Wawasee will get another week of work in as one of 16 teams at the IHSGW Girls Wrestling Team State tournament this weekend at Fishers HS. (Photo by Mike Deak)

It was just a couple weeks ago Wawasee entered the inaugural IHSAA girls wrestling state tournament, and one-by-one, the Lady Warriors either met their fate, or advanced to the next step of their journey. Seven made the regional round, two seniors thought they had reached the end of the road, Kenidi Nine made the state finals and placed seventh, and that was supposed to have capped the season.

The Indiana High School Girls Wrestling Coaches Association had announced before the inaugural IHSAA season that it desired to have a team state tournament congruent to what the IHSAA conducted as its individual tournament. The format harkened back to the olden days of the boys tournament series, where the individual state finals was piggybacked by a team state the following week.

Enter Pat Culp, girls wrestling ambassador in northern Indiana, and a phone call to Wawasee girls wrestling head coach Miguel Rodriguez. Originally, the plan from the coaches association was to have all 16 of the sectional championship teams converge to compete. As some of those teams worked through the IHSAA tournament schedule, that reality morphed slightly, and a couple of those sectional champions declined the invitation. That left the association to fill the gaps, where Culp didn’t need to do much convincing for Rodriguez to rally back his troops.

Wawasee, which will represent the Goshen Sectional, was third in the Goshen team standings behind champion Garrett and runner-up East Noble. With both programs declining invites, Wawasee was next up and answered the call. The other program to win a sectional but decline an invite was New Haven, the Lady Bulldogs home to one of the most notable wrestling families in the girls game right now in sister act Juliana, Ysabelle and Lanessa Ocampo, Ysabelle and Lanessa both state placers with Ysabelle winning a title last week at 115. Juliana declared eligible for the boys state tournament and is currently ranked No. 1 and undefeated at 106 pounds. Rochester, which was third also behind Columbia City, will represent the Columbia City Sectional in New Haven’s place.

Otherwise, the other 14 sectional champs are in, but some pockets of depth eliminated a few of the big dogs from the mix. Last week’s state champion, Columbus East, third place Franklin Community, and fourth place Whiteland all were located in the West Washington Sectional, but Whiteland won the sectional, which keeps the state champs and powerhouse Franklin Community out of the tourney. With the IHSAA using the track and field scoring format that placers hold the values of the team, only three of the top 16 are in this field represented by No. 2 Merrillville, No. 4 Whiteland and No. 6 Jay County.

Whiteland is who Wawasee draws in the first round, and Whiteland is loaded. Located due south of Indianapolis, the Warriors are top-heavy with its lightweights. Whiteland had six wrestlers in the IHSAA State Finals, and four of them were placers in Kaitlynn Fouty (105, third), Brooke Lynn Fuller (110, second), Marli Woods (115, seventh) and Mikayla Perkins (120, fifth), along with Kahlyn Fouty (130) and Addison Emberton (145). Whiteland also had five others qualify for the regional round and two more active in the sectional, it’s only void at 170 for the individual tournament.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez checked in with his team’s status, and he’ll have to get creative as life is getting in the way of the late-season bonanza. Wawasee fielded 10 spots at the Goshen Sectional, and will have to move some names around as the coach noted up to six girls could be out for the tournament due to illness, injury or out-of-wrestling matters.

“Some girls will be stepping up and filling some spots that are vacant,” noted Rodriguez.

On Wawasee’s half of the bracket, if it can navigate Whiteland, the winner of Lawrence Central and Penn will be the quarterfinal opponent. Western v. Rochester and Frankton v. Franklin Central is the other adjoining pod.

Action will take place Saturday at Fishers High School, team duals beginning at approximately 9:30 a.m. Teams are guaranteed three matches in the format, the tournament ranking up to 12th place in matchplay.

For live results, visit the USA Bracketing page for the IHSGW Team State Tournament.