It went about as well as it could have for Wawasee wrestling at Saturday’s Penn Wrestling Regional. Ten of the 11 Warrior competitors advanced to the next step of the state tournament series, answering the bell from a solid week of preparation.

In addition to the first steps of the mission, Wawasee celebrated two regional champions in Kaleb Salazar at 106 and Cameron Senter at 113 along with a runner-up finish at 170 from Gavin Malone. The team as a whole finished third, trailing champion Penn and runner-up Mishawaka.

The next step in the state series is this upcoming Saturday at the East Chicago Semi-state, where each wrestler will have to win two matches to finish in the top four to punch their ticket to Indianapolis and the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals, set for Feb. 17-18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The 10 Wawasee semi-state qualifiers are the most head coach Frank Bumgardner has sent to the third round, topping nine each in 2018 and 2019.

Here’s a breakdown of each of the ticket rounds for Wawasee, and what happened next.

106 – Kaleb Salazar v. Lilly Anderson, Mishawaka Marian

After Anderson needed a moment to get cleaned up after opening a wound on her forehead, Salazar wasted little time ending any doubt with a pin at 37 seconds in the first round to advance. Salazar, as mentioned, won the bracket with a second-round pin of Penn’s Travis Sears and an 8-5 decision in the final over Mishawaka’s Xavier Chavez. Salazar was trailing in the final after Chavez scored a takedown and was maneuvering for a bundle, but Salazar would slide out of the hold into an escape, takedown and near fall to regain control of the match. In another bloody matchup via Chavez, Salazar weathered multiple stoppages to get the decision. It’s Salazar’s second straight regional championship.

“To have the peaks and valleys in a match like Kaleb had in the final, that takes a lot of concentration,” said Bumgardner. “Wrestle super hard, take a two-minute break. Come right back to it, then have to stop again. That’s very tough to do. He was still composed while we were in the breaks, I thought that was a fantastic match for him to win.”

113 – Cameron Senter v. Braxton Shines, South Bend Riley

There was no real twist to this matchup, other than the direct takedown Senter scored off the jump against Shines, who couldn’t wriggle out of Senter’s hold as the mat slap came at 47 seconds. Senter would run his tournament win streak to nine straight after sweeping through Penn’s Ryann Schmidtendorff in a tough 9-7 decision then leveling the score with Mishawaka’s Josh Kite after a 4-2 decision. In the final, Senter took a 4-1 lead after a takedown to open the third, then fended off Kite’s late attempts at a shoot, evening their contentious season series at two wins apiece.

“Cam Senter has made a couple adjustments from a technique standpoint, but this is more of maturity in situations,” offered Bumgardner. “He’s wrestled for a long time and is a stud athlete. He’s seen all of this before. Now he’s putting the mental component to it and we’re seeing those results.”

120 – Luke Stuckman v. Dylan Bennett, Penn

If Wawasee had a matchup that didn’t favor them going into the day, it was at 120 against the state-ranked Bennett. The Kingsmen junior wasted no time in getting the Wawasee freshman to the mat, and put him away at 43 seconds to end the 120 season for the Warriors. Mishawaka’s Gunnar Sandefur would upset Bennett in the final with a 7-6 decision.

126 – Colten Sutton v. Garret Sparke, South Bend St. Joe

Sutton advanced to his first semi-state round with a cover in the second period. After a scoreless first, Sutton chose top on the restart and worked Sparke onto the mat, into a bundle and got the pin at 3:24 to move to next week. While all he needed to advance, Sutton would drop his next two matches to Braden Ashe of Penn and Cohen Kraemer of Plymouth, a little redemption for the Pilgrim who lost to Sutton in the sectional final. Will Mason of Mishawaka would beat Ashe in the final.

132 – Titus Taylor v. Jake Petras, Penn

An emotional upset for the Wawasee junior in round one as much of the gym expected a Penn-Mishawaka championship at 132. But that wasn’t the case as Taylor, who himself was in big trouble as Petras nearly had him wrapped up in the first, rallied to pin the Penn junior in the second. A reversal off the restart gave Taylor a window, to which he countered on Petras, got his weight to turn Petras down, and pinned him 25 seconds in to an eruption from the Wawasee (and Mishawaka) fans, and a prideful outburst from Taylor, unable to contain his emotional win. Taylor’s run would end there after a pair of losses to Bremen and Tippy Valley, leaving him in fourth heading into semi-state. Zar Walker of Mishawaka took care of business to win the bracket against Bremen’s Reece Greene.

138 – Logan Stuckman v. Delton Swiscz, South Bend Adams

Win and you’re in, and that’s what Stuckman did against Swiscz. After a minute of posturing, Stuckman found his opening and made the shot, getting Swiscz to the floor and pulling the pin at 1:03 in a business-like advancement. Stuckman would run into Mishawaka’s Mikey Robles in the semis, and Robles once again foiled Stuckman in a 1:32 pin, leaving the Wawasee senior to an 8-2 decision over Plymouth’s Seth Wright in the third-place match. Penn’s Wesley Harper would hold on for a 3-2 win over Robles in the final.

