PLYMOUTH — Winning a sectional title has become an annual occurrence for Warsaw senior Jarred Brooks, but for three other area wrestlers, it was a new experience. Competing at the Plymouth Sectional for four years, Brooks claimed his fourth title Saturday at 113 pounds, while Tippecanoe Valley senior Trent Bauters (160) and sophomore teammate Keaton Bell (170) each claimed their first, as did Wawasee senior Kyle Clevenger (138). “It feels amazing,” Clevenger said after defeating Culver Military Academy’s Carlos Salinas 1-0 in the title bout. “I’ve been wrestling since I was little. I’ve been waiting for this day, so it feels great to win.” That mentality was also shared by Bauters, who formerly wrestled at 145 pounds, placing second last year and fifth as a sophomore. “It feels good to actually win one,” he said. “For it to be my senior year, it’s something special.” Team-wise, it was the Culver Military Academy Eagles who took home the trophy, garnering 184.5 points, just ahead of defending champion Warsaw's 180 points. “It was a lot closer than I thought it was going to be,” Warsaw coach Justin Smith said. “It’s a credit to the boys, because they just came out and wrestled fantastic. We had as many (regional) qualifiers as we had last year. The difference was, we didn’t have as many guys in the finals.” In the finals, Warsaw had just Brooks, senior Kyle Duzan (170) and freshman Ben Plummer (195), with the latter two finishing second. In all, Warsaw and Wawasee each had nine wrestlers place in the top four in respective classes, advancing them to Saturday’s regional at Rochester High School. Tippecanoe Valley moved seven on to the regional and Triton advanced two. Of Wawasee’s nine qualifiers six were also competing in the championship finals, but with five classes scoring zero points on the day, the Warriors had to settle for fourth at the sectional with 162 points. “Coming in without three weight classes, we knew we were going uphill already,” Wawasee coach Paul Meyer said. “Then, we had some guys catch hard breaks, but that’s the way it is. We’ll move on from here.” Despite having six guys competing for individual titles, only Clevenger claimed one, and Meyer was happy he could pull it off. Going into the season, Clevenger suffered a neck injury in the last match of an intrasquad scrimmage that put his season in jeopardy. However, after being cleared to compete, Clevenger came back in a big way, as he’ll be going into the regional with a 21-4 record. “He was in a neck brace for two weeks and we didn’t think he was going to be able to wrestle at all this year,” Meyer said about Clevenger. “He got released and got focused. He’s a great all-around kid with a great heart.” Following their championships, Bauters and Bell were surrounded by family, who were liberal with the photo-taking, illustrating the significance of their wins. In Bauters’ 4-0 decision over Plymouth senior Ian Horvath, he picked up a quick penalty point, then bided his time the rest of the way. “I was able to score first, so then I was able to just score on his mistakes,” he said. “He tried to shoot, so I just spun around and got those two points at the end.” Bell’s match was right after Bauters, but didn’t take nearly as long, as he pinned Warsaw’s Kyle Duzan in 1:29. “I knew if I could overcome his throws, cradles and strength, I could get him,” Bell said. At 113 pounds, the nation’s top-ranked wrestler didn’t want a repeat of the previous week’s technical fall in the Northern Lakes Conference championship. Instead of settling for five points via the technical fall, Brooks got a literal fall, pinning Wawasee junior Greg Newman in 58 seconds. “I was kind of upset with the conference result, so I just decided to wrestle hard today,” Brooks said. Racking up a total of 26 points on the day, Brooks pinned all three of his opponents. Bell also had a 26-point day, recording three pins, a feat he may not be able to match at regionals, but he may share his teammate’s mentality while there. “You have to win that first (match) to go to semistate,” Bauters said. “So, you have to focus on that match, and from there on, you just have to keep pushing. It’s one match at a time. Six minutes a match. Just have to wrestle with everything you have for six minutes.” And the state tournament is something Brooks’ has been waiting for all season, as he pursues an elusive state championship. “This is where it starts,” Brooks said. “I have to wrestle as hard as I can. I have to wrestle like I’m in the state championship every match.”
