Champion Hatch Leads Area Grapplers
Warsaw’s Kyle Hatch takes down Jake Hartman of South Bend Clay to win the 120-pound division title at the Rochester Regional on Saturday (Photos provided by Scott Gareiss)
ROCHESTER – Kyle Hatch saved his best for last Saturday.
The timing was perfect too for the Warsaw wrestling standout.
Sophomore Hatch rallied to a thrilling overtime win over previously undefeated Jake Hartman of South Bend Clay to earn a regional championship in the 120-pound class.
Hatch led the way for area wrestlers at Rochester. He was the lone champion, but the area will send a total of 10 grapplers on to the Merrillville Semistate next Saturday.
The top four wrestlers in each class Saturday move on to the semi state round.
Triton led the way from the area with four wrestlers earning semi state berths. Warsaw had a trio of advancers, while Tippecanoe Valley had two and Wawasee one.
Hatch, who was eight at the State Finals a year ago at 106, rallied to tie senior Hartman at 4-4. Hatch, who was runner-up last year at the Rochester Regional, then got a takedown to hand the Clay senior his first loss of the season (43-1). Hatch improves to 39-1.
“Kyle did some of his best wrestling on the day in the final,” said Warsaw coach Justin Smith. “He was hungry and approached it with a level head. We knew it was going to be a tough match. Kyle is excellent on his feet and he got the takedown in overtime.
“You always want to be a champion and this sets Kyle up that much better for the semi state being a No. 1 seed. We know that the competition at Merrillville is going to be extremely tough, but his goal is to be back at State.
“We had seven guys in the regional and I said that I would be very happy if we got 3-4 to the semi state and we got three.”
Warsaw also got third-place efforts from senior Rory Nolin (195) and junior Andrew Brock (220). Nolin defeated Plymouth senior Jacob LaFree 4-0 in his final match to earn third. Brock won his third place match over South Bend Riley senior Jared Troxel by an injury default.
Nolin improved his season mark to 34-5 with a 2-1 showing Saturday. Brock is now 33-9 after also going 2-1.
Triton junior Gage Waddle placed fourth at 160 and will advance to the Merrillville Semistate next Saturday.
The Trojans had four of their seven regional qualifiers earn a semi state berth.
Senior Nate Spangle led the way for coach Ron Brown’s Triton squad with a second-place finish at 170. Spangle lost to Penn senior Joey Mammolenti by a fall in 1:31 in the final. Spangle is now 35-4 on the season.
The Trojans also had a trio of grapplers place fourth. Sophomore Malachi Greene (106), junior Gage Waddle (160) and senior Justin Hefner (285) all move on. Greene is 32-9, while Waddle is 35-4 and Hefner 26-13.
Tippecanoe Valley will be represented at Merrillville by the outstanding duo of senior Devin Childers and junior Garrett Bell. Childers, who was third at the regional a year ago, was second at 132. He lost to Bremen senior Joey Bailey 6-3 in the title match. Bell, who was fourth at the regional in 2014, was second at 182. He lost to undefeated Penn senior Chase Osborn by fall in 2:50 in the finals. Childers is 39-2 and Bell 37-3.
Wawasee junior Tristan Ponsler extended his tremendous season by placing third at 126. The Warrior standout beat Mishawaka junior Deven Beaver by a fall in 1:22 in the third-place match. Ponsler is now 40-2 on the season.
A total of 11 other area wrestlers competed on Saturday, but failed to place in the top four. Those included Spencer Gareiss (160), Kameron Hile (126), Jeremy Lee (132) and Anthony Penn (285) from Warsaw, Ricardo Romo (106), Zach Ford (160) and Stephen Possell (170) from Wawasee, Grant Stichter (152), Jeremy Jones (220) and John Salinas (182) from Triton and Wyatt Nelson (138) from Tippecanoe Valley.
Penn dominated the final team standings with 202 points. Warsaw was fifth with 46 points, while Triton was eighth with 37, Valley 11th with 30 and Wawasee 16th with 13.
The Merrillville Semistate will include the top four finishers in each weight class from regionals at Rochester, Calumet, Crown Point and Logansport.
The top four finishers in the semi state round earn a berth in the State Finals Feb. 20-21 at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Tippecanoe Valley senior Devin Childers was regional runner-up at 132.
IHSAA WRESTLING REGIONAL
At Rochester
TEAM SCORES: Penn 202, Riley 75, Mishawaka 74, Rochester 64, Warsaw 46, SB St. Joseph 40, Plymouth 39, Adams 39, Triton 37, Clay 34, Tippecanoe Valley 30, Culver Academies 23, Bremen 20, Marian 16, Culver Community 15, Wawasee 13, Washington 8. All others 0.
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
106: Kory Cavanaugh (Penn) maj. dec. Jared Kazmierczak (St. Joseph), 11-0.
113: Drew Hildebrandt (Penn) maj. dec. Adam Davis (Culver Academies), 18-6.
120: Kyle Hatch (Warsaw) dec. Jake Hartman (Clay), 6-4 in OT.
126: John Hunting (Rochester) dec. Cody Allmon (Plymouth), 3-2.
132: Joey Bailey (Bremen) dec. Devin Childers (Tippecanoe Valley), 6-3.
138: Cameron Beam (Penn) dec. Triston Rodriguez (Culver Community), 8-7.
145: Tavonte Malone (Adams) dec. Kassius Breathitt (Riley), 4-2 in OT.
152: Tommy Forte (Mishawaka) dec. Jarod Swank (Penn), 8-2.
160: Denzyl Prentice (Penn) maj. dec. Norm Hezlep (St. Joseph), 15-6.
170: Joey Mammolenti (Penn) pinned Nate Spangle (Triton), 1:30.
182: Chase Osborn (Penn) pinned Garrett Bell (Tippecanoe Valley), 2:50.
195: Tanner Bradley (Mishawaka) pinned Wes Beck (Rochester), 1:15.
220: Kobe Woods (Penn) pinned Patrick Ernst (Marian), 1:05.
285: Cory Christman (Penn) pinned Jordan Shafer (Rochester), 1:30.
CONSOLATION ROUND
(For Third Place)
106: Joey Zahl (Adams) dec. Malachi Greene (Tri), 2-1 in OT. 113: Bryton Goering (Riley) dec. Zane DeVault (Plymouth), 3-0. 120: Ryan Hardesty (Mishawaka) dec. Tondrew Tyler (Washington), 6-1. 126: Tristin Ponsler (Wawasee) pinned Deven Beaver (Mishawaka), 1:22. 132: Rishod Cotton (Clay) maj. dec. Austen Laughlin (Riley), 16-7. 138: Tarvis Evans (Adams) dec. Myles Krintz (Culver Academies), 5-0. 145: Justin Schroder (Rochester) maj. dec. Dustin Hochstetler (Penn), 11-3. 152: Brendan Makowski (St. Joseph) dec. Tristan Brown (Clay), 3-1. 160: Tristan Goering (Rochester) dec. Gage Waddle (Triton), 7-4. 170: James Malone (Riley) pinned Chase Deal (Mishawaka), 2:32. 182: Jeremy Splix (Plymouth) dec. Austin Faulkner (Mishawaka), 10-3. 195: Rory Nolin (Warsaw) dec. Jacob LaFree (Plymouth), 4-0. 220: Andrew Brock (Warsaw) won by injury def. over Jared Troxel (Riley). 285: Brian Shaw (Riley) pinned Justin Hefner (Triton), 1:59.
NOTE: Top four finishers in each weight class advance to Merrillville semistate on Saturday, Feb. 14.