145 – Ethan Rodriguez v. Chris Peacock, Mishawaka

It was going to be a day of rematches for Rodriguez if he wanted to survive a loaded 145 bracket. Round one saw Rodriguez reunite with Peacock, which Rodriguez ran his 2022-23 record against the Caveman to 3-0 with a gritty 7-3 decision. Rodriguez had a 4-0 lead in the second period before Peacock worked Rodriguez into a very compromising hold, getting a three nearfall before time ran out as Rodriguez was arched for his tournament life for what seemed like an eternity. Off the restart for the third, the two sparred without consequence until Rodriguez got Peacock to the mat into a five-count to put enough distance in the finish. In a rematch from the Al Smith, Penn’s Evan Eutsey ran more executed offense in a 9-3 decision, leaving Rodriguez to take third in a testy 13-10 matchup against Riley’s Trayvon Fleming. Plymouth’s Wesley Smith reigned as champ with a 5-2 win over Eutsey.

152 – Hunter Miller v. Julian Smith, South Bend St. Joe

Not a lot of fireworks in the opening round for Miller, who handled Smith rather well in a 1:15 pin. In the semis against Penn’s Bryce Denton, Miller fell behind 4-1 after a period, then a Denton takedown in the second ended in a pin to advance Denton to the final and Miller to the third-place match. Miller won his next one against Riley’s Jamaiel Lowe, 6-4, and Denton won his against Mishawaka’s Beau Brabender, 7-5.

170 – Gavin Malone v. Isaiah Rivas, South Bend Riley

A very top-heavy bracket at Penn was 170, one many of the spectators came to see. Much of the buzz during the week was a potential rematch between Penn’s Zymarion Hollyfield and Mishawaka’s Isaac Valdez, fueled by mat fireworks and fan fighting at the sectional. In the middle was Malone, who maintained total control of Rivas with a 15-1 lead before putting away the Wildcat with a pin at 4:42. Hollyfield was waiting in the semis, and Malone wasn’t interested in taking a back seat to the spectator shenanigans. A 5-4 first period had both gain a takedown, and Malone working out of a near fall to get a reversal. The second had Malone on bottom, get the escape, then spear Hollyfield to the mat and into a pin at 3:07 which set off a wild celebration in the Wawasee camp, with Malone and his mates on the deck, and leave both the corner fan bases in black and maroon wondering what happened. The maroon camp had the final say as Valdez continued to have Malone’s number, tech falling Malone 22-4 in a dominant performance to earn the blue ribbon. Notable on the other mat was Triton brawler Elijah Cox’s resounding 10-4 walkover of Hollyfield in the third-place match, sending the defending sectional champ to fourth and a really bad spot for the loaded semi-state bracket.

“That weight class with Gavin is pretty dang tough,” noted Bumgardner. “This week was a major step forward, especially with that win over Hollyfield. The risks he took today to score points compared to last week was vastly different. Zeke just has his number right now. Hopefully we see him again next week, which means that we both punched tickets to state.”

182 – Cameron Zimmerman v. Caiden Williams, Mishawaka

In the second matchup of Wawasee v. Mishawaka opening round tussles, Zimmy made it 2-for-2 for the boys in green with a tidy 46-second pin of Williams. One shot, one takedown, one wrap-up for Zimmy, advancing to his third semi-state. In the semis, Zimmy ran into a buzzsaw in Penn freshman Vincent Freeman, who had his way in an 18-7 major, en route to a championship over Warsaw’s Jaxson Walters. Zimmy would rally and shake off a balky shoulder from the Freeman match to beat Riley’s Jeirmi Scales with an 8-6 decision, turning a 5-4 deficit in the third period into an 8-5 advantage.

195 – Donnie Blair v. Justin Smith, South Bend Riley

Smith didn’t give an inch to Blair for much of the first period other than an academic takedown by the Wawasee junior midway through. After getting an escape to open the second, Blair and Smith danced for awhile until Blair found his shot and took it, getting Smith uncomfortable and into a pin at 3:39. The aftermath was another rematch against Mishawaka’s Christian Chavez, who worked over Blair for a third time with a pin at 5:08 despite Blair hanging on into the third period. Blair came back to gain redemption on LaVille’s Paul DeWitt in the third-place match, winning 6-1 to upper hand a sectional finals loss to DeWitt. Chavez was the better man in the final, beating Valley’s Bazle Owens, 14-6, for the blue ribbon.

Final thoughts from Bumgardner: “Our mood in the room this week was fantastic. We thought, being realistic, we had a maximum opportunity to move on 10, and we hit maximum. That’s what we’re taking. It’s been a while since we hit maximum potential like that. So to take that many kids to semi-state is really big. I thought we had a couple really big matches in the opening round go our way, and that was big.

“We came in here, got 10 guys going to semi-state and distanced ourselves from the fourth-place team. Penn and Mishawaka are just on a different level right now. We’re talking about a Penn team that beat Mishawaka here, and Mishawaka was a Team State champion. Penn finished fifth in the biggest class. We’re talking two of the top 10 teams in the state, and our advancing numbers are right there with them. Is it a moral victory for us to finish third? No. We still want to compete with everyone regardless. But we can feel good about our performance, and that’s where we are at today.”