Warsaw varsity wrestlers took third place in a field of eight teams in the Charger Invitational at Elkhart Memorial. The event was set up in an unusual round-robin scoring system with team results and individual results being combined to determine individual scores and finishing positions.
Jimtown won the team championship by a wide margin with 436 points and five individual champs. Elkhart Memorial finished in second place with 377 points and only two champs.Ê Warsaw followed close behind in third place with 364 points, but four Tigers earned championships.
Warsaw’s individual champions were Anthony Boley (103), Isaac Perry (160), Kris Hueber (215) and Joey Navarro (275).
Coach Tony Boley was ecstatic over the work done by his wrestlers.
“We saw improvement and good technique,” he said. “I don’t know, the guys just woke up and started wrestling like they are supposed to, especially in the later rounds.”Ê
Boley pointed out that out of a possible 84 points, the Tigers scored 72 in round three and 70 points in round four. Indeed, in each of those rounds the Tigers came through with only one loss against 12 wins plus a forfeit.
At 119 pounds, freshman Chris Riley racked up a pair of wins with a 14-12 decision over R. Jennings of South Bend LaSalle, and then Riley pinned Chris Hunsberber of Concord in 3:43. John Milton (125) earned his first varsity win as a Tiger in an 8-4 decision over Memorial’s Williams. Milton continued his winning ways with an 8-5 decision of Jeremy Weaver of Northridge. Milton finished the day by pinning LaSalle’s G. Outlaw in 5:29. Adam Bott (130) scored two falls, pinning Manchester’s Shockey in 46 seconds and A. Brock of Memorial in 1:39.
ÊFreshman Trenton Plummer (135) showed plenty of promise as Boley said, “Plummer was a real fighter out there all day long.” Plummer was pinned in his first match by the eventual champion, Dan Black of Jimtown.Ê
Then the Tiger freshman fought hard through three periods in next match, losing 14-2 to Adam Stoffel of Northridge. In his third-round match, Plummer notched a pin, sticking Bechtel of LaSalle in 1:11. In his final match against T. Iannarelli of Memorial, Plummer went the distance, but ended up on the losing end of an 8-0 decision. Warsaw assistant Coach Tony Perry pointed to Plummer as one of young Tigers showing considerable toughness and improvement.
Dustin Gochenour (140) had only one win on the day, but that was in a rematch against Concord’s Joshua Detwiler who had beaten Gochenour on a last second escape in the dual meet on Thursday.Ê Dustin came back on Saturday with a convincing pin at 1:42.Ê Micah Seisennop (145), a Tiger freshman came away with two wins, pinning A. Macke of Manchester in 2:42 and winning by injury default over T. Milcherska of LaSalle.Ê Sophomore Adam Galvin (152), scored two wins, also by a fall and an injury default.Ê Galvin pinned Diaz of Memorial in 1:04 and won by default over Jeremy Beard of Concord.
Ryan Wolfe (171) showed that he knows how to win when ended the day with two wins on the mat. He faced two rematches. In the dual meet earlier in the season Wolfe pinned Noah Hoopingarner of Northridge, but on Saturday Hoopingarner returned the favor, pinning Wolfe in 1:57. Wolfe came back in his next match to avenge his loss at Concord Tuesday. Coach Boley assessment was that Wolfe “tore the kid up,” when he pinned Mike Robinson of Concord in 3:57. In his final match, Wolfe pinned Andert of Elkhart Central in 4:46.
Tyler Miller steps in to the 189-pound class, filling the shoes of Gabe Rager, out for the season due to a bad knee.Ê Miller pinned F. Borchert of Manchester in just over a minute and then Miller won his final match of the day over M. Gromski of LaSalle by an injury default.