CULVER MILITARY ACADEMY 184.5, WARSAW 180, PLYMOUTH 163.5, WAWASEE 162, BREMEN 133.5, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 133, CULVER 105.5, ROCHESTER 85, TRITON 64 (Finals Round, Top 4 Advance to Rochester Regional) 106: 1st - Kayla Miracle (CMA) dec. Tyler Felton (Bre) 8-1; 3rd - John Mills (Ply) pin. Austin Brissette (Culver) 2:29; 5th - Joseph Soriano (Tri) pin. Justin Schroder (Roch) 3:22. 113: 1st - Jarred Brooks (War) pin. Greg Newman (Waw) 0:58; 3rd - Allen Betts (Culver) dec. John Hunting (Roch) 8-4; 5th - Chayton Durham (CMA) dec. Wyatt Nelson (TV) 8-4. 120: 1st - Jose Rodriguez (Bre) dec. Devin Childers (TV) 7-3; 3rd - Jerry Heckathorn (Roch) pin. Luis Cervantes (War) 4:15; 5th - Kam Markovich (Ply) dec. Andrew Wildermuth (CMA) 8-6. 126: 1st - Dylan Shumaker (Bre) dec. David Zajac (CMA) 9-5; 3rd - Doug Corl (Waw) pin. Luke Schumacher (Ply) 1:23; 5th - Ben Horban (Roch) pin. Mark Lehman (Culver) 2:08. 132: 1st - Anthony McHugh (CMA) pin. Ian Randolph (Culver) 0:32; 3rd - Javier Hernandez (War) pin. Cody Floyd (TV) 2:01; 5th - Stephen Abair (Ply) dec. Josh Fuchs (Bre) 8-4. 138: 1st - Kyle Clevenger (Waw) dec. Carlos Salinas (CMA) 1-0; 3rd - Ricardo Ahtual (War) dec. Arron Heller (TV) 6-5; 5th - Keith Back (Culver) maj. dec. Huntley Davis (Triton) 11-1. 145: 1st - John Ahlenius (Culver) dec. Pascal Brun (CMA) 4-3; 3rd - Tyler Downhour (Roch) pin. Jake Sumpter (Waw) 4:57; 5th - Will Sibil (Ply) won by ff. 152: 1st - Edmond Hogan (CMA) dec. Ryan Lindsey (Waw) 7-0; 3rd - Adam Becker (War) dec. Dakota Grubbs (Triton) 4-3; 5th - Braxton Lee (Roch) pin. Logan Wiegand (Ply) 2:30. 160: 1st - Trent Bauters (TV) dec. Ian Horvath (Ply) 4-0; 3rd - Bobby Cornett (Bre) dec. Nick Rozow (Waw) 8-7; 5th - Michael Anthony (CMA) dec. Skyler Kanode (War) 9-7. 170: 1st - Keaton Bell (TV) pin. Kyle Duzan 1:29; 3rd - Danny Williams (CMA) pin. Jacob Pearson (Ply) 2:44; 5th - Austin Sausaman (Roch) pin. Tyler Milton (Triton) 2:32. 182: 1st - Matt Hurford (Culver) pin. Brian Clark 2:44; 3rd - Collin Parker (CMA) dec. Wes Beck (TV) 6-3; 5th - Aaron Houin (Ply) maj. dec. Rory Nolin (War) 11-2. 195: 1st - Jacob Segraves (Ply) pin. Ben Plummer (War) 1:39; 3rd - Jaron Kidd (TV) pin. Jaremiah Kinsey (Triton) 2:59; 5th - Eric Duran (Bre) pin. Alexander Hutchins (CMA) 1:41. 220: 1st - DeAndre Pickford (Ply) dec. Chad Eppley (Waw) 10-4; 3rd - Miguel Delfin (War) pin. Caleb Coffel (Bre) 3:32; 5th - Mike Home (Triton) pin. Cameron Castle (TV) 3:41. HWT: 1st - Abraham Hall (Bre) dec. Dimitri Kaplanis (Wa) 3-2; 3rd - Anthony Hendrickson (War) pin. Drew Dodson (Ply) 3:28; 5th - Zac Edmonds (Triton) pin. David Mizrahi (CMA) 1:16.
