Alec Haines takes down his competitor from Northrop during Saturday’s invite. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WARSAW – Both Wawasee and Warsaw wrestlers found positive starts at Saturday’s Tiger Wrestling Invitational hosted by Warsaw Community High School.

Warsaw went 3-2 in the team standings while Wawasee was 2-3. The Tigers bested the Warriors, 37-22, in the Northern Lakes Conference dual between the two clubs.

Warsaw would also win its matchup with Fort Wayne Northrop 56-18, and with South Bend St. Joseph’s 57-18. East Noble beat Warsaw 46-30 and Huntington North, the Invite team champions at 5-0, beat Warsaw 50-30.

Wawasee would beat Fort Wayne Northrop 37-29 and St. Joe 54-15, and would lose to Huntington North 54-22 and East Noble 46-22.

Kyle Hatch of Warsaw was named the MVP of the Invite, winning all four of his matches at 145 pounds, and stepping up a class to 152 and picking up a pin against Taran Tomaszewski of St. Joe. Hatch had a decision, major decision, tech fall and pin fall in his four 145-pound matches.

Warsaw had two other wrestlers run undefeated, with Francisco Ramirez going 4-0 to split the 152-pound class championship with Tomaszewski (4-1). Drew Brock was 5-0 in the 220-pound class. Ramirez had two falls and a decision as well as a forfeit win while Brock scored three falls and two forfeits.

“I think it’s great to have these super duals,” Warsaw head coach Justin Smith began. “You get to wrestle five times and it gives you a good experience. It’s nice to have a conference team come in so you can avoid the traveling during the week and I’m glad Wawasee committed to coming back. It gives the kids something to shoot for early with a conference match on the line.”

Wawasee’s Zac McKee went 5-0 in the 160-pound class, earning four falls and a decision. His pin of St. Joe’s Jacob Moon took just 13 seconds.

Added Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner of his team’s closing 10-point win over Northrop, “This was by far the most complete performance of the day. Our kids stayed mentally and physically tough and never wavered from the game plan.”

Warsaw returns to action Dec. 1 for an NLC dual at Elkhart Memorial while Wawasee will host the Wawasee Super Duals this Saturday morning.