One of the Tigers’ biggest success stories from the Charger Invitational is Tanner Connealy (112) who took runner-up honors with three wins on the mat in addition to a forfeit. First of all Connealy pounded out an 8-3 decision over Phillips of Northridge, then came a round two forfeit and the loss to the champ in round three. In fourth round match Connealy defeated R. Moore of Memorial in an 8-5 decision. Tanner closed the day by pinning
J. Zaph of Manchester in 1:46. Joey Navarro (275) roared through the day with first period pins: M. Allison of Jimtown fell at 1:53, B. Browning of LaSalle went down in 45 seconds and Ryan Eaton of Northridge bit the dust at 1:32. In the final match, Navarro faced Jason Dickison of Elkhart Memorial, who had also pinned all of his opponents throughout the day, three of them in less than one minute each.Ê Navarro defeated Dickison by a 7-2 score to come away with another championship.
Although he was usually out-weighed by as much as 10 pounds, Kris Hueber went out and simply exhausted his opponents, notching falls in all but his final match.Ê First he pinned J. Barker of Elkhart Central in 3:11.Ê
Then Mark Hall of Concord in 1:15, D. Lichtenberger of LaSalle in 1:07, and Memorial’s N. Warner in 1:16.Ê In his final match Hueber took the championship with a 9-0 major decision over Billy Smith of Jimtown.
Isaac Perry (160) brought home his championship medal with three pins and a major decision. He nailed J. Graber of LaSalle in 39 seconds, and then J. Pyfer of Jimtown in 1:40.Ê Perry’s win over runner-up Lonnie Lennox of Memorial came by an 11-3 major decision.Ê In his fifth-round match, Perry wore out S. Harrell of Northridge before finishing him off with a pin at 2:50, maintaining his undefeated season
ÊAnthony Boley (103) brought home his championship with a vengeance.Ê
After pinning B. Wallace of Elkhart Central in 1:33, Boley came to a rematch with Anthony Lemon of Northridge. Earlier in the season Lemon had handed Boley a 6-2 loss. Saturday Boley demonstrated strong technique by pinning Lemon in 2:53.Ê Boley then scratched out 9-5 decision over A. Roberts of Jimtown and in his last match Boley pinned runner-up Sean Drury of Memorial in 1:24.
ÊOn the day, every one of the Tigers had at least one win on the mat in wrestling action.Ê “Our goal is to get better every meet, and we got better today,” said Coach Boley as the team was heading to the bus. The next Tiger varsity event is the Mishawaka Caveman Classic, December 29-30.
ÊTeam Scores at Elkhart Memorial Charger Invitational: Jimtown Ñ 436, Elkhart Memorial Ñ 377, Warsaw Ñ 364, Northridge Ñ 335, Elkhart Central 253, South Bend LaSalle Ñ 185, Concord Ñ 169, Manchester Ñ 100
ÊIndividual Results for Tigers’ final wins
with win-loss record + forfeits awarded
Ê103 Anthony Boley (First, 4-0 +1) pinned Drury, Elkhart Memorial 1:24
112 Tanner Connealy (Second, 3-1 +1) pinned Zaph, Manchester 1:46
119 Chris Riley (Fifth, 2-3) pinned Hunsberger, Concord 3:43
125 John Milton (Fifth, 3-2) pinned Outlaw, LaSalle 5:29
130 Adam Bott (Sixth, 2-3) pinned Brock, Elkhart Central 1:39
135 Trenton Plummer (Sixth, 1-3 +1) pinned Bechtel, LaSalle 1:11
140 Dustin Gochenour (Sixth, 1-4) pinned Detwiler, Concord 1:42
145 Micah Seisennop (Sixth, 2-3) pinned Macke, Manchester 2:42
152 Adam Galvin (Fifth, 2-2 +1) pinned Diaz, Elkhart Memorial 1:04
160 Isaac Perry (First, 4-0 +1) pinned Harrell, Northridge 2:50
171 Richard Wolfe (Fifth, 2-1 +2) pinned Andert, Elkhart Central 4:46
189 Tyler Miller (Fifth, 2-2 +1) pinned Borchert, Manchester 1:03
215 Kris Hueber (First, 5-0) maj dec over Smith, Jimtown 9-0
275 Joey Navarro (First, 4-0 +1) dec over Dickinson, Elkhart Memorial 7-2