If Donnie Blair is going to have his hand raised in victory, he’s going to have to beat the No. 2 kid in the state in Brownsburg’s Gunner Henry in the opening round of the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals.

Win or lose, it will be a big weekend for Wawasee wrestling, sending four competitors to the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals.

In the biggest crop to make the finals in over two decades, the Warriors will be represented at 106 by Kaleb Salazar, 113 by Cameron Senter, 152 by Hunter Miller, and 195 by Donnie Blair, all first-time state finalists. The two-day event begins Friday afternoon with first-round matchups, winners move to Saturday’s placement rounds. All wrestling will take place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“All four of these guys have been to the event before, so they are aware of the environment and the venue,” started Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner. “Now, you do have four first-time qualifiers. It’s more of how do you adjust to your opponents. Everyone down here as a state qualifier is here for a reason, they’re all really good.”

Here’s a breakdown of round one of the IHSAA State Finals for Wawasee’s four wrestlers:

106 – Kaleb Salazar (36-5) v. Matt Baylor, Milan (47-1)

Salazar comes in with his best-ever finish at the semi-state, taking second at East Chicago. In front of him and a podium placement is Baylor, who carries a lofty record but doesn’t appear on the state rankings coming from 1-A Milan. The freshman finished third at New Castle, getting a 3-2 decision over state-ranked Connor Bayliss of Mt. Vernon in his final match after suffering his first loss of the year in the semis against Perry Meridian’s Hurai Lian. Salazar, now a third generation of Salazar’s to make the show, isn’t worried about the lofty record in the least, instead focused on the goals on his own checklist.

“I just need to stick with what’s worked for me all season,” Salazar said. “Do what I do, stay in control of the match. I should be fine if I do that.”

Thoughts from Bum: “We feel really confident in Kaleb and his ability and his matchup. I’m not worried about Kaleb bouncing back off a loss at semi-state. Mason Jones (semi-state champ) is really good and was able to score points, but he only got three.”

113 – Cam Senter (31-10) v. Jalen May, Kokomo (43-0)

Another lofty record sits in front of Senter, who will see the No. 3-ranked competitor in the state in the first round. Senter punched his ticket to Indy, but lost his next two matches to finish fourth at East Chicago, his first losses dating back to the regular season. May won the Fort Wayne Semi-state bracket, a 12-4 major to continue his fantastic season. On paper, this tilts to May, but Senter has wrestled over a third of the state-ranked foes and has a handful of wins. As with Baylor, a first loss is a possibility.

“I think I have a little kick to go out and win after finishing semi-state the way I did,” Senter said. “I ended on two kind of bad losses. So if I win, I take out a one-seed and that’s all the momentum I need.”

Thoughts from Bum: “It’s perspective. Yeah, he lost two matches to end his day, but it came against two state qualifiers. Is that cause for concern? Not at all. He has the ability to win a wrestling match against a semi-state champion. On paper, he’s not favored to win, but Cam’s wrestled in big matches in big venues long enough now, he has the tools and the capability to win.”

152 – Hunter Miller (35-6) v. Zach Lang, Hamilton Southeastern (34-7)

Miller comes in off a third-place run at semi-state and draws a doable matchup against the 13th-ranked Lang. All that slowed Lang at the semi-state was the top-ranked 52 in the land, Bryce Lowery of Roncalli, who pinned Lang in the first period. Miller ran into his nemesis in the East Chicago semis, Mishawaka’s Beau Brabender, but gained redemption in the third-place match with a sudden victory over Penn’s Bryce Denton. Lang has some impressive wins to his credit, but so does Miller, who has been as technically sound as anyone on the Wawasee roster this season.

“You dream about going to state, competing against the best,” said Miller. “I’m really looking forward to going down there and seeing what I can do.”

Thoughts from Bum: “I feel very confident in Hunter. He’s made some good adjustments in practice. I’m not worried about if this kid is going to show up to perform. Sometimes wrestling friends is hard, and Hunter has been doing that a lot this season. More often than not, you compete against people that aren’t your friends. State is more of a normal setting, if that’s possible.”

195 – Donnie Blair (29-13) v. Gunner Henry, Brownsburg (31-8)

You see eight losses and think, hey, that’s not so bad. But considering Henry has taken on – and beaten – much of the state’s top talent at 195, and it’s a tall ask for Blair in his first state appearance. Henry is ranked No. 2 in the state, where the top four in the state rankings all came from the same Evansville semi-state. Henry lost to Reid Schroeder but came back and beat Kaden McConnell in the third-place match at Evansville. Blair comes in with an improbable run through East Chicago, beating state-ranked Anthony White of Crown Point and Bazle Owens of Tippy Valley en route to the finals, where he dropped his fourth match to Mishawaka’s Christian Chavez. Does Blair have another rabbit in his hat?

“Most of the season, me winning was an upset to a lot of people, but I got the wins,” Blair said. “I have to go all-in. I have to wrestle me, not let him control the match. I need to get a big move and pull the trigger, get another upset.”

Thoughts from Bum: “From a tactical perspective, we’ve made some adjustments this week in practice. We’re going to use what this kid does very well to our advantage. Rather than reinvent the wheel, let’s make this wheel work for us. There’s some things we’re going to do. Let’s see if we can shock the world two weeks in a row.”

All of the brackets can be found on the Track Wrestling site!

Leave A Comment