Here is general information and some notable statistics about this weekend’s IHSAA wrestling state finals.
TICKETS
General admission tickets are $8 per session or $20 for both days and available at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse Ticket Office or via the mobile ticket app, TikA-Tap. Children 24 months and younger admitted free of charge.
GATES OPEN
Gates open to spectators at 4:30 p.m. prior to Friday’s session and at 8 a.m. for Saturday morning’s session. The Fieldhouse will be cleared following the semi-finals and will reopen at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
PARKING
The Virginia Avenue Garage, which charges a fee and is located directly to the east of the venue, connects to the Fieldhouse from the third floor of the garage via a walkway over Delaware Street. The entrance to the Virginia Avenue Garage is located off of Maryland Street.
Two hundred twenty-four wrestlers in all, 16 in each of the 14 weight classes, will begin first round competition on Friday at 6 p.m. First-round winners will return to wrestle on Saturday with quarter-final action beginning at 9:30 a.m. and semi-final matches to follow after all weight classes have concluded. Consolation bouts begin at 5 p.m. and championship matches under the spotlight are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Team scoring will begin with Friday night’s preliminary matches. Scoring will go to eight places and, additionally, two advancement points will be awarded per match for a championship bracket victory while one point is earned for advancement in the consolation bracket.
Finally, points will be awarded to the top eight place-winners: 1st place: 16 points; 2nd place: 12 points; 3rd place: 9 points; 4th place: 7 points; 5th place: 5 points; 6th place: 3 points; 7th place: 2 points; 8th place: 1 point.
Six defending or former state champions are part of this year’s field led by seniors Brayton Lee (152) of Brownsburg and Mason Parris (220) of Lawrenceburg.
Both will be looking to complete a third consecutive undefeated state championship season. Lee is 30-0 on the year and 119-0 over the last three years for the defending state champion Bulldogs. Parris is 43-0 this season and 148-0 the last three seasons. With a third state title, Parris would become the sixth individual to win three titles in the same weight class and first since Franklin Central’s Jake O’Brien won three straight at 215 pounds from 2001-2003.
Other returning champs include Brayden Curtis of Yorktown (113), Cayden Rooks of Columbus East (126) and Alec Viduya of Roncalli (126). A third former champion is also involved in the 126 pound class with Asa Garcia of Avon. Garcia won the 106 class as a freshman and placed third a year ago at 113 pounds.
Defending State Champion Brownsburg is the defending state champion after winning the school’s first wrestling crown last year. The Bulldogs are coached by Darrick Snyder who became the second individual to win state titles at two different schools last year (Mishawaka 2008, 2010; Brownsburg 2017) joining Jim Tonte (Perry Meridian 2011, 2012, 2013; Warren Central 2016).
One hundred four schools will be represented at this weekend’s state finals with Indianapolis Cathedral leading the way with 10 qualifiers. Portage advanced nine, Columbus East has eight and Brownsburg seven. Cathedral and Yorktown led the state with five semi-state champions with Brownsburg, Chesterton and Portage tallying four each. A total of 314 schools and 7,065 were entered into this year’s state tournament at the sectional level.
State Champions in the Field (6)
113: Brayden Curtis (11) Yorktown | 2017 champ at 106.
126: Asa Garcia (11) Avon | 2016 champ at 106.
126: Cayden Rooks (11) Columbus East | 2017 champ at 120.
126: Alec Viduya (10) Roncalli | 2017 champ at 113.
152: Brayton Lee (12) Brownsburg | 2016 champ at 138; 2017 champ at 145.
220: Mason Parris (12) Lawrenceburg | 2016 and 2017 champ at 220.
State Runners-Up in the Field (12)
113: Andrew Black (11) Shenandoah | 2017 runner-up at 106.
120: Hunter Watts (11) Jimtown | 2017 runner-up at 113.
126: Christian Mejia (12) Elkhart Memorial | 2016 runner-up at 113.
126: Tyler Mills (12) Brownsburg | 2015 runner-up at 106; 2017 runner-up at 120.
138: Blake Mulkey (12) Brownsburg | 2017 runner-up at 126.
138: Kristian Rumph (12) Portage | 2017 runner-up at 138.
145: Christian Hunt (12) Yorktown | 2017 runner-up at 132.
145: Kasper McIntosh (12) Portage | 2016 runner-up at 145.
160: Diego Lemley (12) Chesterton | 2017 runner-up at 160.
170: Noah Warren (12) Perry Meridian | 2017 runner-up at 152.
195: Lucas Davison (12) Chesterton | 2017 runner-up at 182.
285: Isaiah McWilliams South Bend Washington | 2017 runner-up at 285.
