Wawasee Wrestlers NLC's Best - Again
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
DUNLAP - Six blocks sat in front of the mat where Wawasee's wrestlers camped out during Saturday's Northern Lakes Conference Tournament.
They were for the top six individuals in each wrestling class, and they couldn't have been in a better place. For the second straight year, the Warriors, ranked ninth in the state, won the NLC.
Wawasee won with 221 points and was followed by Goshen with 207 and Warsaw 194.5. The Warriors, who finished first in NLC dual meets with a 6-0 record, are the undisputed 1997-1998 NLC champions.
"I'm just happy to be here," Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said. "It's nice to win once, because this is such a tough conference. When you can come back and defend your title, it's even more special.
"You always want to win the conference. You always want to win the sectional and regional. Our ultimate goal is the state finals. This is one step in that direction."
Four champions. Two runners-up. Four third places. Three fourth places. The only weight class the Warriors didn't finish in the top four was 170 - the Warriors didn't enter a wrestler in that weight class.
Every Warrior grappler who wrestled made it at least to the consolation match.
Getting that many wrestlers into the consolation round -Êthird places get nine points, fourth get seven - was the key, DeHart said.
"It was going to come down to wrestle backs in this tournament," he said. "We were fortunate to have six in the finals and four champions. That's a tremendous effort.
"It's the kid coming through in the losers' bracket who has more chances to win for you. If we got knocked into that consolation bracket, our goal was third place."
Four Warriors won championship matches -ÊChet Wortinger (112 pounds), Ryan Johnson (135), Kevin A. Carr (145) and Jason Carr (160). J.J. Davis (152) and Jamie Salazar (275) finished second. Josh DeGood (103), Travis Coy (119), Jacen Hendricks (130) and Ken McIntosh (125) finished third. Shane Heimann (140), Jesse Leonard (189) and Tom Bryan (215) finished fourth.
The two guys DeHart may have been proudest of were Heimann and Hendricks. Heimann filled in for Travis Cline, who watched in street clothes with his arm in a sling.
"Shane did a wonderful job stepping in as a sophomore and wrestling to a fourth-place finish," DeHart said. "Jacen Hendricks, after his first match, came up with the stomach flu or something and couldn't hold anything down. He comes out and wins two matches just sicker than a dog. That's a yeoman's effort. That's the stuff they write books about, stuff like that."
During the regular season, Warsaw gave Wawasee its most competitive match (34-24), so the Tigers were confident entering the tournament. Problem was, the Tigers suffered two stunning blows this week. They lost Scott Snyder (103) and Matt Zellers (145). Both entered with 20-plus wins. Snyder was 20-7 and second to only Goshen's Gerardo Quiroz (23-9) in wins in his weight class. Zellers was 27-3 and the top seed.
On paper, the way the brackets were set up, both figured to compete in the championship match. First places earn 16 points, second places 12 points.
"Our 103-pounder, Scott Snyder, broke his hand," Warsaw assistant coach Steve Ferber said. "He was out this week. Matt Zellers, our 145-pounder, is ill.
"Our kids wrestled well early in the match, and we had a couple of upsets. We were a little disappointed where we ended up finishing. We were in second place, and we wanted to at least hold that position, if not win it."
And if you would have had two wrestlers who had 20-plus wins?
"Might have been a different story," Ferber said.
Warsaw is 13-2 overall. The Tigers finished 4-2 in NLC dual meets, good for third. The Tigers finished third overall in the NLC. Goshen, 19-2-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the NLC, finished second overall in the NLC. [[In-content Ad]]
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DUNLAP - Six blocks sat in front of the mat where Wawasee's wrestlers camped out during Saturday's Northern Lakes Conference Tournament.
They were for the top six individuals in each wrestling class, and they couldn't have been in a better place. For the second straight year, the Warriors, ranked ninth in the state, won the NLC.
Wawasee won with 221 points and was followed by Goshen with 207 and Warsaw 194.5. The Warriors, who finished first in NLC dual meets with a 6-0 record, are the undisputed 1997-1998 NLC champions.
"I'm just happy to be here," Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said. "It's nice to win once, because this is such a tough conference. When you can come back and defend your title, it's even more special.
"You always want to win the conference. You always want to win the sectional and regional. Our ultimate goal is the state finals. This is one step in that direction."
Four champions. Two runners-up. Four third places. Three fourth places. The only weight class the Warriors didn't finish in the top four was 170 - the Warriors didn't enter a wrestler in that weight class.
Every Warrior grappler who wrestled made it at least to the consolation match.
Getting that many wrestlers into the consolation round -Êthird places get nine points, fourth get seven - was the key, DeHart said.
"It was going to come down to wrestle backs in this tournament," he said. "We were fortunate to have six in the finals and four champions. That's a tremendous effort.
"It's the kid coming through in the losers' bracket who has more chances to win for you. If we got knocked into that consolation bracket, our goal was third place."
Four Warriors won championship matches -ÊChet Wortinger (112 pounds), Ryan Johnson (135), Kevin A. Carr (145) and Jason Carr (160). J.J. Davis (152) and Jamie Salazar (275) finished second. Josh DeGood (103), Travis Coy (119), Jacen Hendricks (130) and Ken McIntosh (125) finished third. Shane Heimann (140), Jesse Leonard (189) and Tom Bryan (215) finished fourth.
The two guys DeHart may have been proudest of were Heimann and Hendricks. Heimann filled in for Travis Cline, who watched in street clothes with his arm in a sling.
"Shane did a wonderful job stepping in as a sophomore and wrestling to a fourth-place finish," DeHart said. "Jacen Hendricks, after his first match, came up with the stomach flu or something and couldn't hold anything down. He comes out and wins two matches just sicker than a dog. That's a yeoman's effort. That's the stuff they write books about, stuff like that."
During the regular season, Warsaw gave Wawasee its most competitive match (34-24), so the Tigers were confident entering the tournament. Problem was, the Tigers suffered two stunning blows this week. They lost Scott Snyder (103) and Matt Zellers (145). Both entered with 20-plus wins. Snyder was 20-7 and second to only Goshen's Gerardo Quiroz (23-9) in wins in his weight class. Zellers was 27-3 and the top seed.
On paper, the way the brackets were set up, both figured to compete in the championship match. First places earn 16 points, second places 12 points.
"Our 103-pounder, Scott Snyder, broke his hand," Warsaw assistant coach Steve Ferber said. "He was out this week. Matt Zellers, our 145-pounder, is ill.
"Our kids wrestled well early in the match, and we had a couple of upsets. We were a little disappointed where we ended up finishing. We were in second place, and we wanted to at least hold that position, if not win it."
And if you would have had two wrestlers who had 20-plus wins?
"Might have been a different story," Ferber said.
Warsaw is 13-2 overall. The Tigers finished 4-2 in NLC dual meets, good for third. The Tigers finished third overall in the NLC. Goshen, 19-2-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the NLC, finished second overall in the NLC. [[In-content Ad]]