Adam_glass

Lake Central: Undoubtedly Kyle Ayersman. Three time state champ (2010, 2011, 2012) and took third in 2009. 193-2 overall career record and I believe a four time Al Smith finalist with three titles.

Torturing the state for years to come. As an Avon man if you had to ball park it how many ISWA titles do you think that family has?

How many medals and honors does this family have? I know there are I believe two younger Rioux’s as well? What this family has done is nothing short of incredible. Off the top of my head, Eight state medals, five finals appearances, and now a state title. Props to them, finally bringing that title home

Looked so solid against Huyvaert, but Doster was ready

My Goat Emilio Tirado beats #13 Mavros in SV to advance to State!!!

Is it just me or was Noah Weaver ranked nationally on flo’s rankings for a little while back around October? I swear I remember seeing an Indiana guy ranked at 190 and it being Noah Weaver around like 17th

Totally forgot 144, I think Walker is too much for a talented Baca to chew. So this drops my predicted qualifiers for CP down to 11. Baca, Sessa, and Kaptur all falling in the ticket round

Me too, I always love to see the region guys succeed. At his best he’s definitely an all American, and I think he returns to form come big tens. I feel like the weight cut is tough in him

I just wanted to give a little appreciation post for Christian White here. This is a guy who his junior year placed 6th at state and then his senior year lost in the ticket round, and now he is stepping in and winning big ten matches. As a Purdue student I’m a big fan of the wrestling team and I go to most of the events and this dude is wrestling at a high level. He pushed Indiana’s ranked grad student Fongaro to the end and almost had the takedown in the last seconds for the win. Sunday he stepped into the varsity roster and caught a Big ten win. He’s wrestling at a National qualifier level even though he didn’t make it to state his senior year, and that is seriously impressive. He’s earned his flowers

Hard not to like the White brothers; home grown talents who stuck with it and broke the loaded Crown Point rosters. Kaptur vs Smith will be one of the best ticket round matches this weekend in my opinion

I can’t see CP qualifying all 14, I think they get 12 or 13. At 175 I think White is pretty underrated; he’s very solid and has a good draw. He also has a win over a red hot and very dangerous Jesse Derringer, which is I think a more impressive win than he got credit for. If I were in charge of the rankings, I’d probably have him at fifth in this semi state field. I see him punching his ticket. The weight I think most stands in the way of CP getting 14 is 132. Guillermo has multiple wins over Sessa and has the state experience, and I can’t see him losing to Sessa. Also, at 150 I think Kaptur will struggle against Smith. I think Kaptur is very good on top but Smith is a bull on his feet and I think that ends up being the difference in their ticket round match. In the end, I see CP with 12, with non-qualifications at 132 and 150

I did this more as a stream of consciousness, so I apologize if it’s a little incoherent and if there are some grammatical errors, but I thought this was something important I wanted to get out there

