East Chicago semistate preview: Horn, Beck seeking 4th state trips; Gard, Holloway also looking to make it back

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The nine members of the Rochester boys wrestling team that will wrestle at today’s East Chicago semistate bring somewhat different wrestling histories to the event.

Layne Horn (132) and Brant Beck (165) are returning state placers who are seeking their fourth state trip.

Senior Declan Gard (HWT) is a returning state placer seeking to make it back.

Junior Grant Holloway (126) made it to state two years ago at 106 and is seeking to make it back after not wrestling last year.

Derek Wortley (190) is a sophomore and a two-time semistate qualifier.

Junior Jackson Robbins (120) is a first-time semistate qualifier who represented Caston as a freshman in 2024 before sitting out in transfer limbo in 2025.

Mason Hisey (215) is a senior and a first-time semistate qualifier. Kale Shotts (175) is a junior and a first-time semistate qualifier. Tanner Horn (113) is a freshman.

They will try to make it through what might be wrestling’s toughest day. A wrestler at semistate must win his first two matches in order to clinch a state finals spot. If a wrestler does that, then they will wrestle twice more Saturday.

A wrestler that loses within the first two rounds is eliminated. The second round, also known as the “ticket” round since the winner earns a “ticket” to state, might be the most nerve-wracking in Indiana high school sports.

Jackson Robbins

Robbins improved to 38-5 after pinning his way through the Penn regional last week. He is 6-0 in the postseason with five falls and a technical fall. Bremen’s Nic Slusser had an unbeaten regular season, but Robbins beat him by tech fall in the sectional final and by a first-period fall in the regional final.

Robbins lost twice earlier in the year to North Miami’s undefeated Braylon McIntire and also has a loss to potential foe Zavier Acuna of Portage.

Rochester coach Tristan Wilson was asked about how Robbins’ earlier losses made him better.

“Jackson is a great wrestler,” Wilson said. “He doesn’t have a ton of high-level competition experience, so him having those matches early, it just really highlights to us what we need to work on in the room. Mentally through that, he’s not afraid to lose, so he’s willing to take risks and try new things that he’s learning in the practice room out on the mat. He’s a kid that you can show something on Friday, and then Saturday he's hitting it. He’s very good at thinking and retaining information. So just throughout the year of us just working in different positions, he’s just improving at a rapid rate.”

Robbins, ranked 14th, drew Parker Bernard of Lafayette Jeff. A potential ticket match with No. 17 Nathan Scott of New Prairie could follow.

Grant Holloway

Like Robbins, Holloway is 6-0 with five falls and a tech fall so far in the postseason. Four of his five falls have taken less than a minute, including a 14-second bulldozing of Mishawaka’s Brylen Swiger in his regional ticket match at Penn.

Holloway’s move up three weight classes has increased his inventory of moves, according to Wilson.

“Just a lot of confidence,” Wilson said. “The last time he wrestled, he wrestled 106. Now he’s at 126, and it’s like a completely different feel. So it took him a little bit to get his rhythm and to figure out what his style is. We know where we like to wrestle, and we know where we don’t like to wrestle, and then we know how to get out of places where we don’t want to wrestle. He’s really good at wrestling in spots where he’s good, and he’s really good on his feet and sequencing from Move A – if that gets shut down, immediately going from B to C. A lot of that is just wrestling extremely hard and not being afraid to get tired and pushing himself with his conditioning too.”

Holloway will face Bricen Kirk-Banks of McCutcheon in the first round. A matchup with top-ranked Noel Verduzco of Lowell, who was upset in the Crown Point regional final to Crown Point’s Colin Strayer, in the ticket round is a possibility. Verduzco finished third at state at 113 last year.

Layne Horn, Brant Beck, Declan Gard

Wilson said all three wrestled “lights out” at the regional and praised all three for trying for falls to get every possible point for the team that they could.

Horn is 6-0 with six falls in the postseason. He has spent 4:08 on the mat total in the postseason. None of the six matches have lasted longer than 1:06.

Beck is 6-0 with five falls and a tech fall. Only two opponents have seen the second period against him.

Gard is 6-0 with five falls and a major decision.

“They were trying to win a regional title,” Wilson said. “So they were taking care of business. They were looking for the falls at every point. They were trying to bonus to score as many points as possible for the team, and they did exactly that.”

Gard might be looking more dominant heading into semistate than at any point last season when he finished fourth at state.

“He is at a better point mentally with a lot of extra work that he’s doing outside of practice, and it’s sharpening him for when he is wrestling,” Wilson said. “Everyone practices after school, but to have something else that you’re doing to mentally push you, and you can think on that when you’re wrestling, like, ‘Oh, I should win because I did this, this and that extra,’ and it’s helped him and his confidence and his wrestling too.”

Horn will take on New Prairie’s Colton Newgent in the first round. If he wins, his ticket round opponent would be either Rafael Sanchez Jr. of McCutcheon or Aidan Witry of Lake Central. A potential matchup with Crown Point’s Gavin Lewis, who was third at state at 120 last year, would happen in the semifinals.

Beck drew Munster’s Kaleb Moore in the first round. A ticket round matchup would be with Crown Point’s Benjamin Clark or Harrison’s Carter Heriges. Matthew Staples from New Prairie, the reigning state champ at 157, is in the opposite half of the bracket. Staples beat Beck in last year’s semistate final at 157.

Kale Shotts

Shotts is 5-1 in the postseason with four falls and a technical fall. His lone loss was to Penn’s Vinny Freeman by tech fall in the regional final.

Shotts was a regional qualifier at 144 in 2024 as a freshman, but he’s moved up four weight classes and posted a 37-5 record.

