Four Local Wrestlers Advance To State
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
FORT WAYNE -ÊFour area wrestlers placed in the top four at the Fort Wayne Semistate and will make the trip to Conseco Field House for the state finals.
Warsaw sends two, Kris Hueber, who was champion at 215 pounds, and Kyle Boley (130 pounds), who finished in fourth place.
Wawasee's Josh Roa took third at 145 pounds as he defeated Manchester's Josh Staton, who took fourth place. Both advance to the state finals.
Other area wrestlers did not reach the semifinals but were eliminated in the early rounds, ending their seasons.
The only area champion was Warsaw senior Kris Hueber (215), who boosted his record to 33-4.
First Hueber nailed an Elwood senior, Jake Turner, in 2:39. In the semifinal Hueber outscored New Haven's Zac Dommer 9-5 to earn a place in the championship round. There Hueber faced Plymouth's Mark Palbykin for the fifth time this season.
Palbykin is one of only two wrestlers who has been able to manage a win against Hueber. Fourth-ranked Tim Jones of Lake Central has beaten Hueber in three meetings, and Palbykin surprised Hueber in the sectional finals. Aside from his losses to Hueber, Palbykin, a strong senior, is undefeated. Hueber won for the fourth time in a 7-1 decision to bring home another semi-state title for Warsaw coach Tony Boley.
In the finals and consolation round, there were 56 wrestlers, and only one of them was a freshman. That lone freshman was Boley (130), who was in the company of a junior and two seniors. Although just two of the 130-pounders were ranked, five had four or fewer losses on the season.
Boley first pinned junior Fort Wayne North's Brandon Brenner in 2:13 before he was bounced to the consolation round by Bellmont's Nick Koons. Boley battled hard through all three periods but was unable to score a single takedown against the 35-4 senior.
Koons scored eight takedowns, an escape and a couple of near falls. Kyle is a talented wrestler, but this match was a case of a man against youth as Koons scored a 21-6 tech fall with Boley on his back at the final whistle.
Boley moved to the consolation round, where he faced a rematch against Fremont's Jeremy Brown. After losing to Boley in the regional finals, Brown was wiser and more cautious in arriving at a 4-1 win. Nevertheless, Boley will continue his freshman season as a state qualifier and travel with his 25-11 record to Conseco this Saturday.
Wawasee's Eric Vallejo (103) bowed out after being pinned in 4:53 by Landon Genth, an Adams Central junior. Genth went on to place third.
Vallejo, a sophomore, finishes the season with 25-9 record.
Wawasee junior Mike Hanlin (135) concluded his season with a 20-15 record after losing to Bellmont sophomore Matt Burkhalter. Hanlin was injured at 5:22 and unable to continue.
All three of NorthWood's wrestlers were eliminated in their first matches. Freshman Dillon Whitacre (125) winds up with a 29-6 record after a narrow loss to Woodlan's Darrin Schwartz. Schwartz, a junior, went on to finish in third place.
NorthWood's Josh Metzler (145) was pinned in 4:35 by Jade Cornwell, an Elwood junior. Metzler's record at the end of this his junior season stands at 25-9.
NorthWood's Chad Davis (152), a freshman, ends his rookie season with a gaudy 27-3 record after losing 9-8 to Oak Hill's Justin Johnson.
Justin Johnson also eliminated Manchester's Lucas Zapf (152) in a 6-5 decision. Zapf, a senior, completed his final season with a 25-8 record.
Two area wrestlers won one semistate match before being put out of the running.
Tippecanoe Valley's Tyler Kottkamp edged out Bishop Luers' Jhormy Martinez 4-3. Then Kottkamp lost a 10-8 see-saw battle to Delta's Michael Huston. Huston took ended up in the finals with a record of 34-2 and placed second. Kottkamp, a junior, finishes 29-4.
The 171-pound weight class was one of the toughest weight classes at the Fort Wayne Semistate, with five ranked wrestlers, two of whom were undefeated.
Warsaw's Richard Wolfe won his first match, quickly pinning Huntington North junior Cliff Shenefield in 53 seconds.
In his next match against Muncie Central's Jared Hargis, Wolfe could manage only one point on an escape, while Hargis racked up three takedowns and a reversal. In a high-risk effort at a throw in the final minute, Wolfe found himself on his back and pinned at 5:14. Hargis went on to take third place, while Wolfe's senior season came to an end with a 29-8 record.
In the 145-pound class, a pair of area wrestlers tussled in the consolation round, Wawasee's Josh Roa and Manchester's Josh Staton. Roa reached the consolation round after a 12-6 win, but then he lost 6-5 in the semifinals to Norwell's Jarrod Lewis. Staton notched a 3:22 fall over Eastside's Craig Davis in his first match and then lost 4-2 to Adams Central's Adam Meyers. Lewis won the championship by pinning Meyers in 1:23.
