Benjamin Pasiuk of Army. Keeping his undefeated record in-tact, the Portage native is proving himself week after week since shifting to a lower weight class this season. Longtime teammate, Jacob Moran was runner-up and the Rooks’ brothers both captured a third place wins for the Hoosiers. Indiana is starting their season off much stronger than they left off last season and could make some sparks as they roll into the Garden State Grapple on December 4th.
 
 
Are the Boilermaker Duals a good indication of Purdue’s success?
Coming off a surprising dual loss to Rider University on their home turf, Purdue turned their performance around and defeated Cleveland State, Northern Illinois, and Chattanooga at the Boilermaker Duals. Having a younger squad this season, the Boilermakers are struggling to make the same mark at the start of their season as they have in their previous season. At this point in their schedule, it is too early to say if the Boilermakers are a tough to beat dual team, but it is safe to say that the competition at the Boilermaker Duals tournament means little to none when competing in the Big Ten. We look for the Boilermakers to start ramping up as we get closer to the middle of the season.
 
With that being said, the future looks bright for Purdue wrestling as this young roster will make for some depth in the coming years and the recruiting class coming in will be one to keep an eye on. It is exciting to see guys like Macartney Parkinson, Jaden Reynolds, and Hayden Filipovich really getting their feet wet with some serious mat time. Time will tell if the Boilermakers can show us what is behind the curtains as they compete in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on December 2nd – 3rd.
 
 
Recent Out-of-State Wrestler D1 Results:
#3 Mason Parris (Michigan) wins by fall in both duals against UNC and Columbia.
#5 Brayton Lee (Minnesota) clinches Binghamton dual by major decision.
#6 Lucas Davison (Northwestern) with a dominant 6-0 decision in Virginia Dual.
#12 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) pushes Joey Melendez out of the rankings with a pin.
#19 Silas Allred (Nebraska) wins Navy Classic.