I think it’s important now that the season is nearing its zenith to address one of the most important issues that I think goes under talked around this time, which is the hard working kids who lose at semi state. Obviously, we should celebrate those who make it to state. That is the goal of almost every high school wrestler, to be among the best in the state and compete in the best venue in all of Indiana. But inevitably, most wrestlers Sunday will not end up advancing to the state tournament. And I think it’s important that we address how to support the kids that lose, especially the seniors who will possibly wrestle their very last matches on Saturday. Last year as a senior, I went into my season with high expectations. For three years straight, I went to everything. My high school coaches could tell you I was person who missed the least practices. I showed up to everything; morning practice, optional practice, summer open mats, I even went to RWA three days a week and trained at my coaches own gym in order to build up my strength and conditioning. I felt like I was one of the hardest working, toughest people in the state. In middle school at my first off-season tournament I suffered a concussion. My freshman year I broke my left elbow and had to get screws out in, which I still have to this day. Junior year I dislocated my rib wrestling freestyle, and over the summer I suffered severe second degree burns which caused most of the epidermis on my back to slough off. But still, I worked through it all because I felt like if I didn’t I wasn’t being the best wrestler I could. Going into regionals of senior year I broke the scaphoid bone in my wrist, and couldn’t press down or grip my right hand for the rest of season. I felt like all of this only contributed to me being a tougher wrestler on the mat. And even with all of that, I got completely out wrestled at semi state. My broken wrist meant nothing, I did not live up to my potential and didn’t wrestle my best, and that’s why I lost. For at least a month after semi state I was completely in the dumps. It’s like I had a rain cloud overhead, I felt like my career meant nothing. It was over, and I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to. No matter what people said to me, it really didn’t ease the fact that I felt completely empty. I also felt angry. I felt so angry that I had teammates who put in way less practice time than me, who didn’t show up to half the things I did, and yet still advanced farther than I did. I wasn’t angry at them, though, I was angry at myself. I was angry because I felt like that there was something that I must have missed, some piece of the puzzle that despite all my hours I just couldn’t get. And that made me really hate myself for a few weeks. Our sport is so much more draining mentally than it is physically, and for those seniors who lose at semi state, it can really knock your happiness down a few notches for a quite a while. So coaches and parents, if you have a wrestler whose career comes to an end this Saturday, it’s important to not look at their whole career under a microscope and appreciate the whole journey. You got to participate in the toughest sport in the world, you were able to make it to semi state, which while not a particularly impressive accomplishment, still means that likely hundreds of hours of hard work went into that qualification. It’s okay to feel upset, but don’t let it hang over your life. You worked hard, and you did something that most wrestlers in the state didn’t. And to those who have more years, never stop grinding. Embrace it, and make sure to have fun with it. When the sport is fun, you do better. You can make it to state, but you can’t take your foot off the gas. I love wrestling, so so much. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and something I plan on continuing even though I’m not on a college team. I’m so grateful to the sport and my coaches for making me the man I am today, and for teaching me such invaluable life lessons. And I think loving the sport is really what’s so important. If you were able to make an athlete fall in love with the sport, with the process, then you succeeded as a coach. If you support your kids and help them foster that love, then you succeeded as a wrestling parent. The lessons athletes learn from wrestling are some of the best life lessons you can learn, and when you are able to fall in love with the sport, these values are only engrained deeper. So to those seniors out there, wrestle your hearts out. Don’t be afraid to lose, don’t be afraid to score points. Leave it all on the mat and put your name in the history books. And to those seniors who worked so hard and end up coming up short, it will suck. But you’ll live. You’ll be okay. And I think that, even if you lose at semi state, if you managed to fall in love with the sport, then it was all worth it in the end. We are all apart of something amazing, and wrestling is absolutely the greatest sport ever. Fall in love with it, and wrestle your hearts out.

This sucks to hear, hope he’s able to recover and come back better. Kid is a baller

A theoretical one that could happen out of East Chicago: Lake Central’s Guillermo Rivera won a regional title, Sonny Sessa took 2nd, and Penn’s Vargo medically forfeited to fourth. Unlikely but a potential Guillermo could have Vargo as a first round match then Sessa in the ticket round. Would be an insanely talented semi state quad, but Guillermo would make it through

Probably around 2001, I believe that was the year LC placed third as a team at state

With Crisp’s loss at 175, LC clinches the regional title. Super proud of these guys, they worked incredibly hard and earned this (just wish it could’ve been a year earlier) They will be ready for next week

Bohn is even better than I remember. He takes the semi state next Saturday

#12 Marlone Kirksy or Merrillville over #11 Ortega of Portage 5-2

England super underranked; solid results and he beat Sessa in August

Bit of an upset here early as Merrillville’s Warren Brown crushes Hobart’s McGill. Extremely impressive performance last week against Guillermo and now a great opening win to move on to next week. He’s one to watch as these next two weeks unfold

I think realistically LC can get five champs here. I think Mason and Guillermo are comfortable locks, and then Emilio, Mario, and Chase all have the potential to win titles. Emilio has to overcome an 8-6 loss to Sopkowski from back in December, but he has been wrestling much better since then and I think he takes that one this time. Mario has the most recent win over Bunton by pin and Mario has been on a solid upwards trajectory ever since last season so he think he stays solid here and beats Bunton again. Chase did suffer a pin against a very talented and in my opinion underranked Bohn last weekend, however I think when Chase is wrestling at his best he can compete and push anyone in this weight class, in evidenced by his match with Harper at the Al Smith where a few questionable stalling calls forced overtime. Chase also suffered an injury in that tournament and I think he is still battling that as well, however Chase is a super tough person and I think he can get it done. Outside of that, Stefan has been wrestling very good recently and anyone who has been on that team can tell you he always wrestles significantly better come post season, so I’m interested to see if he can finally get one over a very talented freshmen in Tatum. So, in a very non biased opinion, I think LC takes the regional title here