Meanwhile, in the consolation match, Roa conducted a takedown clinic, piling up 11 takedowns against Staton to win third place by a 23-9 decision. Roa, a junior, takes a record of 30-4 to the state finals, and Staton will go to Conseco with a 15-9 record.
The state finals open Friday evening at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Sixteen wrestlers in each of 14 weight classes will compete for state titles.
Semistate champs will take on fourth-place finishers from a different semistate, while second-place finishers will take on third- place finishers. Only winners of these opening round matches will advance to compete for the top eight places on Saturday.
Results of championship and
consolation matches
103 Andrew Buffalino (FW Snider) def. Nic May (Peru), 6-5; Landon Genth (Adams Cent) def. Matt Sung (Muncie So), 4-3
112 John Sheets (Bellmont) def. Kevin Russell (Gosh), 16-9; Gralan Early (FW Northside) def. Brent Walker (Elwood), 7-3
119 Patrick McClain (Ch'busco) def. Dan Sprunger (Bluffton), 3-1; Adam Overgaard (Yk'town) def. Tom Skinner (Gosh), 5-0
125 Andy Uhl (E. Noble) def. Brian Tun (FW Wayne), 4-2; Darrin Schwartz (Woodlan) def. Jeff Gonzales (Muncie So), 3-0
130 Nick Koons (Bellmont) def. Joel Peters (FW Luers), 7-6; Jeremy Brown (Fremont) def. Kyle Boley (Warsaw), 4-1
135 Tim Kidder (N'ridge) def. Dan Irwin (Norwell), 3-1; Tom Reifenberg (N'field) def Eric Bryan (Fremont), 3-2
140 Grant Woodka (Elk Me) def. Jonathan Brownlee (FW Snid), 5-1; David Hoover (Peru) def. Tim Ortiz (Bellmont), 6-5
145 Jarrod Lewis (Norwell) pinned Adam Meyers (Adams Cent), 1:23; Josh Roa (Wawasee) def. Josh Staton (Manch), 23-9
152 Tom Freidt (Bellmont) def. Jamarcus Shephard (FW N'rop), 22-9; Justin Johnson (Oak Hill) def. Tony Dewitt (Columbia City), 5-1
160 Jason Woodson (FW Snider) def. Jamie Holman (FW N'rop), 9-7; Matt Abernathy, (Yk'town) def. Jim McWhirt (Oak Hill), 4-2
171 Randy Baker (Bellmont) def. Joshua Buuck (FW Dwenger), 15-4; Jared Hargis (Muncie Cent) def. Aaron Kerkhof (Delta), 1-0
189 Chuck Geyer (Elmhurst) def. Michael Huston (Delta), 5-0; Mike Goyings (Woodlan) def. Dustin Hormann (Bellmont) default
215 Kris Hueber (Warsaw) def. Mark Palbykin (Plymouth), 7-1; Zac Dommer (New Haven) pinned Ben Sipe (Woodlan), 1:24
275 Greg Wagner (FW Snider) def. Stacy Beaty (FW Concordia), 11-4; Eric Boyce (Yk'town) def. Mike Johnson (Homestead), 6-0
Final status of area wrestlers [season record]
Eliminated in first match:
103 Landon Genth 3rd (Adams Central 11) pinned Eric Vallejo (Wawasee 10), 4:53 [25-9]
125 Darrin Schwartz 3rd (Woodlan 11) def. Dillon Whitacre (NorthWood 9), 9-5 [29-6]
135 Matt Burkhalter (Bellmont 10) default Mike Hanlin (Wawasee 12), 5:22 [20-15]
145 Jade Cornwell (Elwood 11) pinned Josh Metzler (NorthWood 11), 4:35 [25-9]
152 Justin Johnson 4th (Oak Hill 12) def. Lucas Zapf (Manchester 12), 6-5 [25-8]
152 Justin Johnson 4th (Oak Hill 12) def. Chad Davis (NorthWood 9), 9-8 [27-3]
Eliminated in second match
171 Jared Hargis 3rd (Muncie Central 10) pinned Richard Wolfe (Warsaw), 5:14 [29-8]
189 Michael Huston 2nd (Delta 12) def. Tyler Kottkamp (Tippecanoe Valley 11), 10-8 [29-4]
Placing and qualifying for state finals (shown are grades, places and records)
130 Jeremy Brown (Fremont 11) def. Kyle Boley 4th (Warsaw 9), 4-1 [25-11]
145 Josh Roa 3rd (Wawasee 11) [30-4] def. Josh Staton 4th (Manchester 10), 23-9 [15-9]
215 Kris Hueber 1st (Warsaw 12) [33-4] def. Mark Palbykin (Plymouth 12), 7-1 [[In-content Ad]]
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FORT WAYNE -ÊFour area wrestlers placed in the top four at the Fort Wayne Semistate and will make the trip to Conseco Field House for the state finals.
