A number of Times-Union area wrestlers advanced to the semistate second round, or “ticket round,” but none qualified for the finals this weekend in Indianapolis. At East Chicago Warsaw – Kyle Hatch (138 pounds) beat Tristan Pintor of Lake Central in the first round by fall, then lost to Ian Dembowski of Valparaiso 11-6 in the second round. Hatch finished the season at 40-1. Hatch completed a second-straight season with at least 40 wins, and set a new school record with 35 falls, beating his old 2015 record of 29. The Tigers’ Andrew Brock lost to Seth Rincon of Hammond Morton 6-5 in the first round. Brock finished the season with a 32-11 record, and closed out his career with two 30+ win seasons and two time semistate qualifier. Wawasee – Braxtin Alexander (113) won his opening-round match against Austin Line of Valparaiso before being eliminated by Colin Poynter of Portage. He finished his freshman season with a 33-8 record. At 132 pounds, Tristin Ponsler took out Denver Smith of Kankakee Valley, then lost to Brenden Drake of Hobart. The Warrior senior closes out his career with a season record of 35-6. Jeremiah Dilley closed out his junior campaign with a 21-18 record after dropping a 9-2 opening-round decision to Evan Larsen of Hanover Central. Triton – Malachi Greene (120) finished his junior season with a 34-8 record after losing 5-1 in the opening round to Valparaiso’s Ian Dembowski. Senior Gage Waddle won his opening-round match over Drake Guerrero of Portage at 160 pounds, but was eliminated by Crown Point’s Oszkar Katch. His senior-year record was 39-5.
At Fort Wayne
Manchester – Squire sophomore Wade France (160) ended his season with a 22-18 mark after falling to Nick Potter of New Haven in the first round. Junior Quentin Moore advanced to round two in the 170-pound class with a 14-3 win over Kane Rohrer of Fairfield, then lost a 12-3 decision to Jacob Gray of Delta. Moore’s final record for the season is 32-8-3. Whitko – Dillon Alma (170) finished with a 27-17 record for his junior year after losing to eventual tournament champion Bryce Baumgartner of Bellmont.
