Wrestling notebook: Seneca and Sandwich gearing up for conference/postseason tournaments

With conference and postseason tournaments on the horizon for wrestling teams across the state, Seneca and Sandwich have a number of athletes who may soon be standing on the top row of the medal stand.

Seneca

Fighting Irish coach Todd Yegge says he is happy with where his teams are at this time of the season but said there are many goals they are still in search of.

“We obviously set high goals this season coming off many successful seasons leading into this one,” Yegge said. “We hold our program to high standards, and we have done well this year, but most of the goals are still ahead of us at this point as we start heading towards the postseason both as individuals as well as team performances.”

“[The boys] have 18 wins as a team currently, and we always set 20 wins as a dual meet goal with the hopes to get to 25. We are headed toward that, and of course, we want individual successes along the way, and we have numerous athletes headed toward that 30 individual win mark. We have seen huge improvements from last season as well as improvements within the current season.

Yegge said among the many individual successes this season, Avery Phillips at 138 pounds and Raiden Terry at 106 have stood out.

“Avery was injured almost the entire season last year as a sophomore and only participated in the regional,” Yegge said. ”He has really improved with a full season and has over 30 wins this year and has placed in almost every tournament this season. He hit the weights hard in the offseason and has built confidence in his technique through a solid work ethic in the wrestling room, which has really paid off for him with improvements we see on the mat.

“Raiden set very high goals of being the program’s first-ever state champion, and he definitely has not disappointed as he is currently ranked No. 1 in the state and has performed at a very high level all season. His only loss is up a weight class to a returning state place winner at 113. He has beaten several people considered top 106-pound wrestlers and should have a good shot at completing his goal this season, but it is never easy to win a state title.”

Yegge also said Ryker Terry (132) “is on the path to his goal of winning 30 matches, sitting at 24 wins currently with a lot of matches in front of him,” and Jeremy Gagnon (285) “has one loss on the season last weekend to a returning state placer from Chicago Hope in the semis at Reed-Custer and he has high hopes to get on the podium at state this year as well.”

The Seneca girls, according to Yegge, have shown “fantastic improvement and growth, not only in numbers but the quality and desire to improve led by coach Gavin Kurtz.”

Catalina Pacheco, Sammie Greisen, Haiden Lavarier and Haven Nicolaides are all at or approaching 30-win seasons

“We have seen the girls compete at a high level all year and are seeing improvement across the board individually,” Yegge said. “I feel all four girls are a threat to compete toward sectional and perhaps state berths.”

Sandwich

Indians coach Derek Jones feels his team, with a 21-10 dual mark, is in a good spot heading toward the final stretch of the season.

“Our expectation at the beginning of the school year was to get experience throughout the season to prepare us for the postseason,” Jones said. “I think we are doing well with getting/staying healthy and preparing ourselves to compete at our regional.”

Last weekend at the Comet Classic hosted by Reed-Custer, Cooper Corder claimed the individual championship at 144 pounds, while Joshua Kotalik (150), Kai Kern (175) and Devon Blanchard (215) placed fourth, Josh Lehman (157) fifth and Jaxson Blanchard (138) sixth.

“I feel we’ve stepped things up,” Jones said, “We are still building, and we are a young team, but we have come together as a team and started competing for each other.”