INDIANAPOLIS - The high school wrestling season came to an end for Warsaw's Justin Brooks Saturday, where the Warsaw junior finished fourth in the state finals in the 112-pound class.
Brooks, the only area wrestler to compete for a place in the individual state wrestling tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, was disappointed to end up with fourth place but said with confidence, "I definitely plan to be back here competing in the finals next year."Reviewing the season as a whole, Warsaw head coach Tony Boley said, "I am very happy to see some great accomplishments by five or six quality wrestlers, but as a team we were disappointed due to our lack of numbers."
"We just couldn't bring in anyone from other sports to become involved in wrestling so our roster was short, Boley continued. "Wrestling helps an athlete with skills for football - improving balance, footwork, handspeed, and agility. Wrestling also helps to prepare for spring sports. But you just don't see many multi-sport athletes any more. If we could have had more numbers, then we could have been right up there contending for the conference championship."
The performance by Brooks on Saturday included one win and two losses.
At this level of competition the margin for error is quite narrow.
"Brooks wrestled hard and was very aggressive, but the mistakes were costly, and a few calls by the officials just did not go his way," said Boley.
In his first match Saturday, the Tiger junior improved his season record to 37-0 when he dominated Roncalli's Justin Kieffer, scoring three takedowns and a nearfall in a 10-0 rout.
In the semifinal round, Brooks fell out of the running for the championship. A few costly mistakes in his match against Camden Eppert of Anderson Highland resulted in a narrow 6-5 loss.
Brooks nabbed an opening takedown in period one, and then at the outset of period two he scored a quick reversal to assume a 4-0 lead. With just five seconds remaining in period two, Eppert got a reversal and then added a couple of takedowns in the final period, including one with 20 seconds remaining, to take the win.
In the consolation match, Brooks came up short against Alex Johns of Evansville Reitz, losing 6-4. Johns scored a first-period takedown to go up 2-0. Then the mistakes pestered Brooks in period two. He was penalized for locked hands and then gave up an escape with one second on the clock and Brooks was down 4-0.
Brooks came back to take charge in period three, scoring two takedowns, but it was too little too late and Johns wound up winning 6-4, leaving Brooks to settle for fourth place.
In spite of the fourth place finish, Boley said, "Still, Brooks is an outstanding wrestler and this was a great season for him."
Triton's two state qualifiers lost in their opening-round matches Friday. Blake Hoffer (145) lost to Gavin McGinley, who went on to take third. Chad Ulmer (189) lost to Nick Hodges of Southmont, who eventually earned fifth-place honors.
State Finals Individual Results
[With Final Matches for Other Area Wrestlers]
103 - Ethan Raley 33-0 (9 Indian Creek) def. Casey Kenney 47-1 (11 Jay County), 7-3