Undefeated Wrestlers in the Field (15)
113: Brayden Curtis (11) Yorktown (36-0)
113: Brayden Lowery (10) Roncalli (38-0)
113: Andres Moreno (11) Lowell (39- 0)
132: Graham Rooks (12) Columbus East (44-0)
132: Manzona Bryant (10) Culver Academies (36-0)
145: Christian Hunt (12) Yorktown (45-0)
145: Tristan Sellmer (12) Floyd Central (27-0)
152: Brayton Lee (12) Brownsburg (30-0)
170: Zack Fattore (12) Hobart (39-0)
182: Silas Allred (10) Shenandoah (22-0)
182: Nathan Walton (12) Brownsburg (38-0)
195: Lucas Davison (12) Chesterton (48-0)
220: Ryan Hammond (12) Whiteland (39-0)
220: Mason Parris (12) Lawrenceburg (43-0)
285: Eli Pokorney (11) Chesterton (38-0)
2018 Sectional Championship Teams (32)
Bloomington South, Brownsburg, Carmel, Carroll (Fort Wayne), Castle, Center Grove, Chesterton, Columbus East, Crown Point, Evansville Mater Dei, Floyd Central, Harrison, Homestead, Indianapolis Cathedral, Jay County, Jeffersonville, Knightstown, Merrillville, Northridge, Pendleton Heights, Penn, Perry Meridian, Peru, Portage, Prairie Heights, Rensselaer, South Dearborn, Warren Central, Wawasee, Western, Yorktown, Zionsville
2018 Regional Championship Teams (16)
Bloomington South, Brownsburg, Carroll (Fort Wayne), Chesterton, Columbus East, Evansville Mater Dei, Harrison, Indianapolis Cathedral, Northridge, Penn, Perry Meridian, Portage, South Dearborn, Western, Yorktown, Zionsville.
2018 Semi-State Championship Teams (4)
Brownsburg, Indianapolis Cathedral, Portage, Yorktown.
Brackets involving Hamilton County wrestlers
113 POUNDS
Brayden Curtis (Yorktown), junior, 36-0 vs. Caleb Oliver (Cathedral), sophomore, 36-8
Tyler Conley (Avon), freshman, 31-10 vs. Jose Diaz (Wheeler), senior, 39-3
Brayden Lowery (Roncalli), sophomore, 38-0 vs. Joe Just (Fort Wayne Carroll), senior, 33-13
Danny Tolin (Chesterton), junior, 36-9 vs. Blake Boarman (Evansville Mater Dei), freshman, 33-1
Andres Moreno (Lowell), junior, 43-0 vs. Alex Petro (Center Grove), junior, 37-6
Andrew Black (New Castle), junior 52-3 vs. Brayden Shearer (Garrett), senior, 46-2
Devon Casebolt (Castle), junior, 35-5 vs. Richard Hegedus (Portage), junior, 20-9
Kade Zadylak (Norwell), junior, 33-5 vs. Carson Eldred (Westfield), sophomore, 42-3
120 POUNDS
Logan Boe (Danville), sophomore, 34-4 vs. Zane Standridge (Fort Wayne Carroll), senior, 21-4
Alex Bautista (Hanover Central), senior, 24-4 vs. Lukasz Walendzak (Cathedral), junior, 39-4
Hunter Watts (Jimtown), junior, 40-1 vs. Tyler Fuqua (Franklin Community), freshman, 36-6
Logan Wagner (Zionsville), freshman, 36-8 vs. Tylor Triana (Hobart), senior, 32-3
Brock Peele (Portage), junior, 30-7 vs. Brendan Mattingly (Carmel), sophomore, 35-2
Raymond Rioux (Avon), sophomore, 30-9 vs. Ian Heath (Leo), freshman, 41-5
Sam Fair (Perry Meridian), junior, 43-1 vs. Vincent Sparrow (Penn), sophomore, 27-14
Logan Mosser (Adams Central), junior, 42-5 vs. Drake Campbell (Brownsburg), sophomore, 28-7
138 POUNDS
Conner Gimson (Jimtown), junior, 43-3 vs. Ian Dembowski (Valparaiso), senior, 23-6
Bailey Moore (Beech Grove), senior, 37-3 vs. Dawson Combest (Columbus East), senior, 42-2
Kristian Rumph (Portage), senior, 28-4 vs. Dylan Goudy (Western), junior, 28-10
Matthew Lee (Evansville Mater Dei), sophomore, 31-4 vs. Brailen Harrington (North Central), senior, 38-6
Zach Melloh (Cathedral), senior, 39-2 vs. Noah Hunt (Bloomington South), senior, 37-5
Preston Risner (Penn), senior, 32-9 vs. Bryton Goering (Elkhart Memorial), senior, 36-6
Blake Mulkey (Brownsburg), senior, 32-2 vs. Alexander Strueder (Fishers), senior, 33-10
Austin Moore (Central Noble), senior, 41-3 vs. Adam Davis (Culver Academies), senior, 38-2
160 POUNDS
Mason Winner (Jay County), sophomore, 44-2 vs. Wade Presson (Bloomington South), sophomore, 27-14
Benjamin Kensinger (Mishawaka), junior, 28-10, vs. Tucker Coffman (Union County), junior, 41-6
Nicholas South (Columbus East), junior, 44-1 vs. Ethan Hicks (Fort Wayne Carroll), junior, 37-10
Anthony Mosconi (Cathedral), senior, 21-8 vs. Oszkar Kasch (Crown Point), senior, 36-3
Jack Eiteljorge (Carmel), senior, 37-2 vs. Malik Hoover (Merrillville), senior, 29-12
Tucker Schank (Southridge), junior, 43-2 vs. Chandler Woenker (Bishop Luers), senior, 40-3
Diego Lemley (Chesterton), senior, 31-4 vs. Brooks Davis (Perry Meridian), junior, 38-5
Hunter Reed (Columbia City), senior, 42-1 vs. Gleason Mappes (Center Grove), senior, 42-1