If I remember correctly at IHPO Jones was leading 3-2 before Boyd hit a monster throw for the pin; I don’t see either of them pinning each other in the rematch though (I think this is the state finals match) and I think it will be high flying with a ton of points. That being said I’m taking Jones, he’s such a hammer on top and solid in all positions of attack and defense

I did this mostly based off of track registration and highland has another heavyweight listed at this time; but if he was in he’d absolutely be the favorite

These are mostly finals predictions but I will also include a top 4. Of note, I do not know how the seeds will play out so some of these predictions may end up being impossible due to seeds on Saturday. 106: I may have a Lake Central bias, but I can’t see anyone other than Mason winning it this weekend. He has been dominant on the year and is looking to double up on both his last years title and his most pins least time award. Apart from him, I’ll have to trust the rankings and say Bishop Noll’s Rodriguez will make the finals. While he hasn’t had a huge public match slate on the year, he did outplace Crown Point’s Newell at the Carnahan and is a returning SS qualifier. That being said, give me Mason by fall. 1. Mason Jones (LC) 2. Francisco Rodriguez (BN) 3. Nash Burke (Munster) 4. Joy Cantu (Mvill) 113: Again, I’m going to have to go with my former teammate and returning County champion Mario here. Coming off a placement at the prestigious Al Smith featuring some quality wins, I can only see him doubling his county 1st medals. In terms of finals opponents I’d say the slate is wide open here. Highland’s Ramirez is a returning SS qualifier with a mixed bag of results on the season, but has some experience. Crown Point backup Griffin Webber is registered for both team state and County, but I would say he is my most likely favorite for second place here. He has an IHPO win over SS qualifier MaKenzie Smith and has the advantage of Crown Points deep room for training. Ultimately, I’ll take Mario over Webber in finals by major or fall. 1. Mario Orueta (LC) 2. Griffin Webber (CP) 3. Angel Ramirez (High) 4. Aiden Schiedt (RF) 120: The highest ranked kid at this weight is Lowell’s Hunter Mallory, however I am not confident in calling him a favorite. Rather, I think this is a wide open weight class with a variety of challengers. With my LC bias in tact, I think the favorite at this weight is actually LC’s Ryan Bos. Bos picked up two huge wins at the Al Smith before finishing in the blood round, with one of these wins being over FWSS #2 Faurote (Belmont) 2-0. Bos is also a senior with a lot of experience under his belt, and will likely be siginficantly under seeded coming into this weekend. Apart from these two, Munster’s Petrashevich and Hanover Central’s Buikema are also looking to stake claims at the title. Buikema holds a close win over Bos earlier this year and Petrashevich has plenty of matches under his belt this season. With this tough weight class, I feel it’s hard to predict how seeds will play out, but I’m going to say Bos will take it over Mallory in a close decision in the finals. 1. Ryan Bos (Lake Central) 2. Hunter Mallory (Lowell) 3. Isaiah Buikema (Hanover) 4. Christian Petrashevich (Munster) 126: This is a weight class with a much more clear cut favorite, as I don’t see Matthew Maldonado being challenged too much on his way to a career first county title. Outside of Maldonado, I think this weight class has a bit of depth led by SS qualifiers Zach Kenney (Griffith), Alex Vega (LS), and Andrew Williams (Cal). Kenney holds a 1-0 win over Vega this year and from what I have seen is pretty impressive on top. Of note however, I’d like to highlight Lake Central’s Derian Perez. While he doesn’t have a great record coming in, he does have some close matches with Hobart’s #20 Mara in which he notched quite a few takedowns. He has a great gas tank and when he fires on all cylinders, he can compete with some high level wrestlers. I’ll take Maldonado by fall or tech over Kenney in the finals. 