Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
FORT WAYNE -ÊSix area grapplers made the cut at the semistate Saturday in Fort Wayne's Memorial Coliseum and will move on to the state wrestling competition in Indianapolis next weekend.
Of those six wrestlers advancing to state, three earned the semistate champion title. Wawasee's 119-pound Chet Wortinger and 160-pound Kevin Carr and Warsaw's 152-pound Matt Zellers all went undefeated for the day to become semistate champions.
Wortinger defeated Matt Bohren of Woodlan and Grant Woodka of Elkhart Memorial to advance to the final round, where he faced Nick Koons of Bellmont. The Koons-Wortinger match was scoreless after the first period, and at the end of the second, Wortinger held a slim 1-0 lead. Koons tied the score in the beginning of the third, but Wortinger scored two more points in the third to earn a 3-2 decision and the title of champion.
After a bye in the first round, Kevin Carr defeated Nathan Devore of Alexandria 23-6 to earn a technical fall and advanced to the final round by defeating Bluffton's Curt Funk 15-7 in a major decision.
In the championship round, Carr took an early 5-0 lead in the first round and was ahead 7-2 by the end of the first period. Carr continued his assault in the second and held a 12-3 lead going into the third. Carr dominated in the third and earned an 18-6 decision to advance to the state competition.
Zellers had a bye in the first round and defeated Yorktown's Chris Huston in an 8-5 decision and Leo's Kyle Hardley in a 7-3 decision to compete in the championship round, where he wrestled Craig Beer of Adams Central.
Zellers held a 2-0 lead over Beer after the first period and 5-0 after the second. In the third period, Beer scored two points but was unable to come from behind as Zellers won the 8-2 decision to become the semistate champion.
Warsaw's Adam Harter placed third and earned a trip to state after defeating Frankton's Craig Adams by a 5-2 decision in the consolation round of the 112-pound weight class. Harter defeated Brent Walker of Elwood and Kyle Hayden of Fort Wayne Wayne to advance to the consolation round.
Two area wrestlers in the 275-pound weight class advanced to the state competition. Wawasee's Jamie Salazar and Warsaw's Joey Navarro battled each other in the consolation round to determine third and fourth place standings.
After one period of wrestling, Salazar was on top 2-0, and by the end of the second, Salazar had increased his lead to 8-0. Navarro scored one point in the third period as Salazar won the match and third place honors with an 8-2 decision.
In the first round of competition, Salazar pinned Travis Davis of Jimtown in 53 seconds and Elwood's Andy Gibson in 5:42 to advance to the semifinal round where he was defeated 5-4 by Tim Lamar of Wabash.
After a first round bye, Navarro pinned Jerry Whitted of Adams Central in 2:38 to advance to the semifinal round where he was pinned in 1:40 by James Parke of Fort Wayne Elmhurst, the eventual semistate champion.
At 112, Wawasee's Josh Degood defeated Josh Beekley of Huntington North to advance to the second round where he lost a 15-3 major decision to Frankton's Craig Adams.
Triton's Josh Hooley (135) defeated Jamie Holman of Fort Wayne Northrop 9-3 before losing to Bellmont's Ben Faurote in a 20-4 technical fall.
After a bye in the first round, J.J. Davis lost a 7-5 decision to Craig Beer of Adams Central in the second round.
At 189 Greg Groombridge on Manchester pinned Muncie Central's Travis Hargis in 3:36 to advance to the second round where he defaulted because of an injury.
Manhester's C.J. Brown (125), NorthWood's Ben Becker (140) and Nick Roelandts (112), Warsaw's Isaac Perry (160) and Steve McKinley (215), and Tippecanoe Valley's David Reese were all eliminated in the first round of the semistate.
