Elisha Tipping gives some love back to the Wawasee faithful after winning his ticket match at the East Chicago Central Semi-State last week. Tipping, Jace Alexander and Geremia Brooks will all take the mat at the IHSAA State Finals tonight. (File photos by James Costello)

SYRACUSE — Most wrestlers spend their entire high school careers just trying to get to state, and whatever happens there is an afterthought.

Sure, being one of the last 16 standing in the state series is itself an impressive feat. But Wawasee assistant wrestling coach Jamie Salazar had a question for the Warriors’ three state qualifiers ahead of today’s opening round matches at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis: While you’re there, why not just go ahead and win the whole thing?

“I just want to win my first match and get it out of the way. Just like my coach Jamie always says ‘If you’re going to go, you might as well place. If you’re going to place, you might as well win.’ That’s just my focus for now,” said senior heavyweight Elisha Tipping.

Tipping will take the mat down in Indianapolis alongside two teammates in freshman 106-pounder Jace Alexander and junior 132er Geremia Brooks. The first round is scheduled for 6 p.m., and a win in the openers guarantees advancement to Saturday morning’s quarterfinals and a spot somewhere on the podium. Semifinals are slated to commence immediately following Saturday’s first matches at 9:30 a.m. Consolation matches are scheduled to start at 5 p.m., and the finals are on tap for 7:30 p.m.

Tipping (32-6) drew Yorktown sophomore Holden Parsons (39-5). Brooks (36-4) will square off against Plainfield junior Logan Burdon (37-7) in his opener, meanwhile, and his young cousin, Alexander (40-4), will get another shot at Goshen senior Fernando Flores (43-3), with whom he was tied 2-2 before suffering a late first-period pinfall in their championship at the Northern Lakes Conference Tournament back on Jan. 20.

“I don’t know the last time that this program has gotten three to this level,” said Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner. “It shows that what we’re doing, we’re on the right path. We’re getting guys to an elite level and not just to qualify, but all three have the best draw they could’ve gotten. So we’re looking not only to get there and wrestle Friday night but to make really deep runs here. We’ve got the draws. We’ve got the guys. They’re ready to go and make some deep runs this weekend.”

Jace Alexander quietly celebrates his regional semifinal win two weeks ago.

Last year, Brooks and Alexander watched Jace’s older brother, Braxton, advance alone to the IHSAA state finals. It was a lonely road for Braxton, and this year’s three state finalists are grateful to be making the trip together.

“I think that it’s a little more exciting that I have people go down there on my team,” Jace said. “Because watching Braxton last year when it was just him I was like ‘Dang, that must suck. He has to go around and ask other teams to be a partner.’ With this I don’t have to have as much pressure. I have two other teammates that can handle some of that.”

“I think it’s great because I get to go with Jace, and Jace is family,” said Brooks. “And I get to go with Elisha, and Elisha and I moved here about the same time. It’s great because we’re all real close, and you get to experience like a trip of a lifetime for Elisha down there. That’ll be fun.”

Having three alive in the state tournament means their partners are needed in the Wawasee wrestling room, too, which makes for a pretty full house. That in turn has helped lend a semblance of routine to the week. And after a banner season which saw the Warriors go 27-1 in duals, top the 2A class at the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Team State Championships and bring home the program’s first IHSAA sectional title in eight years, why would they want to change a thing?

“There’s three of us now, so it means we each have three more wrestling partners, which means it’s not as lonely,” said Tipping at practice earlier this week. “Wrestling is really a grind. If you’re up here doing it yourself it’s like ‘This is tough.’ But if you’ve got guys up here with you pushing you along it makes it a little easier.”

“We’ve got 10-plus guys in here still training; we’ve got multiple coaches here for multiple wrestlers. It’s another week,” said Bumgardner. “Nothing changes just because it’s the state tournament rather than the sectional tournament. You still go do what you do. What you’ve done up to this point has gotten you to be successful. Why change what you’re doing? Just get better at what you’re doing.”

Geremia Brooks, after winning his semi-state semifinal by pinfall last weekend.

In fact, treating this weekend’s matches like any other is the approach the Warriors are trying to take. The stage is a little bigger, but nothing else has changed.

“We’re not going to be intimidated by the environment because, bottom line, it’s 27 feet from one end to the other. There’s two officials, two wrestlers, two cornermen and one score clock. Everything is the same,” Bumgardner said. “It’s still a six-minute match, seven if you have to go to overtime, eight and a half if you have to go to sudden death. Nothing changes; it’s still competition. We’re just going to go, our guys are going to try and score as many points as possible and wrestle an exciting style that people want to be a part of.”

While Tipping, Alexander and Brooks aren’t yet satisfied, whatever happens tonight and tomorrow, they can still hold their heads high knowing they carried the Wawasee banner to the end of the line. It’s only fitting that they should be there after such a thrilling season, one that saw the rejuvenated program bring some excitement to an often-overlooked sport. And if Bumgardner and the Warriors have their way, this weekend’s state championships won’t be the end; they’re just getting started.

“We never really had people come to our meets, never really had people support us. This year, it’s all over Twitter, all over Instagram — have some respect for the wrestling team; they’re doing big things this year,” said Tipping.

“I haven’t really taken a step back yet because I still have this weekend to focus on. After, if I place on the podium, then I’ll take a step back and just admire for a second that I did that as a junior. Next year, I want to do it again so I’m going to train harder next year,” Brooks said.

“We’ve had a great season, and I wish we could’ve gotten more guys to the state finals. But I feel next year we’ll do even better.”

Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner and assistant Jesse Espinoza applaud their wrestlers last Saturday.