Wilson was asked where Shotts is at mentally after losing to Freeman.

“He’s in a good spot,” Wilson said. “He knew that that was going to be a tough match. Vinny is really good, and he’s trying to win a state title this year. I thought Kale could have wrestled better in a lot of the positions, but he’s not destroyed by that loss, but he’s fine. He’s ready for semistate now.”

Shotts will take on Chesterton’s Patrick Mochen in the first round. He could face Rensselaer’s Carter Ogborn, whom he already has a win over this season, in the ticket round.

Mason Hisey

Hisey is 25-14 on the season and 5-2 in the postseason. His postseason losses have been to Winamac’s Tearson Wolford in the sectional final and to Penn’s Landon Reynolds in the regional semifinals.

Perhaps his most impressive match in his postseason run was a fall in 3:47 over South Bend Washington’s Jalil Neeley in the regional ticket round.

“Mason wrestled really well,” Wilson said. “His first round match, that’s a style matchup that isn’t always great for Mason – a really good athlete who moves well. Mason isn’t the most gifted wrestler athletically. He uses what his body gives him, so he knows how to use his length and all of that. But that was a tough match for him, and he really pulled that out and got the fall for us. I know he was disappointed in the Penn match. I would have liked to seen him wrestle a little bit longer, but he got caught in a weird position he doesn’t really practice a lot, so that just happens, but then for him to battle back in a tough match for third was great for him and his confidence.”

Hisey will take on Keegan Gibbons of Chesterton in the first round. If he wins, Munster’s Andrew Kooi looms as a ticket round opponent.

Derek Wortley

Wortley is 32-11 on the season, including 4-2 in the postseason. All four of his postseason wins have been by fall.

Like Hisey, he finished second in the sectional and third in the regional.

His postseason losses have been to Bremen’s Derek Miller in the sectional final and to Penn’s Alessio Retzloff in the regional semifinals. He also lost to Retzloff in last year’s regional semifinals.

Asked about Wortley’s confidence, Wilson speaks of the progress Wortley has made since last year.

“His confidence is good,” Wilson said. “Last year, when he wrestled the same Penn kid, he lost 16-0, and he had no offense and no answer to anything in any position. And when the match started, Derek took him down twice in a row. I think Derek just got really excited because Derek knows how hard he works. He knows how much he puts in, but sometimes when he’s wrestling, he’ll let his emotions get the best of him, and it puts him in a bad spot sometimes because when you’re listening to your emotions, you’re not thinking clearly, and he got caught not thinking for a second against a good kid, and he got caught in a weird cradle.”

Wortley will butt heads with Merrillville’s Bryce Montgomery in the first round. If he wins, a matchup with No. 13 Cayden Yuran of Lowell is a possibility.

Tanner Horn

Horn is 32-7 on the season and 3-2 with two falls and a major decision so far in the postseason. He won the sectional and then finished fourth in the regional.

He claimed his semistate spot when he pinned South Bend Washington’s Samuel Malstaff with 35 seconds left but then lost to South Bend Riley’s Roman Marquez and Warsaw’s Ivahn Martinez.

Martinez avenged a loss to Horn in the sectional final, winning 1-0 with a third-period escape.

“He just didn’t seem like he was locked in (Saturday), I guess,” Wilson said. “He was kind of spacy. He wasn’t wrestling through all the positions. I like a lot of that is just more mental. This is a really long wrestling season, especially for a freshman that hasn’t wrestled this long. I think the season’s wearing on him, but we’re going to fix it this week, and he’s going to be ready to go for whoever he has the first round at semistate.”

Horn will face Cruz Orueta of Lake Central in the first round. Orueta finished sixth at state at 106 last year. The winner will face the winner of the match between West Central’s Isaac Warner and New Prairie’s Nicholas Freeze in the ticket round.

Zebra notes

• Clarence Garrett’s high school wrestling career ended with a loss by tech fall to Mishawaka’s Colby Smith in the ticket round. Garrett, who started wrestling as an 11th-grader, went 20-18.

“I really enjoyed working with Clarence,” Wilson said. “He is a really easy kid to get behind. He works really hard. He doesn’t give you any excuses. He has nagging injuries. He’s been injured since football, and you would never know. He comes in every single day, and he just wants to get better. He’s found a love for the sport late in his high school career, and my biggest regret is not pushing him harder to wrestle in middle school.”

• Braxton Hester was the sectional champion at 106, but he did not wrestle at the regional and was replaced by an alternate. Wilson said Hester had “a bad weight cut” and “didn’t take care of what he needed to do off the mat.”

“The biggest hold-back on Braxton is Braxton,” Wilson said. “He had a lot of opportunities to figure out what to do this week, and he didn’t. … He has a future, but it’s up to him.”

Winamac

All three of Winamac’s semistate qualifiers are juniors, but Tearson Wolford’s history stands out in that he is a returning semistate qualifier from last year when he made it at 190.

Now up a weight class, he will try to become the second straight Winamac 215-pounder to make state after Talen Garner did last year.

Wolford is 38-2 with both of his losses to conference rival Hartley Hoover of North Miami. Wolford is 6-0 in the postseason with five falls, all in the first period, and a tech fall.

Wolford will take on LaPorte’s Lucas Marshall in the first round. West Lafayette’s Martin Gazo, ranked 23rd, is a potential obstacle in the ticket round.

As for Asher Jones and Rian Shell, they are first-time semistate qualifiers. Both lost in the regional ticket round last year. Shell has had more of a growth spurt, moving up from 138 to 157 while Jones moved up from 144 to 150.

Jones starts off with No. 17 Cayden Webb of Rensselaer. Shell drew No. 21 Justin Hettinger of Harrison.