A lot of early season posturing was in play Saturday as the girls and varsity boys were in marquee contests.

The girls took part in the massive Sarah Hildebrandt Invitational at Penn High School, split into a colossus series of brackets that featured 57 teams of varsity and JV competition. The boys headed down to the Kosciusko County seat and took part in the Warsaw Super Duals, taking on five programs in yet another jam-packed slate of action.

At Warsaw

The Warriors would rattle off wins in all five duals – some by the skin of their teeth – but got five wins just the same to lay claim to the Duals title. Highlight moments from the Duals included two huge wins from Ethan Rodriguez, getting a pin in the final match of the dual to push past Penn, 42-39. A round later, Rodriguez again was needed and threw down a tech fall to help Wawasee slip past Fort Wayne Northrop, 37-36. In Wawasee’s 39-37 win over Purdue Poly, Carson Nine was matched up against No. 3 state-ranked Silas Foster in a ‘don’t get pinned’ scenario, Wawasee clinging to a six-point lead. While most wrestlers don’t want to lose by major decision, Nine held off Foster’s desperate attempts for a pin to help the Warriors in round three.

Wawasee also claimed wins against Concord, 45-33, and Warsaw, 39-32, to finish off the day. Of note, Wawasee was giving up 12 points in each contest without active 106 and 285 slots filled in.

Wawasee had undefeated days from Kaleb Salazar at 113, Cam Senter at 126, Ethan Rodriguez and Anthony Hughes at 144 (Rodriguez one round at 150), and Donnie Blair at 190.

Full results from Warsaw were not immediately available.

At Penn

The Lady Warriors sent 12 to the House that Hildebrandt once dwelled, nine in varsity matches in The Palace and three more in the alternate gym for JV contests.

A total of 400 girls were registered for battle, a record for the Invitational. Five of the nine varsity Lady Warriors placed, led by Kenidi Nine being the only to end her day with a win. Nine won her first match against Penn’s Addison Loomis, then lost to New Pal’s Ella Morris in the semis. In the third-place match, Nine would rally with a 9-7 win over East Noble’s Elaine Leins. The other Lady Warrior to compete on the right side of their bracket was Alex Garcia, who wrestled with a heavy heart and won her first matchup against Lafayette Harrison’s Marlee Stonebreaker. But from there Garcia fell to Bremen and defaulted the final match to take fourth.

Ciara Rodriguez, Tiana Senders and Cyanna Leon all finished sixth, Rodriguez claiming three pins en route while Senders didn’t win any battles, but had two forfeits to reach the fifth-place match at 170. Leon was 1-2, winning the middle match of her three contests.

Naviya Leon and Dez Vetor both were 1-2 in JV contests to finish fourth and sixth, respectively, while Rylin Vanlaningham won a pair of duals in her day of work, placements not confirmed for her 155 bracket.

Full results from the Sarah Hildebrandt Invite can be found here at Track Wrestling.