By JOSH BURRIS
FORT WAYNE – Three wrestlers from Wells County punched their tickets to the state finals with third-place finishes in Saturday’s New Haven semi-state tournament at the Fort Wayne Coliseum.
Bluffton’s Landon Bertsch and Levi Johns, along with Norwell’s Eli Johnson, will take the mats against the best in the state beginning this Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The top four placers in each weight class also advanced to the state finals.
It will be Bertsch’s fourth trip to state, Johnson’s second, and Johns’ first.
Bertsch (33-2) began the day in the 132-pound class with a 16-1 win by technical fall over Madison-Grant’s Nathan Knopp (24-14) and a win by fall over Fremont’s Aidan Hawkins (34-10). The Bluffton senior then went up against Manchester’s Dylan Stroud, who had not lost a match all season. Stroud (36-0) maintained his perfection with a 7-1 win by decision and defeated Adams Central’s Logan Uhlman (18-6) 10-6 to be crowned semi-state champion.
Bertsch ended the day with an 8-2 win over Northridge’s Jasper Graber (23-6) in the third-place match.
Leading up to semi-state, Bertsch picked up ACAC, sectional, and regional championships.
Johns (39-1) came into the day undefeated weight class and defeated North Miami’s Jordan Korreckt (38-6) by 8-0 major decision and East Noble’s Kealen Fuller (22-7) by an 8-3 decision. His run of perfection came to an end in the semifinals when he went up against Peru’s Jalen May (35-3), who defeated the Bluffton freshman by fall. May then defeated Delta’s Ayden Bollinger (34-4) by fall to be crowned the 106-pound champion.
Johns went up against New Haven’s Julianna Ocampo (34-4) in the third-place match and won 8-3. Like Bertsch, Johns had won ACAC, sectional, and regional championships this season as well.
Johnson also suffered his first loss of the season in the 170-pound semifinals. After pinning Cass’s Adam Bandelier (25-7) and Central Noble’s Ethan Skinner (23-6), Johnson lost by a 5-1 decision to Eastern Greentown’s Brodie Porter (41-1). Porter went on to become the weight class champion by defeating Jimtown’s Landon Buchanon (39-3) by a close 3-2 decision in the final.
Johnson ended his day with a 5-2 win over Delta’s Braxton Russell (21-5) in the third-place match. Johnson had been an NE8, sectional, and regional champion leading up to semi-state.
Three other wrestlers from the county competed, but were not able to win the first two matches necessary to qualify for state.
Bluffton sophomore Johnny Cruz (33-6), who finished as a regional runner-up the week before and won ACAC and sectional championships, started off with a win by fall over Eastern Greentown’s Tyler Wright (35-5), but could not get past New Haven’s Josh Clark (24-10). Cruz was pinned by the eventual third-place finisher of the 285-pound class.
Norwell juniors Cayden Smithley (31-7) and Tyler Luther (24-10) saw their days end early too. Smithley defeated Elkhart’s Josh Corona (29-6) by fall, but then lost to Western’s Tyler Tishner (37-0), who went on to finish as the 113-pound champion. Smithley had previously been an NE8, sectional, and regional runner-up.
Luther lost his first match to Fremont’s Jacob Behm (42-3) by a 2-1 decision. Behm went on to finish third in the 195-pound class. Luther finished third in the NE8, sectional, and regional previously.
Other weight class champions included Bellmont’s Isaac Ruble (43-1) at 120 pounds, East Noble’s Aidan Sprague (39-0) at 126 pounds, Jay County’s Cameron Clark (22-3) at 138 pounds, Cowan’s Toby Abbott (33-0) at 145 pounds, Western’s Mitchell Betz (43-0) at 152 pounds, Maconaquah’s Logan Farnell (44-1) at 160 pounds, Snider’s De’Alcapon Veazy (33-4) at 182 pounds, Concord’s Armen Koltookian (41-6) at 195 pounds, Adams Central’s Blake Heyerly (42-1) at 220 pounds, and Rochester Community’s Marshall Fishback (41-1) at 285 pounds.
Rochester Community finished first in the team standings with 82.5 points, followed by Adams Central with 80, Delta with 67.5, Western with 59, Bellmont with 54, Jay County with 52.5, New Haven with 45, Garrett with 43, Cowan with 39, and Columbia City with 34.
sports@news-banner.com
