Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The state championship finals for wrestling saw history made, as two competitors each earned first place for the fourth consecutive year.
Alex Tsirtsis of Griffith beat all comers to earn a championship at 145 pounds, after titles the previous three years at 119 pounds, 130, and 135. Evansville Mater Dei's Blake Maurer was the champ at 171 pounds, having won previously at 130, 145, and 171 pounds.
Triton's Tim Zick (125 pounds) was the only area wrestler to advance to round two after winning his opening match. Zick soundly defeated Ryan Parrish of Plainfield, 7-2 by means of a pair of takedowns and a nearfall.
Saturday morning Zick was quickly dispatched by Blane Culp of Columbia City in just one minute's time. After wrestle-backs Zick ended up with eighth place after a 5-4 loss to Anthony Metzger of Lafayette Harrison. Zick's season record winds up at a formidable 40-6.
Wrestling at 125 pounds was Wawasee's Deme Vallejo, but his season came to an end in a loss to Joe Hillenbrand of Evansville Mater Dei. In the final period the score was knotted at 4-4, but with just three seconds remaining Vallejo gave up a take down to wind up on the losing end of the tight match. Vallejo achieved a record of 31-8 in his final season as a Wawasee Warrior. Also representing Wawasee was Rob McKibben, who was called upon as an alternate. He was pinned in 1:22 by Sam Elmore (35-0), of Indianapolis Ritter. McKibben concludes his season with record of 25-9.
Rochester's Garrett James (112) was also eliminated on Friday evening. He had been ahead 3-2 at the end of period one in his match against Tyler Pino of Lawrence North. Pino came back with an escape and a pair of takedowns to nab the win, ending the season for James. James, who is a freshman, racked up an impressive record of 37-4 in his first varsity season.
Several Northern Lakes Conference teams were represented at Conseco. Two competitors from NorthWood advanced to round two. Dillon Whitacre (145) wound up with an eighth place finish, while his teammate, Chad Davis (160) took seventh. NorthWood's Andrew Rhymer (125) was eliminated after he found himself in a takedown clinic with undefeated Reece Humphrey of Lawrence North, the eventual champion. Rhymer's senior season comes to an end with a record of 27-19.
Other NLC grapplers who placed include two from Elkhart Memorial: Chris Miller (112), who took first and Dan Kratzer (171) who finished in eighth place, while Goshen's Joe Piwoszkin (215) earned third place.
2004 State Championship
Final Matches for Area Wrestlers
125 7th Anthony Metzger (38-4 Lafayette Harrison 11) def. 8th Tim Zick =
(40-6 Triton 12), 5-4
125 Joe Hillenbrand (22-3 E'ville Mater Dei 12) def. Deme Vallejo (31-8 =
Wawasee 12), 6-4
125 1st Reese Humphrey (49-0 Lawrence N. 11) def. Andrew Rhymer (27-19 =
NorthWood 12), 15-5
140 7th Thomas Johnson (40-7 Lawrence N. 11) def. 8th Dillon Whitacre =
(40-8 NorthWood 12), 2:07
152 7th Chad Davis (43-5 NorthWood 12) def. 8th Billy Naegele (39-11 =
LaPorte 11), 8-7
