SYRACUSE - The Whitko High School wrestling team may have a new coach, but the success is anything but new.
At Saturday's 26th Annual Wawasee Classic, the Wildcats successfully defended their title, going 5-0. On the day, the Wildcats defeated Wawasee (33-31), Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger (58-24), Columbia City (41-30), Fort Wayne South Side (51-22) and Tippecanoe Valley (51-21).Having already been familiar with the team, Frank Bumgardner took over the team this year after Matt Koontz left after a successful tenure with Whitko.
"As we like to say, the cupboard wasn't empty when I took this job," Bumgardner said. "I've been with the program since I graduated high school. We have a real good junior class coming through. We only have one senior, so we have a real good class to build on."
At Saturday's tournament, the Wildcats had three wrestlers go undefeated in their respective weight classes - Chas Busz (119), Jordan Gilbert (125) and Austin LeTourneau (130).
"We came in wanting to go 5-0 and we did that today," Bumgardner said. "We're not totally satisfied with our performance. We still feel as though we can improve and hopefully we can improve. We have plenty of room to."
With improvement, Bumgardner can see this team reaching heights its been to before, if not going higher.
"We've made the regional finals the past two years, so we're hoping to repeat that and maybe even go beyond," Bumgardner said. "Right now, we need to improve on a day-to-day basis to get to that level."
The Wawasee Warriors also had a successful postseason a year ago, winning the Plymouth Sectional.
After graduating some wrestlers, and having some others not back this year, including Bobby Marcuccilli, who was ranked 10th at 135 pounds in the preseason individual rankings, Wawasee coach Scott DeHart is optimistic his team can also get back to last year's level.
"Our upper weights have done a nice job," DeHart said after his team went 3-2 Saturday. "Our lower weights are going to need to push through and support the upper weights."
In the upper weight classes, Wawasee's Brian Clark (171), Jake Jones (189) and Dimitris Kaplanis (HWT) all went undefeated, with Jones also being named the most outstanding wrestler of the match.
Led by the heavier wrestlers, Wawasee defeated Dwenger (39-36), Valley (42-28) and Columbia City (51-20), but fell to South Side (46-27) and Whitko (33-31).
The Warriors' day began with their two losses, but they did bounce back to win the next three, making it a positive tournament.
"We wanted to go 5-0, but once we got down to 2-2, we just wanted a winning record," DeHart said.
Tippecanoe Valley entered the meet with the smallest roster, resulting in an 0-5 day, but the Vikings did have some the top wrestlers, as Trent Bauters (145) and Isaac Yoder (152) each went undefeated.
"Austin Nelson and Isaac Yoder have been to the semistate, and we're trying to find them some great competition," Valley coach Scott Smith said. "This is a pretty good match for that."
Wrestling in last weekend's Culver Military Academy Invitational, Smith has four wrestlers sporting pretty impressive records this year.
"Trent Bauters wrestled real well today, going 5-0," Smith said. "In two weekends, he's 9-1, Isaac's 10-0 and Austin's 8-2."
Winning the 152-pound division, Yoder looks primed to repeat the impressive season he had a year ago, which resulted in a Plymouth Sectional title and a 32-0 record before falling to Mishawaka's Ryan Stahl in the Rochester Regional championship round. Stahl went on to place fourth at state.
"One of the things that makes Isaac tough is that he's bullheaded," Smith said. "He refuses to lose. He's technically-sound, he's strong, but he's just bullheaded. That's an asset he has that other kids don't. He just refuses to lose."
Whitko begins its journey to defend its Three Rivers Conference title when it travels to North Miami Tuesday, while Valley is also in TRC action at Wabash. Wawasee's next match is Thursday at home against Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge.
(WAWASEE CLASSIC)
TEAM RECORDS: WHITKO 5-0, FW SOUTH SIDE 4-1, WAWASEE 3-2, FW DWENGER 2-3, COLUMBIA CITY 1-4, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 0-5
RD. 1 - DWENGER 52, VALLEY 26; WHITKO 33, WAWASEE 31; SOUTH SIDE 44, COLUMBIA CITY 17
RD. 2 - WHITKO 58, DWENGER 24; SOUTH SIDE 46, WAWASEE 27; COLUMBIA CITY 54, VALLEY 27
RD. 3 - WHITKO 41, COLUMBIA CITY 30; WAWASEE 39, DWENGER 36; SOUTH SIDE 57, VALLEY 19
RD. 4 - DWENGER 40, COLUMBIA CITY 39; WHITKO 51, SOUTH SIDE 22; WAWASEE 42, VALLEY 28
RD. 5 - WAWASEE 51, COLUMBIA CITY 20; WHITKO 51, VALLEY 21; SOUTH SIDE 40, DWENGER 33
Undefeated Wrestlers: 103 - Jose Nino (SS) 4-0; 112 - Bryce Forrester (CC) 5-0; 119 - Chas Busz (Whitko) 5-0; 125 - Jordan Gilbert (Whitko) 4-0; 130 - Austin LeTourneau (Whitko) 5-0; 135 - Michael Nix (D) 5-0; 145 - Trent Bauters (V) 5-0; 152 - Isaac Yoder (V) 5-0; 171 - Brian Clark (W) 5-0; 189 - Peter Waikel (D) 5-0; 215 - Jake Jones (Waw) 5-0; HWT - Dimitri Kaplanis (Waw) 5-0
