Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WABASH - The Wabash wrestler climbed up the stands and sat down beside a middle-aged man, presumably his dad or relative.
"Look at them," he groaned. "We're going to get our butts kicked."
"Them" was the Whitko wrestlers, all 21 of them, who took up three-quarters of the mat when they went through their pre-match stretching. The 10 or so Wabash wrestlers huddled on what space was left on the mat.
The forlorn Wabash wrestler had this one dialed in, as a much deeper Whitko team smoked Wabash 60-6. Whitko improved to 15-6, while Wabash dropped to 2-12.
Whitko's Ben Watson (119 pounds), Keith Bird (125), Brock Waterson (140) and Todd Grube (160) won by pins. Jordan Schrader (130) and Robbie Nieto (171) won on technical falls, and James Baumgartner (135) and Ivan Hathaway (152) won major decisions. Trent Burelison (189), Jeremiah Rakoczy (215) and Mark Christian (275) won by forfeits.
The only matches the Wildcats didn't win were the ones they didn't wrestle. The teams had double forfeits in the 103 and 145 weight classes. Wabash's one and only win came in the 112 class, where Parker Beauchamp won by forfeit.
Told his grapplers had an easy time of it, Whitko head coach Brian Balsmeyer said: "It was. The kids went out and wrestled hard. We were able to work on a few things. We controlled the match."
And since the Wildcats ruled the match, Balsmeyer acknowledged his grapplers could focus on individual goals, like improving moves or chasing records. Grube improved to 23-0.
"You know, Grube is shooting for the school takedown record, so he was working on some takedowns," Balsmeyer said. "He'd like to get it. He's at 87, and the school record is 135. You call that wrong, I don't know. He's working takedowns. That's his bread and butter.
"When the match is where we feel we have it under control, there's a few moves we've been tinkering with in practice that we work on."
The Wildcats, who have recently faced stiff competition in events like the Manchester Invitational and Whitko Super Duals, welcomed the change of pace. The laugher gave them a break from the mental and physical grind.
Besides, the Goshen Invitational lurks Saturday, where the Wildcats may face their toughest competition yet.
"With our kids, this may help them," Balsmeyer said. "We'll have a hard practice (Thursday) night. Then we'll be going up to Goshen (Friday), which will be kind of a fun night. We'll spend the night at the Holidome, have fun, and get away as a group kind of outside wrestling. But not really, since we're going up there for wrestling (on Saturday)."
The Goshen Invitational starts at 9 a.m.
WHITKO 60, WABASH 6
Weight class, result, running team score
103 -Êdouble forfeit, 0-0
112 -ÊParker Beauchamp (WAB) won by forfeit, 6-0 WAB
119 - Ben Watson (WHI) pinned Shawn Miracle, 3:19; 6-6
125 -ÊKeith Bird (WHI) pinned Mike White, 3:50; 12-6 WHI
130 -ÊJordan Schrader (WHI) def. Mike Meredith 17-1 (technical fall), 17-6 WHI
135 - James Baumgartner (WHI) def. James Sorg 13-2 (major decision), 21-6 WHI
140 -ÊBrock Waterson (WHI) pinned Chris Meredith, 2:14; 27-6 WHI
145 -Êdouble forfeit, 27-6 WHI
152 -ÊIvan Hathaway (WHI) def. Ryan Hahn 13-5 (major decision), 31-6 WHI
160 -ÊTodd Grube (WHI) pinned Adam Weitzel, 2:13; 37-6 WHI
171 -ÊRobbie Nieto (WHI) def. Jason Thompson 24-10 (technical fall), 42-6 WHI
189 - Trent Burelison (WHI) won by forfeit, 48-6 WHI
215 -ÊJeremiah Rakoczy (WHI) won by forfeit, 54-6 WHI
275 -ÊMark Christian (WHI) won by forfeit, 60-6 WHI
Team records: Whitko 15-6 (6-1 TRC) , Wabash 2-12
JV: WABASH 3, WHITKO 0
119 -ÊAaron McCoart (WAB) def. Drew Shilling 6-2, 3-0 WAB
