By Stu Swartz
Jimtown posted the most team points while Goshen had the most individual champions (six) in a high school wrestling sectional Saturday at Elkhart Memorial.
The Jimmies, with just a little more depth throughout the lineup, finished with 248 points.
Goshen notched 231.5 to top the 218 of Elkhart Memorial which had captured the Northern Lakes Conference crown a week ago at NorthWood.
Fairfield finished with 126, Concord 120, Elkhart Central 114.5, Northridge 102 and NorthWood 64.5.
The top four finishers in each weight class advance to an individual regional next Saturday at the Goshen High School gym.
From there, the top three out of the Goshen regional move on to an individual semistate Feb. 13 at the Allen County Coliseum in Fort Wayne.
The Jimtown team advances to a team regional Wednesday in Baugo Township.
The Jimmies meet Prairie Heights while Wawasee goes against state powerhouse Mishawaka in the first round. Winners then clash for the regional team championship.
Individually, Jimtown and Memorial both advanced 12 wrestlers to Goshen next Saturday, the Redskins nine, Central six, Fairfield, Concord and Northridge five each and NorthWood two.
It was a rewarding final round for Goshen which led team standings at one point during the long tournament, but struggled during the “wrestle back” session when Jimtown took command.
Redskin sectional champions are sophomore Ryan Ntende at 140 pounds, senior Andrew Stegelmann at 145, senior Francisco Garcia at 160, senior J.B. Singer at 171, junior Brandon Dillenbeck at 189 and senior Jacob Clark at 285.
Others on the top step of the podium Saturday were NorthWood sophomore Bryce Hershberger at 103, Jimmie freshman Nick Crume at 112, Concord senior Steven Ross at 119, Memorial senior Kevin Kelly at 125, Jimtown junior Collin Crume at 130, Jimmie senior Jeremy Hill at 135, Memorial senior Zack Corpe at 152 and Memorial senior Shane Hendrickson at 215.
Hershberger now has a 19-12 record, Nick Crume 37-4, Ross 32-1, Kelly 23-9, Collin Crume 31-4, Hill 40-0, Ntende 31-6, Stegelmann 31-7, Corpe 26-2, Garcia 31-5, Singer 35-5, Dillenbeck 25-3, Hendrickson 25-9 and Clark 31-6.
Goshen finalists seemed more relaxed in the championship round after a realization that they were likely out of the team title running.
Redskin coach Jim Pickard said, “We certainly had our ups and downs, our highs and lows.
“To have six champions is tremendous. None of those guys had easy draws and some defeated guys they had lost to earlier in the season.
“The wrestle-back round was obviously tough for us as we dropped from first to third in the team standings. But, then we made a nice comeback to take second place.
“In a way, it’s probably good to have the team portion of our season over. Now, we can concentrate on getting as many of these nine individuals on to the semistate.
“This was a very difficult sectional. Jimtown is undefeated on the dual meet season, we had one loss and Memorial two. Any of the three could win a lot of sectionals around the state.”
Travis Hanna of Goshen is going to regional at 103 pounds; Brett Martz of Fairfield and Devin Puckett of Northridge at 112; Gary Houser of Northridge at 119; Fulvio DeSantiago of Concord and Zack Rhymer of NorthWood at 125; Nestor Ruizvelasco of Concord at 130; Travis Pickard of Goshen and Jason Watts of Northridge at 135; Drew Lopez of Concord at 140; Eric Miller of Northridge at 145; Chris Hogendobler of Concord and Jerad Stump of Fairfield at 152; Adam Kolakowski of Fairfield at 160; Alex Hostetler of Fairfield at 171; Jordan Bontrager of Fairfield at 189; Brandon Daniels of Goshen and Rollie White of Northridge at 215.
Winning fifth-place matches were Concord freshman Anthony Datena at 103, Goshen sophomore Austin Maynard at 112; Fairfield junior Ricky Masters at 119; Fairfield senior Josh Yates at 125; NorthWood senior Chase Anglemyer at 130; Central senior T.J. Barrett at 135; Fairfield sophomore Dustin Hinen at 140; Concord sophomore Zach Herrington at 145; Goshen junior Troy Pickard at 152; Concord junior Blade Urednick at 160; Northridge sophomore Jason Miller at 171; Jimtown senior Justin Wagers at 189; Jimtown sophomore Dustin Chafin at 215; and Northridge senior Matt Maher at 275.
