MERRILLVILLE - Five area wrestlers will travel to the state finals at Conseco Fieldhouse this weekend. The top four finishers from each of four semistate tournaments will participate in the state finals, which will feature 16 wrestlers in each weight class.
From the Merrillville Semistate, Warsaw had three qualifiers and Wawasee had one. Meanwhile, Whitko will take one qualifier out of the Fort Wayne Semistate.
For Warsaw, Justin Brooks (112 pounds) and Andy Keener (152) were runners-up, while Matt Elvidge (135) took third place. Wawasee's Chase Davis (130) also took third place. Whitko's Bryan Boggs took fourth place in the semistate at Fort Wayne.
Chase Davis
Davis won his opening match with control not indicated by the close 4-3 final score. Then in the semifinals, he was bested 18-5 by runner-up Andy St. Germain of Chesterton. Davis managed only an escape in period one, and then took action in the third period with an opening takedown and a reversal in the losing effort.
In the consolation match, Davis took third place when he defeated Michael Torres of Portage 20-7.
"Chase wrestled very well today," said Wawasee coach Scott DeHart. "He wrestled a good first match, and then in the second match against St. Germain, we just did not have enough offense. But then I thought he did very well in the consolation match. So now we will see what the draw has for us at Conseco."
Commenting on disappointing outcomes early in the day, Warsaw coach, Tony Boley said, "In fact in the first round matches we were all kind of nervous about losing and just wrestled not to get beat. In the first round we didn't wrestle real well, we weren't aggressive enough. But we had a good day. The competition here is at another level, but we raised our effort to another level as well. We had a good day."
Justin Brooks
Brooks began the day with a narrow 5-4 victory over Boone Grove's Daniel Sullivan. In his next two matches Brooks gave up no offensive points, winning 12-4 and 10-1.
Brooks met undefeated Josh Harper of Mishawaka in the finals. Brooks gave up an opening takedown and went to his back to fall behind 4-0. He was then forced to play catch up as Harper played defense.
Brooks got a reversal, an escape and a takedown, but Harper answered with a takedown in period three. Brooks lost 9-5 and was runner-up to Harper for the second time this season.
Andy Keener
Keener had an outstanding day, winning three preliminary matches by decision, all the way to the finals. In the championship he was outwrestled and outmuscled by defending state champ Andrew Howe of Hanover Central. Howe won by a 21-3 tech fall at the 4:30 mark.
Matt Elvidge
Elvidge was unable to get a single takedown as he squeaked by Mike Welch of Calumet 2-1 in his first match. He dominated second-ranked Matt Bowman of McCutcheon in the quarter-finals. In the semifinal match, eventual champ Asa Ennis of John Glenn fought off the leg attack of Elvidge by tying up and hanging on to the head. Ennis won 5-2.
Elvidge came back with a vengeance in the consolation round and earned third place when he pinned Munster's Aaron Estarda in 1:51.
"Matt came out very aggressive compared to being tentative in previous matches," said Boley.
Bryan Boggs
Boggs of Whitko competed in the semistate at Fort Wayne. He won his two opening matches by decision to qualify for the state finals. But then in the semifinals, Boggs was beaten 7-3 by Joe Gibson of Northridge.
In the consolation match, he took fourth place when he was edged 2-1 in double overtime by Billy Baker of Bellmont. Boggs, a senior, heads to the state finals with a record of 32-9.
Eliminated Wrestlers
Wawasee's Justin Wegener (160) and Adam Keener (140) were eliminated in round one losses. Chad Ulmer (189) of Triton nabbed a 12-8 win in the opening round but ended his season with a loss in the quarterfinals.
Wrestling begins at Conseco Fieldhouse with an elimination round on Friday evening at 6 p.m.
Winners will move on to compete all day Saturday, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Merrillville Semistate, Finals & Consolation (grade and record)
103 - Wilson Williams (12 Merrillville 34-3) def. Anthony Hawkins (9 Crown Point 36-3), 5-0
Ryan Salata (12 SB Clay 35-5) def. Miguel Perez (11 SB Riley 36-9), 7-0
