AKRON – For Tippecanoe Vikings junior wrestler Devin Childers, it has been a long climb. Childers has devoted his life to organized wrestling since his middle school days and the hard work has finally paid off.

On Friday evening Childers, a 132-pound grappler, will compete in the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals in Indianapolis.

The road to State has been a long one for Childers, but now that he is there the young man’s motivation is at an all-time high.

“Devin has wrestled very well for the entire tournament,” Vikings head coach Scott Smith stated. “I think his focus has been on his goal of making it to Indianapolis and he has worked hard to achieve that goal.”

Childers postseason journey began at Plymouth High School. The junior was the top-seeded grappler in his weight class but fell in the championship bout to Plymouth’s Triston Rodriguez. A second place finish was obviously not the goal, but Childers was not going to let that effect his focus for the Rochester regional.

“Devin made it to semi state his freshman year,” Smith stated. He had his sights set for that again his sophomore year but did not make it our regional, I really think that fueled his fire to get back to that stage and even further this season.”

Childers qualified for the trip to semi state after finishing third at Rochester. The third place finish did not give the Vikings junior a favorable seeding at Merrillville but that did not stop Childers from advancing to the grandest stage of his career.

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Childers powered his way through two senior wrestlers in Delphi’s Walker Alderman and Calumet’s Alec Noworul in the first two rounds at semi state. Childers then narrowly escaped Mishawaka’s Daniel Hesch 7-6 in the semifinals before falling to McCutcheon’s Seth Carithers in the final.

The potential for Childers has always been very high according to his coach.

“A few years back I looked at our middle school team and thought we had a group that could make it to Indy,” Smith stated. “If they were determined to work hard, they could achieve it. Devin is a member of that group.

“He has great passion for the sport. He attends a couple of camps every summer and works hard in practice to improve his techniques.”

Childers’ first challenge in the State Finals will be to get past the opening round on Friday night. Childers (41-4) will face fellow junior Sam Lovejoy (27-3) of Heritage. A loss will end the successful junior campaign for Childers while a win will continue the magical season. Smith says that the focus is all on Friday’s challenge for now.

“I think he has a great opportunity Friday night against Lovejoy,” said Smith. “He (Lovejoy) is a solid wrestler that we have seen in the past. If Devin can keep his focus and wrestle his match it will be a fun match to coach.

“As for the rest of the 132-pound class, we can’t worry too much about that. Our first priority is getting the win Friday.”

The 76th Annual IHSAA Wrestling State Finals begin at 6 p.m. Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldouse in Indianapolis.