With a 33-4 record this past season, Warsaw Community High School wrestler Kris Hueber didn't spend much time on the down side of things. But going down under is exactly what the 17-year-old junior plans to do the first week of July.

Hueber, who also plays inside linebacker for Phil Jensen's football team and participates on Troy Akers' track team, was selected to represent the U.S. in the 2000 Down Under International Games in Australia.

While there, other than taking in the sights of the country known as the "Land Down Under," Hueber will grapple with athletes from around the world.

"There's more than one team from Indiana," Hueber said. "Other states take people and there's people from other countries. It's a big international thing."

Warsaw wrestling coach Tony Boley said senior Joey Navarro and sophomore Anthony Boley also received invitations but prior commitments would not allow them to go.

For Hueber, who wrestles the 215-pound class, to go he must raise quite a bit of money.

"I need to raise $2,898," Hueber said. "I'm just basically asking people for sponsorship. If they can help I'm gonna try and give them something back as a thank you."

Recently, Boley was asked why Hueber, who was born in Germany, is a good choice for an honor of this magnitude. He said the reasons go far beyond what the blonde-haired youngster can do on the mat, where he has notched 57 victories in two years.

"As a student, I think he's a straight A student," said Boley. "But he's also a really good kid, hard working and very polite. As far as sports, he's a leader by actions not so much vocally. I think I speak for every coach he has, they think very highly of him as an individual and as a student athlete."

While going 33-4 this past season, Hueber advanced to the Fort Wayne Semistate, where he was defeated by eventual semistate champ Josh Lepper of Fort Wayne Snider. Lepper went on to finish fourth in the state. Hueber was ranked as high as third in the state this season.

Said Boley of what lies ahead of Hueber: "This takes quite a commitment as and individual."

Aaron Banks, a 1998 graduate, was the last Tiger grappler to wrestle out of country.

"I'm just hoping to have fun," Hueber said. "I've never been to something this big. It should be an experience."

Strong First Inning Leads To Manchester Victory Over Wawasee

By Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Writer

SYRACUSE - Take away the first inning of Friday's Wawasee/Manchester softball game, and things may have been a little boring. So said Wawasee assistant Cory Schutz.

"We went with Lindsey Klinger, our second pitcher," Schutz said, "maybe to give (Andrea) Gingerich a break. She just couldn't get the strikes over the plate, and that set the tone. Nothing really exciting happened after that."

Klinger lasted a third of the first inning, walking two, striking out one and giving up one hit. The sophomore faced just four batters but picked up the loss, as Manchester scored two runs in the first and went on to win 3-1.

The win improves Manchester's overall season record to 2-0. A year ago the Squires finished the season 3-16.

"Last year we were 3-16," Manchester coach Jim Troyer said. "They went with their second pitcher, and we were steady in the first. These girls have experience, they are a far better team (than last year). This year the defense is fabulous."

The two-run loss drops the Warriors, who topped Rochester by one in 10 innings Wednesday, to 3-4 on the season.

Schutz said after last night's loss he thought Wednesday's win would have kept the Warriors pumped up.

"I thought that would have made them better and more ready to come out," Schutz said. "We should have won (against Rochester) in regulation, but we didn't. That enthusiasm and excitement should have carried over. Maybe it was just a case where it was Friday, the last day of the first full week back from spring break. All day at school everyone was in a funk."

The Squires were in a funk Friday afternoon, and it was a good one. At the plate they pounded out eight hits, led by a 2-for-3 performance by Mandy Phillips.

With two outs in the sixth, Phillips, a junior, laced a triple that scored freshman Joni West, giving the Squires a 3-1 lead.

Manchester lead-off hitter Christina Evans was 2 for 4 at the plate with two singles. The junior also scored a run.

The mound belonged Squire senior right-hander Megan Sell, who sat out her entire junior season. Sell went the distance for Manchester, striking out none and walking three but only allowing three hits.

Dusty Krull and Kim Morgan had singles for the Warriors, while pinch hitter Candace Beer laced a double in her one plate appearance. Sell owned the rest of the Warriors.

"She's steady," Troyer said of Sell. "She's not overpowering. She moves the ball in and out and up and down. The defense plays behind her. She had five put outs by herself. She sat out as a junior but has come back and done a good job."

Said Schutz of Wawasee's hitting woes: "We haven't been hitting well at all. She wasn't overpowering, we just weren't getting our heads where they needed to be. We were swinging at some bad pitches."

Wawasee scored its lone run in the fifth inning when Krull batted Angie Weybright in.

Krull, who scored the game-winning run Wednesday against Rochester, represented the tying run in the seventh. The sophomore stepped to the batter's box with two outs and senior Laura Karns on base but grounded out to third baseman Jessica Hicks for the game's final out.

"I was telling her most of the day to go to the right side," Schutz said of Krull's final at bat. "She just got something inside."

Manchester will be in action again today at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader at Triton. Wawasee will host Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw Monday at 4:30 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]