Warsaw sends two, Kris Hueber, who was champion at 215 pounds, and Kyle Boley (130 pounds), who finished in fourth place.
Wawasee's Josh Roa took third at 145 pounds as he defeated Manchester's Josh Staton, who took fourth place. Both advance to the state finals.
Other area wrestlers did not reach the semifinals but were eliminated in the early rounds, ending their seasons.
The only area champion was Warsaw senior Kris Hueber (215), who boosted his record to 33-4.
First Hueber nailed an Elwood senior, Jake Turner, in 2:39. In the semifinal Hueber outscored New Haven's Zac Dommer 9-5 to earn a place in the championship round. There Hueber faced Plymouth's Mark Palbykin for the fifth time this season.
Palbykin is one of only two wrestlers who has been able to manage a win against Hueber. Fourth-ranked Tim Jones of Lake Central has beaten Hueber in three meetings, and Palbykin surprised Hueber in the sectional finals. Aside from his losses to Hueber, Palbykin, a strong senior, is undefeated. Hueber won for the fourth time in a 7-1 decision to bring home another semi-state title for Warsaw coach Tony Boley.
In the finals and consolation round, there were 56 wrestlers, and only one of them was a freshman. That lone freshman was Boley (130), who was in the company of a junior and two seniors. Although just two of the 130-pounders were ranked, five had four or fewer losses on the season.
Boley first pinned junior Fort Wayne North's Brandon Brenner in 2:13 before he was bounced to the consolation round by Bellmont's Nick Koons. Boley battled hard through all three periods but was unable to score a single takedown against the 35-4 senior.
Koons scored eight takedowns, an escape and a couple of near falls. Kyle is a talented wrestler, but this match was a case of a man against youth as Koons scored a 21-6 tech fall with Boley on his back at the final whistle.
Boley moved to the consolation round, where he faced a rematch against Fremont's Jeremy Brown. After losing to Boley in the regional finals, Brown was wiser and more cautious in arriving at a 4-1 win. Nevertheless, Boley will continue his freshman season as a state qualifier and travel with his 25-11 record to Conseco this Saturday.
Wawasee's Eric Vallejo (103) bowed out after being pinned in 4:53 by Landon Genth, an Adams Central junior. Genth went on to place third.
Vallejo, a sophomore, finishes the season with 25-9 record.
Wawasee junior Mike Hanlin (135) concluded his season with a 20-15 record after losing to Bellmont sophomore Matt Burkhalter. Hanlin was injured at 5:22 and unable to continue.
All three of NorthWood's wrestlers were eliminated in their first matches. Freshman Dillon Whitacre (125) winds up with a 29-6 record after a narrow loss to Woodlan's Darrin Schwartz. Schwartz, a junior, went on to finish in third place.
NorthWood's Josh Metzler (145) was pinned in 4:35 by Jade Cornwell, an Elwood junior. Metzler's record at the end of this his junior season stands at 25-9.
NorthWood's Chad Davis (152), a freshman, ends his rookie season with a gaudy 27-3 record after losing 9-8 to Oak Hill's Justin Johnson.
Justin Johnson also eliminated Manchester's Lucas Zapf (152) in a 6-5 decision. Zapf, a senior, completed his final season with a 25-8 record.
Two area wrestlers won one semistate match before being put out of the running.
Tippecanoe Valley's Tyler Kottkamp edged out Bishop Luers' Jhormy Martinez 4-3. Then Kottkamp lost a 10-8 see-saw battle to Delta's Michael Huston. Huston took ended up in the finals with a record of 34-2 and placed second. Kottkamp, a junior, finishes 29-4.
The 171-pound weight class was one of the toughest weight classes at the Fort Wayne Semistate, with five ranked wrestlers, two of whom were undefeated.
Warsaw's Richard Wolfe won his first match, quickly pinning Huntington North junior Cliff Shenefield in 53 seconds.
In his next match against Muncie Central's Jared Hargis, Wolfe could manage only one point on an escape, while Hargis racked up three takedowns and a reversal. In a high-risk effort at a throw in the final minute, Wolfe found himself on his back and pinned at 5:14. Hargis went on to take third place, while Wolfe's senior season came to an end with a 29-8 record.
In the 145-pound class, a pair of area wrestlers tussled in the consolation round, Wawasee's Josh Roa and Manchester's Josh Staton. Roa reached the consolation round after a 12-6 win, but then he lost 6-5 in the semifinals to Norwell's Jarrod Lewis. Staton notched a 3:22 fall over Eastside's Craig Davis in his first match and then lost 4-2 to Adams Central's Adam Meyers. Lewis won the championship by pinning Meyers in 1:23.
