Managing Editor
Evansville Mater Dei begins defense
of its team wrestling state championship while four individual winners do the same
beginning Saturday, Jan. 27, as the 12th Annual IHSAA Team Wrestling and 69th Annual
IHSAA Individual Wrestling state tournaments both get started.
Two
ranked teams will be competing at four of the 32 different sectional sites: No.
12 Chesterton and No. 17 Portage at LaPorte, the No. 2 host Cavemen and No. 13
Penn a Mishawaka,
No. 7 Warren Central and No. 10 New Palestine at Franklin Central, and
top-ranked Evansville Mater Dei and No. 14 Evansville Memorial at Evansville
Central.
A year
ago, No. 1 Mater Dei completed a perfect 24-0 season and won its 11th
state title (and 10th in the last 12 seasons) under coach Mike
Goebel. The Wildcats slipped past second-ranked Perry Meridian and No. 4
Mishawaka in the opening two rounds of the team tournament before pummeling No.
5 Bellmont in the finals.
On the
individual side, Mishawaka
crowned three champions last year ââ?¬â?? and two of them return this time around.
Josh Harper, 47-0 and the state champ at 103 pounds a year ago, currently
resides behind top-ranked fellow sophomore Taylor March of East Noble at 119. And
senior Ian Hinton, 42-0 and the 171-pound defending champion, has maintained
his No. 1 ranking all season long at 189.
Throw in
six other ranked wrestlers (including No. 3 125-pound senior Nick Wiesjahn),
and it appears the Cavemen have another shot at crowning a trio of champions.
But not
if Mater Dei (or, for that matter, third-ranked Perry Meridian) has anything to
say about it. Perry Meridian leads the state with 11 ranked wrestlers entering
the state tournament, including three that are ranked in the top five: junior Brian
Vest, third at 119; senior Kyle Adams, second at 160; and junior Chico Adams,
second at heavyweight.
Mater Dei,
meanwhile, features 10 ranked competitors, four of which enter the postseason
with a top five ranking: senior Sean Herron (No. 1 at 112), senior Nick Dewig
(fourth at 145), senior Chris Dewitt (third at 152), and junior Jacob Schneider
(fifth at 189).
Rounding
out the top five teams are No. 4 Indianapolis Cathedral (nine ranked wrestlers
with two ââ?¬â?? No. 5 140-pound junior Gavin McGinley and top-ranked 160-pound
senior Johnny Schmaltz ââ?¬â?? in the top five), and No. 5 Crown Point (six ranked,
none on the top five).
If the
team competition goes according to form, that would mean semifinal bouts
featuring top-ranked Evansville Mater Dei against No. 4 Cathedral and No. 2
Mishawaka vs. No. 3 Perry Meridian.
The top
two teams at each sectional site automatically advance in the team tournament,
with those teams determined by the number of points accumulated by the
individuals during the event.
Then
it�s two weeks of Wednesday-Saturday jockeying. Team regionals are set for Wednesday,
Jan. 31, with the individual regionals Saturday, Feb 3. Then team semistates
are Wednesday, Feb. 7, with individual semistates Saturday, Feb. 10. Finally, the
individual state championships take place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16-17, with
the team finals set for Saturday, Feb. 24.
Click here for the team tournament lineup and here for the individual tournament lineup. And
stay tuned to HoosierAuthority.com for all your postseason results!
So
what do you think? Share your thoughts in our Wrestling forum.
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