Warsaw’s Andrew Brock

ELKHART — The postseason officially begins this weekend as local grapplers will compete in conference championships around the area. Both Whitko and Triton will be hosting their respective tournament, while Warsaw, Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley will hit the road Saturday morning.

WARSAW

The Tigers finished their regular season conference run with a 3-4 record and have several individuals to keep an eye on this weekend.

“We expect some of our veterans to make a good run,” said Warsaw head coach Justin Smith. “Certainly I think Kyle (Hatch), Kameron (Hile), Andrew (Brock) have the potential to make deep runs.”

Kyle Hatch highlights that group of individuals. The junior has earned a 30-0 mark this season and will be the favorite in the 138-pound bracket. Andrew Brock finished fourth at the NLC last season but will look to go out on top as a senior in the 200-pound tournament. Hile will represent the Tigers at 132.

“We need to get our young kids some experience and hopefully some success. We are hoping for positive matches, some close matches,” Smith stated. “I think we are going to have a good day at the NLC. But it’s more about getting those young kids a positive experience and getting them into some matches they can win.”

Some of those younger wrestlers include Christian Taylor (145), Shawn Hale (106) and Javie Iraheta (152).

Alec Haines, a senior, is expected to make some noise at 285 as well for the Tigers.

“As far as the team race, who knows. We traditionally land somewhere in the middle, and it’s been like that for years and probably will be that way again,” Smith remarked. “That’s not what I am focusing on. Individually, I want our kids to have good matches to springboard into sectionals. That’s where it really counts.”

WAWASEE

Despite a nice turnaround under first-year head coach Frank Bumgardner the Wawasee wrestling team still fell to an 0-7 NLC record.

Wawasee, however, did make a noticeable jump from last season. After winning just five matches in 2014-15, the Warriors improved to a 10-18 mark this year. The Warriors, which lost Stephen Possell to injury in December, took another hit two weeks ago by losing Christian Wood.

“We’ve had some adversity here lately,” began Bumgardner. “That’s going to take away from us having our best lineup on Saturday. That being said, we still have god individuals and we’ll be looking for those individuals to step up and perform. We’ve seen everybody at this point. Now we have to go back and take a look at the tape and see where we’re at.”

Tristin Ponsler will highlight Wawasee’s lineup. The senior has had a solid campaign this season and will represent the Warriors at 132. Freshman Braxton Alexander has been a welcome addition this year and will provide a challenge for his competitors in the 113-pound bracket.

At 106-pounds Ricardo Romo will look to build off a fifth place finish at the 2015 NLC tournament as a freshman. Ronny Shortt (138) and Ricky Nelson (285) will also be Warrior grapplers to keep eyes on in Saturday’s tournament. The biggest challenge may be mental for Wawasee.

“We give everybody too much respect. We don’t believe in ourselves yet,” said Bumgardner. “When we believe, I believe we can hang with anybody in the conference, I really do.”

TRITON

The Hoosier North Athletic Conference tournament, which comes into the weekend already severely truncated with forfeits galore, has several semi-final matches already set on paper.

The Triton Trojans, which has taken on a much larger schedule this season, already has six of its 14 wrestlers in a semi-final due to vacant brackets from shorthanded teams entering the weekend.

Triton and LaVille likely will duke it out for team supremacy, the Lancers winners over the Trojans already twice this season in dual formats. Both teams are the only outfits bringing a full 14-man compliment, Knox and West Central are bringing 13 and Winamac nine as outside challengers for the team title.

Malachi Greene (27-4) at 120 and Gage Waddle (29-2) at 160 are top seeds for Triton heading into the tournament.

Triton hosts the tournament that begins at 10 a.m. Saturday morning in the Trench.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY

The Vikings limp into the TRC tournament (held at Whitko) with an abbreviated roster, but have a trio of wrestlers to watch as the tournament unfolds.

Chevy Teeter at 132 (17-11) has had moments of promise, as has Tyler Manuszak at 170 (9-13). Josh Back at 195 sits at 18-11 overall but has a legitimate chance to make the deepest run for a title for the Vikings after a strong competition season thus far.
WHITKO

The Wildcats won’t have a full roster as it hosts the Three Rivers Conference Championships, but it will have a slew of wrestlers with a good chance to make a deep run.

The front of the line will have Logan Busz (23-9) and Kaleb Busz (22-8) representing the lightweights, and a trio of middleweights for the Wildcats will enter with good matchups. Erick Loe at 160 enters at 22-3 overall, and Isaac Watters (14-7) has made long strides this season. Dillon Alma at 170 (21-10) has an interesting matchup in the first round against Tyler Manuszak of Tippecanoe Valley.