The state wrestling tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis brings together 224 of the top high school wrestlers from Indiana today and Saturday.
Sixteen wrestlers compete in each of 14 weight classes, the top four placers from each of the semistate tournaments.
Five area wrestlers will compete at the state tournament, including three from Warsaw, Justin Brooks (112 pounds), Matt Elvidge (135), and Andy Keener (152). Other area wrestlers participating in the state tournament are Wawasee's Chase Davis (130) and Whitko's Bryan Boggs (189).
Festivities begin at 5:45 p.m. today with the Parade of Champions, as the participating schools are introduced and the wrestlers and their coaches parade around the arena floor until it is filled from end to end with the colors of the representative schools.
Wrestling begins at 6 p.m. in an elimination round. All wrestlers who lose in this opening round are eliminated from the tournament. Friday's, 112 in all, move on to compete Saturday with wrestle-backs to determine the top eight places.CHASE DAVIS
Davis worked hard all season in practice, but was not able to compete until the Northern Lakes Conference tournament where he was the champion at 130 pounds. He was also a sectional champ and a regional champ and he took third in the semistate. The fact that Davis started his season so late has kept him under the radar, but his chances are as good as anyone's.
BRYAN BOGGS
Boggs earned a fourth-place finish for Whitko at the semistate in Fort Wayne. He takes a record of 33-9 to the state tournament.
Whitko Coach Matt Koontz said that two of the losses suffered by Boggs were against ranked 215-pound wrestlers.
"Bryan had some tough losses in close matches, including a double overtime loss to third ranked Joe Gibson of Northridge," said Koontz. "He also lost to Ian Hinton (#1 ranked returning state champ from Mishawaka) and he lost by two points to fourth-ranked Chad Friend of Leo. So, in these close matches, Bryan has shown that he can wrestle with anybody. Bryan controls matches because of his strength and technique, so that scoring against him is very difficult. When he gets his offense going, he is hard to beat."
WARSAW
The three Warsaw Tiger qualifiers have been working hard in their final week of practice. Coach Tony Boley said, "We watched some tape Monday. This helps us to point out incorrect approaches, mistakes, or habits that produce vulnerability in our kids. So we try to work with our wrestlers to fix those things. We had to miss a practice on Tuesday because of the weather, but we've been drilling and working on cardio conditioning. Now there is really no more time to prepare. It is basically an issue of the kids' mental outlook now."
JUSTIN BROOKS
Brooks is a sophomore with only two losses this season. In the State Tournament last year, Brooks took fifth place, and ended the season at 39-4.
This year, Brooks enters the state finals with a record 40-2.
"We hope that Justin is peaking at the right time and that he will put it all together for six full minutes in every match," said Boley.
MATT ELVIDGE
For the second year, Elvidge is competing at 135 pounds. In the 2006 tournament he wound up in eighth place after losing to eventual champion Matt Irwin of Belmont. Tonight the Tiger junior will take his 40-2 record to Conseco for the second time in his career..
"Matt was clicking on all cylinders in his last match when he attacked and beat a tough kid from Munster, Aaron Estrada," said Boley. "If Matt wrestles like that this weekend, no one will stop him."
ANDY KEENER
Wrestling for the first time in the state tournament, Keener (152) boasts a runner-up finish at the semistate.
"Andy wrestled very well last week at semistate when no one gave him a chance," said Boley. "He beat several very tough kids and wound up in the finals. He held his own against the defending state champ, Andrew Howe, especially in the first period. Andy needs to wrestle just as hard against everyone he faces this weekend."
When asked about the draw for the Tigers, Boley said, "You can't really say anyone has a good draw or a bad draw, because at this level anything can happen. For example, South Bend Riley's Trace Hall had a record at the time of 30-10, but in the Semi-state he beat out two undefeated kids and wound up in second place."
Regarding all the wrestlers Boley said, "Anyone of these guys can do it if they refuse to be intimidated by reputations and records. When you get to the state tournament, it is wide open."
Opening Round Pairings for Area Wrestlers
112 - Justin Brooks (10 Warsaw 40-2) vs. Zachary Leffel (11 Peru 43-8)
130 - Chase Davis (11 Wawasee 12-1) vs. Chris Conte (12 Warren Central 40-6)
135 - Matt Elvidge (11 Warsaw 40-2) vs. Jordan Quinn (12 Ft Wayne Snider 34-5)
152 - Andy Keener (11 Warsaw 38-5) vs. Eric Henning (12 Carmel 44-1)
