Published: February 10, 2008 01:24 am            

WRESTLING: Semistate marks end of road for 17 area grapplers

Surack, Hansen among those who fall just short of state spots

FORT WAYNE — The early rounds of the IHSAA Fort Wayne Individual Wrestling Semistate marked the end of the road for 17 local wrestlers Saturday, leaving seven locals still alive in the state tournament.

Of the locals eliminated Saturday, five were able to ruin someone else’s day before their own dreams were halted on the floor at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

Kokomo 119-pounder Joey Surack, Peru 135-pounder Dalton Sparks, Northwestern 145-pounder C.J. Hansen, Peru 152-pounder Sam Mitchel, and Peru 285-pounder Jacob Clark each ousted their opponents in the first round before losing in the second. The first round is where wrestlers who took second or third in the regional round square off for the right to face regional champions.

Surack beat West Noble’s Ty Alles 4-0 in his opening match before falling 9-4 to Adams Central’s Ethan Fiechter in the second round with a trip to the state finals on the line. In winning his opener, Surack avenged a regular-season loss to Alles.

“He’s made a habit of that this year,” Kokomo coach Rob Leavitt said of the Kokomo junior. “It’s the third time he’s come back to beat somebody that beat him initially. That says a lot about his character. It’s easy … to let [your opponent] mentally dominate you over and over again but he doesn’t do that, he looks forward to the rematches. That first match he wrestled real well. He didn’t wrestle poorly that second match, [Fiechter] is just a good wrestler.”

Two other Wildkats were eliminated in the opening round. Senior 171-pounder Rico Duke was pinned by Fort Wayne North’s Clayton Mortazavi in a wild affair where both wrestlers spent time on their backs. And sophomore 189-pounder Dylan Green was pinned by Elkhart Memorial’s Steve Stahl.

In his first match, Northwestern junior Hansen took out New Haven’s Wes Bohde by a 15-6 count. The Purple Tiger then lost to Goshen’s Braden Barkes 17-2 in the second round.

“C.J. had a great season,” NW coach Scott Miller said. “He’ll be back here next year. He’ll do whatever it takes to get to Conseco.”

Sparks scored a pin in his opening match as the Bengal Tiger sophomore flattened West Noble’s Jake Gamble at the 3:27 mark before losing 11-3 to Muncie South’s Bryant Whitaker in the second round. Mitchel beat Northwood’s Ryne Garner 9-0 in the opening round before losing 7-3 to Yorktown’s Kyle Mosier in the the Bengal senior’s final match. Clark pinned Prairie Heights’ Brad Whetzel just 1:32 into their match before the Bengal junior was pinned by Winchester’s Adam Chalfant in the first period of the second round.

Four other Bengal Tigers fell in the opening rounds as Shannon Garretson (103 pounds) and Matt Sturch (215) lost in the first round, and Joe Beck (130) and Brett Worden (189) lost in the second round after having byes through the first round.

Peru coach Andy Hobbs is encouraged by getting 10 kids up to the Coliseum and three kids through to the state finals.

“I just think we’ve picked up the pace [since the Mid-Indiana Conference meet],” Hobbs said. “I think they’ve really gotten better each week, just sharper. I guess they’ve peaked.”

Eastern lost a pair of wrestlers in the opening rounds as Dane Dewitt (140) lost in the second round and Blake Pence (112) lost in the first. Pence lost 8-2 to South Adams’ Josh Ehr. Dewitt’s match was confusing for fans and coaches alike as the scoreboard indicated an incorrect score for most of the second period, showing Dewitt to be ahead when in actuality his opponent, New Haven’s Kevin Elser, was in the lead. Elser eventually took an 8-6 decision.

“Dane Dewitt, he’s wrestled great all year long,” Eastern coach Craig Standish said. “He really has exploded, blossomed this year as a wrestler. Last year he didn’t even get out of sectional and here he is two points away from getting a ticket to Conseco.

“Blake had a nice season and he peaked at the right time. He really started around conference. He finished third at conference, third at sectional, third at regional and just couldn’t get out of [the semistate’s] first round, but it was a quality opponent.”

Western’s Logun Taylor (140) lost a tight 5-4 decision to DeKalb’s Matt Miller in the first round.

“Lack of experience got Logun,” Western coach Chad Shepherd said. “He didn’t lay down, he fought, I’m proud of him for that. He went out there and fought the whole six minutes. It was a good experience for him being here. Maybe next year he’ll take another step.”

Taylor senior Will Hawkins was pinned by Prairie Heights’ Dylon Forbes in the second period of his second-round match at 215 pounds. Hawkins closed with a 34-8 record.

“It was [Hawkins’] senior year and to end on the note that it did, it was kind of disappointing, but I am proud of him and he has nothing to hold his head down about,” Taylor coach Justin Palmer said. “He had a good career. The Taylor coaching staff is proud of him.”

Maconaquah saw a pair of wrestlers eliminated in the opening round as 125-pounder Austin Waite was pinned by Muncie South’s Tanner Armantrout in the first period and heavyweight Ryan Ware lost 8-2 to Elkhart Memorial’s David Goodman.

        

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