Meanwhile, in the consolation match, Roa conducted a takedown clinic, piling up 11 takedowns against Staton to win third place by a 23-9 decision. Roa, a junior, takes a record of 30-4 to the state finals, and Staton will go to Conseco with a 15-9 record.
The state finals open Friday evening at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Sixteen wrestlers in each of 14 weight classes will compete for state titles.
Semistate champs will take on fourth-place finishers from a different semistate, while second-place finishers will take on third- place finishers. Only winners of these opening round matches will advance to compete for the top eight places on Saturday.
Results of championship and
consolation matches
103 Andrew Buffalino (FW Snider) def. Nic May (Peru), 6-5; Landon Genth (Adams Cent) def. Matt Sung (Muncie So), 4-3
112 John Sheets (Bellmont) def. Kevin Russell (Gosh), 16-9; Gralan Early (FW Northside) def. Brent Walker (Elwood), 7-3
119 Patrick McClain (Ch'busco) def. Dan Sprunger (Bluffton), 3-1; Adam Overgaard (Yk'town) def. Tom Skinner (Gosh), 5-0
125 Andy Uhl (E. Noble) def. Brian Tun (FW Wayne), 4-2; Darrin Schwartz (Woodlan) def. Jeff Gonzales (Muncie So), 3-0
130 Nick Koons (Bellmont) def. Joel Peters (FW Luers), 7-6; Jeremy Brown (Fremont) def. Kyle Boley (Warsaw), 4-1
135 Tim Kidder (N'ridge) def. Dan Irwin (Norwell), 3-1; Tom Reifenberg (N'field) def Eric Bryan (Fremont), 3-2
140 Grant Woodka (Elk Me) def. Jonathan Brownlee (FW Snid), 5-1; David Hoover (Peru) def. Tim Ortiz (Bellmont), 6-5
145 Jarrod Lewis (Norwell) pinned Adam Meyers (Adams Cent), 1:23; Josh Roa (Wawasee) def. Josh Staton (Manch), 23-9
152 Tom Freidt (Bellmont) def. Jamarcus Shephard (FW N'rop), 22-9; Justin Johnson (Oak Hill) def. Tony Dewitt (Columbia City), 5-1
160 Jason Woodson (FW Snider) def. Jamie Holman (FW N'rop), 9-7; Matt Abernathy, (Yk'town) def. Jim McWhirt (Oak Hill), 4-2
171 Randy Baker (Bellmont) def. Joshua Buuck (FW Dwenger), 15-4; Jared Hargis (Muncie Cent) def. Aaron Kerkhof (Delta), 1-0
189 Chuck Geyer (Elmhurst) def. Michael Huston (Delta), 5-0; Mike Goyings (Woodlan) def. Dustin Hormann (Bellmont) default
215 Kris Hueber (Warsaw) def. Mark Palbykin (Plymouth), 7-1; Zac Dommer (New Haven) pinned Ben Sipe (Woodlan), 1:24
275 Greg Wagner (FW Snider) def. Stacy Beaty (FW Concordia), 11-4; Eric Boyce (Yk'town) def. Mike Johnson (Homestead), 6-0
Final status of area wrestlers [season record]
Eliminated in first match:
103 Landon Genth 3rd (Adams Central 11) pinned Eric Vallejo (Wawasee 10), 4:53 [25-9]
125 Darrin Schwartz 3rd (Woodlan 11) def. Dillon Whitacre (NorthWood 9), 9-5 [29-6]
135 Matt Burkhalter (Bellmont 10) default Mike Hanlin (Wawasee 12), 5:22 [20-15]
145 Jade Cornwell (Elwood 11) pinned Josh Metzler (NorthWood 11), 4:35 [25-9]
152 Justin Johnson 4th (Oak Hill 12) def. Lucas Zapf (Manchester 12), 6-5 [25-8]
152 Justin Johnson 4th (Oak Hill 12) def. Chad Davis (NorthWood 9), 9-8 [27-3]
Eliminated in second match
171 Jared Hargis 3rd (Muncie Central 10) pinned Richard Wolfe (Warsaw), 5:14 [29-8]
189 Michael Huston 2nd (Delta 12) def. Tyler Kottkamp (Tippecanoe Valley 11), 10-8 [29-4]
Placing and qualifying for state finals (shown are grades, places and records)
130 Jeremy Brown (Fremont 11) def. Kyle Boley 4th (Warsaw 9), 4-1 [25-11]
145 Josh Roa 3rd (Wawasee 11) [30-4] def. Josh Staton 4th (Manchester 10), 23-9 [15-9]
215 Kris Hueber 1st (Warsaw 12) [33-4] def. Mark Palbykin (Plymouth 12), 7-1 [[In-content Ad]]