Boys wrestling state qualifier: Layne Horn

Continuing to get better, Horn heads to state for 3rd straight year

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Layne Horn

There are 224 boys wrestlers who will be competing at the IHSAA state finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis this weekend.

Of those 224, only 11 are still undefeated heading into state. Rochester 132-pound junior Layne Horn is one of those 11.

He is 46-0 on the season and 129-4 in his high school career. This trip to state is his third in a row. He will look to be a state placer for the first time when he takes on Madison-Grant’s Tripp Haisley in his first-round match. Wrestling begins at 3 p.m. today.

He has won three sectional and three regional titles in his career. Last week, he won his first semistate with a 3-0 win over Crown Point’s Landon Hawkins at East Chicago. Hawkins had beaten Horn in the 126-pound semistate semifinals in 2024.

“It feels great,” Horn said. “I’ve been trying to get that match back for a year now, and I finally did it, so I’m pretty happy.”

Horn began his semistate with a fall in 22 seconds over Highland’s Josue Ahmad. Then he beat LaPorte’s Porter Ivankovig 10-0 in the ticket round. He credited Ivankovig for being good at standing up and getting to his feet, so Horn said he countered by going to his turns more to keep him on the mat. Then he pinned Merrillville’s Warren Brown in 1:12.

“He was pretty good, but he gave up his arms really easy, so I got my bar in and got him turned and got the match over with,” Horn said.

Then came the Hawkins match. His strategy was to stay out of the bottom position.

The inactive Hawkins was called for stalling twice, giving Horn a penalty point. His other two points came on a near-fall.

“I went there with the game plan of I wasn’t going to go down on him,” Horn said. “Because he’ll  throw a leg in on you and ride you for two minutes straight. If you wrestle him on your feet, you’re going to beat him.”

Rochester coach Tristan Wilson said Horn has become a complete wrestler.

“I think that he is finally putting all of his positions together,” Wilson said. “And he’s not so one-dimensional at this point. He’s really good on his feet. His defense is good. His top game is good. His bottom game is good. So it really allows both of us to work together to figure out the best strategy for some of these matches. So I think that he’s just opening up his wrestling this year.”

Horn was asked how he has improved over the last year or two.

“I think my whole mindset is different actually, just the way I think of things and how I’m doing them and how much harder I’m hitting things at practice,” Horn said. “It just helps. … It’s just maturing.”

Horn, ranked No. 4 according to IndianaMat.com, has never faced No. 16 Haisley before. 

“I’m just working on how I wrestle,” Horn said. “Nothing changes. Keep face high, move your feet and get to your attacks.”

Another one of the 11 undefeated wrestlers is top-ranked Jake Hockaday of Brownsburg. Hockaday, a senior, won state at 106 in 2022, at 120 in 2023 and at 132 last year. He has signed to wrestle collegiately at Nebraska. He is in the opposite half of Horn’s state bracket.

“We’ll see if we can get to the finals against Hockaday,” Horn said. “I want to wrestle him. I want a piece of him. So I hope he can bring me everything he’s got.”