1. Matthew Maldonado (Mvill) 2. Zach Kenney (Griffith) 3. Alex Vega (LS) 4. Derian Perez (LC) OR Andrew Williams (Cal) 132: At 132, I feel Guillermo will be unchallenged on his route to a second county title. Guillermo has qualified for state twice and has looked phenomenal this season with many ranked wins, highlighted by his win in the Al Smith third place match over state medalist Fielden (Garrett). He will look to notch a few bonus point wins for LC as he takes the title. As for his opponent, I find it most likely he will face SS qualifier Robson (Lowell), however I will still take Guillermo here by tech or fall. 1. Guillermo Rivera (LC) 2. Dalton Robson (Lowell) 3. Devane Strong (Cal) 4. Michael Turner (RF) 138: Another open weight class, 138 features a few contenders here. First is returning runner up and Semi state ticket rounder Robert Frazier (Calumet), who last year head-locked David Maldonado to his back in the finals before eventually losing. He has had good results in the past and is likely the safest bet here. Apart from Frazier, Griffith’s Westenfeld is another SS qualifier who has looked solid on the year. Of note, Highland’s Vanek is listed in the seeding matrix as being a SS qualifier, however he did only make it on technicality due to an injury within his regional bracket. For this reason, I don’t think I would consider him a finals threat. LC’s Aiden Gutierrez here has a decent record along with a close match against Westenfeld at the Harvest. Aiden is a guy who definitely wrestles the whole six minutes and I think has the potential for a finals run as well. 1. Frazier (Cal) 2. Westenfeld (Griffith) 3. Gutierrez (LC) 4. Vanek (Highland) 144: Merrillville’s Kirksy is definitely the favorite here, being a returning ticket rounder and looking to improve off his runner up finish a year ago. He’s an impressive wrestler with a strong neutral offense and tough top wrestling. For his finals opponent, while no one else in this field holds a SS qualification, I would say LC’s CJ Briner is the most likely to make the finals. While his record is worse than a few of the other contenders he is the only other ranked wrestler here and has a lot of tough matches on the year, and I think his experience and skill separates him from the rest of the field here. In the finals I’ll take Kirsky by decision but CJ can’t be ruled out for the upset here. 1. Marlone Kirksy (Mvill) 2. CJ Briner (LC) 3. Edwin Galan (RF) 4. Tyler Tuesberg (KV) 150: With 2022 State qualifier Chris Bohn’s cut back down to 150, I would say he’s the on paper favorite here at 150. That being said, I think Chase Kasprzak (LC) is the guy at this weight. Despite having to injury forfeit out of the Al Smith 5th place match, he took Penn’s Harper to the edge (and probably should’ve won if not for a few poor stall calls). Chase has a top class neutral game and has unreal strength for his weight. Apart from these two, I think Illiana’s Ulrich is a tough guy with a lot of potential, however I can’t see him catching the two titans here in Chase and Bohn. In the finals I’ll take Chase by decision. 1. Chase Kasprzak (LC) 2. Chris Bohn (Munster) 3. Carson Ulrich (Illiana Christian) 4. Daniel Carrillo (Highland) 157: I think Merrillville’s Pellot definitely owns this weight here as he hunts for his third county title. Coming off a fiery Al Smith performance where he upset former #1 ranked Betz (Western), I can’t see him taking a loss here at County. He’s a highly technical wrestler with clean takedowns and a bottomless gas tank. Apart from Pellot, I would say SS ticket rounder Sessions (KV) is likely to be his finals opponent here. Sessions is a tough wrestler who I think is above the rest of the field here, but Pellot is just at that next level. I’ll take Pellot here by fall. 1. Adrian Pellot (Mvill) 2. Noah Sessions (KV) 3. Tino Garcia (LC) 4. Joseph Bartusiak (Munster) 165: Another fun weight class, 165 features two Al Smith placers and a 2022 SS qualifier as the front runners for a title. Lowell’s Mavros is coming off a sixth place finish at the Al Smith, and is definitely looking impressive tjis year. He has a handful of high quality wins and losses to his name, and has clearly jumped levels (as well as adding some serious bulk) from last year. LC’s Emilio Tirado placed 8th at the Al Smith and notched three ranked wins on day one to take that honor, two of those coming over ticket rounders. His record doesn’t reflect his skill, as Emilio combines incredible physical ability with a savvy and aggressive style. This being said, Highland’s Sopkowski does hold an 8-6 win over Emilio earlier this year. Sopkowski is a guy who was a SS qualifier in 2022, but then disappeared after the Harvest Classic last year. However, this year he returned and has looked solid all season. He