MIDDLEBURY - Wawasee boasted three champions in the Northern Lakes Conference tournament at Northridge Wednesday evening. Chase Davis (103 pounds), Josh Lozano (119) and Rob McKibben (189) came away with first place awards for Wawasee, as did Warsaw's Chris Elvidge (135).

Elkhart Memorial repeated as conference champions, going undefeated in the NLC dual season and winning the tournament by a wide margin. Memorial finished with 240 points, followed by Goshen (167), Plymouth (154.5), Northridge (150), Warsaw (136), Wawasee (133), Concord (108) and NorthWood (80).

Wawasee Highlights

Wawasee Coach Darrell Carr Jr. was beaming about his three champions. He was also happy with three wrestlers who just became eligible and were wrestling for the first time this season.

"They are not really in shape yet," said Carr, adding, "and the team has lots of stuff to work on Thursday and Friday to get ready for the sectional."

Expressing his expectations for the sectional, Carr said, "We may be able to pull off a surprise or two there with some help from other teams. Our goal is for the team to advance, and that will happen with good individual achievement."

Wawasee's champ at 103 pounds, Chase Davis racked up four takedowns and an escape for the 9-4 win over Zac Bechtel of Goshen, after pinning both of his earlier opponents.

A win came to Josh Lozano in the finals at 119. As Memorial's Cody Fullerton seemed to have deep double leg shots, Lozano never gave up and fought through to turn things around and score the takedown. He held his own through three periods with a 5-5 tie. In the overtime, he was again the victim of a deep attack, and points were nearly awarded to his opponent but he never gave up and again turned it into his own takedown. It was a moment when the referee actually awarded a fall to Lozano, although the official scorer's sheet listed it as a 7-5 overtime win.

Trent Brown (125) ended up with a sixth-place finish for Wawasee, as did Kacee Kravter (135) and Ethan Jesse (140). Kravter did not wrestle a single match due to an injury, but was awarded forfeits and gave up forfeits. His presence contributed to the Warriors' team score.

Ryan Beer (160) took runner-up honors when he bowed 6-2 to Goshen's A.J. Lantzer.

In his first competition of the season, freshman Braxton Riley (215) showed great promise for Wawasee. In his consolation match he roared out to a 5-0 lead, but since he is just beginning his season, he seemed to run out of gas and Adam Gibson of Northridge kept hanging around. Going into the third period, Riley was up by the score of 7-6 but Gibson came back to tie the score at eight at the conclusion of regulation. In the overtime period, Riley nearly scored takedowns on three occasions, but the official judged them to be out of bounds. Then, with just four seconds remaining, Riley simply could barely stand up and Gibson scored the takedown to win 10-8 in overtime.

Warrior Ryan Thornburgh (275) also garnered fifth place when he quickly dispatched NorthWood's Tony Lopez in 51 seconds.

Wawasee-Warsaw Confrontations

The championship at 189 pounds was a big battle of the Ws as Warsaw's Joel Perry managed to score only by escapes. He was controlled and outscored 9-5 by Wawasee's Rob McKibben, who amassed four solid takedowns to earn the championship.

In another head-to-head meeting between the Tigers and the Warriors, fifth place went to Warsaw's Bobby Derbyshire (152). The Warsaw senior, recovering from illness, battled out a 9-4 win over Justin Wegener.

Warsaw Highlights

Johnny Mattson of the Tigers took third by defeating Nick Datena of Memorial, 5-2. Kent Nielson (112) won two matches before winding up with fourth place when he lost 13-8 to Chase Teska of Northwood.

Freshman Matt Elvidge (130) continued to power through his rookie year, but was out-finessed by Memorial veteran Kyle Morningstar in the finals. Senior Chris Elvidge (135) had his turn and took first place when he outlasted Evan Miller of Northridge, 4-3.

Andy Keener had his hands full at 145 pounds when he tangled with Chris Kidder of Northridge in a consolation match. Keener could not pull off any of his vast freestyle material and Kidder, who was skilled in use of leg rides, won 8-2, handing Keener fourth place.

Blake Deaton (160) earned a fifth place when he rang up three takedowns and two reversals to beat Concord's Brandon Urednick, 10-6. Dale Wood (171) pinned NorthWood's Brett Riley in 2:48 to grab fifth place, and Evan Readle (215) took fifth place when he pinned Drew Flora of Plymouth in 2:02.

Though the Tigers had only one champion, big consolation wins helped them edge out Wawasee in the team score.

"We were really rusty in the first rounds Tuesday night since we have only wrestled a couple of times since Christmas break and we had some practices canceled due to weather, said Tiger coach Tony Boley."

Looking forward to sectional competition Boley said, "This tournament was good mat time for us and will help us out tremendously going into Saturday."

Upcoming Sectional

Both Wawasee and Warsaw compete Saturday at Plymouth in the sectional tournament beginning at 9 a.m.

Wrestlers Reaching Finals

103 - Chase Davis (Wawasee) def. Zac Bechtel (Goshen), 9-4

112 - Sean Allison (Concord) def. Adam Andrews (Elkhart Memorial), 6-4

119 - Josh Lozano (Waw) def. Cody Fullerton (EM), 7-5 ot

125 - Nick Gearhurt (Con) pinned Mike Lambdin (EM), 3:23

130 - Kyle Morningstar (EM) def. Matt Elvidge (Warsaw), 7-0

135 - Chris Elvidge (War) def. Evan Miller (Northridge), 4-3

140 - Josh Garcia (Gsh) pinned Ed Wadsworth (Con), :48

145 - Brett Bingaman (EM) def. David Read (Plymouth), 7-4

152 - Calvin Walterhouse (EM) pinned Will Kado (Con), 4:32

160 - A.J. Lantzer (Gsh) def. Ryan Beer (Waw), 6-2

171 - Nick Corpe (EM) def. Coty Singleton (Ply), 13-5 maj.

189 - Rob McKibben (Waw) def. Joel Perry (War), 9-5

215 - Ben Schrock (Gsh) def. J.J. Miller (EM), 3-1

275 - Jason Edlund (Gsh) pinned Eric Quintana (Ply), 3:38

Area Wrestlers Also Placing

103 - Johnny Mattson 3rd (War) def. Nick Datena (EM), 5-2

112 - Chase Teska (NorthWood) def. Kent Nielson 4th (War), 13-8

125 - Trent Klotz (NW) def. Trent Brown 6th (Waw), 5-0

135 - Alex Morris (Ply) def. Kacee Kravter 6th (Waw), by forfeit

140 - Jackson Hooley (Nrg) pinned Ethan Jessie 6th (Waw), 3:23

145 - Chris Kidder (Nrg) def. Andy Keener 4th (War), 8-2

152 - Bobby Derbyshire 5th (War) def. Justin Wegener 6th (Waw), 9-4

160 - Blake Deaton 5th (War) def. Brandon Urednick (Con), 10-6

171 -ÊDale Wood 5th (War) pinned Brett Riley (NW), 2:48

215 - Adam Gibson (Nrg) def. Braxton Riley 4th (Waw),10-8 ot

215 - Evan Readle 5th (War) pinned Drew Flora (Ply), 2:04

275 - Ryan Thornburgh 5th (Waw) pinned Tony Lopez (NW), :51 [[In-content Ad]]