has great reattacks and has the muscle to compete with Mavros and Tirado as well. That being said, I think Tirado gets the rematch win over Sopkowski and battles it out with Mavros in the finals. Previous results are going to have me pick Mavros by decision here, but both Emilio and Sopkowski can’t be ruled out. 1. Michael Mavros (Lowell) 2. Emilio Tirado (LC) 3. Hunter Sopkowski (Highland) 4. Gage Bambic (Illiana Christian) 175: 175 is a tough one for me here as the favorite is the guy who knocked me out at semi state last year. However, Merrillville’s Cameron Crisp is absolutely the guy at this weight. He’s incredibly powerful and fast, and has a deep bag of tricks to go along with it. He’s an all around great wrestler and a guy who I think is a medal threat at state this year. For his finals opponent, only one name really stands out to me. The guy is my former teammate Matthew Degrado (LC). Matthew is a guy who put in a lot of off season work, and after we was knocked out at regionals last year (already bumping up two weights) placed at frosh soph and ISWA. He has only wrestled at the Al Smith this year where he made the blood round, but he’s a guy who keeps going and pushing the pace so I’d pencil him in as the other finalist. That being said, I’m sorry and I hope you prove me wrong Matthew but I have to take Crisp by major here. 1. Cameron Crisp (Mvill) 2. Matthew DeGrado (LC) 3. Owen Evener (CP) 4. Joshua Rozendal (Illiana) 190: Yet another weight class with a guy who beat me in the state series last year, but here Kenneth Bisping is the real deal. He’s a very stingy wrestlers with good attacks and phenomenal top wrestling, and has crazy strength to back it up. I think he’s the favorite, but he could see a range of different opponents in the finals. The first one I would like to highlight is Stefan Jokic (LC). Stefan is a SS qualifier and Mishawaka blood rounder who has a very long build, but is still ridiculously strong. He has great cradles and has a variety of feet to back moves in his back pocket, so I don’t think he can be ruled out for the finals. The other SS qualifier here is Joshua Hubbard (Highland), however Stefan has pinned him earlier this year. Merrillville’s Josiah Edmonds is ranked in the SS but had a weak showing at the Al Smith, and I would feel more confident if I saw stronger results. In the finals, I’ll predict Bisping over Stefan by decision. 1. Kenneth Bisping (Lowell) 2. Stefan Jokic (LC) 3. Josiah Edmonds (Merrillville) 4. Joshua Hubbard (Highland) 215: Jayden Bartozek of Hanover Central highlights this weight as a returning state qualifier and looks to capture a title at home. Bartozek is a very bulky wrestler who can win close matches. However here, I think he runs away with the title. Interestingly, there appears to be yet another Clark brother from CP here. Zach Clark has very strong middle school results and seems to have been doing very good on Crown Point’s second string schedule. I will be very interested to see how he ends up performing this weekend. Apart from Clark, I believe the other finalist will end up being Aiden Abad from Lowell, a guy who placed at the Al Smith. He seems to be a tested and savvy wrestler and I think he gets the finals nod here. Calumet’s Reichen Reeder is also a SS qualifier at the weight. In the finals, I’ll take Bartozek over Abad with a controlled decision. 1. Jayden Bartozek (HC) 2. Aiden Abad (Lowell) 3. Zachary Clark (CP) 4. Reichen Reeder (Calumet) 285: Heavyweight will be a fun one here at county with a variety of challengers. I would say headlining this weight would be Hanovers Collin Foy. Foy is a guy who actually put Paul Clark on his back last year with a cradle in the sectionals finals but was unable to continue the next week at regionals. However, he’s a very solid heavyweight who qualified for SS in 2022. Other challengers here include Wheeler ticket rounder Mitchell Krolikowski, who it seems can put any heavyweight to their back. Lowell’s Seth Rindfuss is another title contender here who has very good results at the Al Smith with quality wins and close losses to ranked opponents. In the finals at heavyweight, it’s hard for me to pick between Foy and Rindfuss, but since it’s at Hanover I’ll stick with Foy here by decision. 1. Collin Foy (HC) 2. Seth Rindfuss (Lowell) 3. Mitchell Krolikowski (Wheeler) 4. Avery Villarreal (Morton) Top 3 Team Scores: 1. Lake Central 2. Lowell 3. Merrillville