L. Horn, Garrett Beck, Hisey, Gard get falls on senior night, help Zebras beat Triton

Val T.
20 minutes ago
4 min read

Beck, Hisey both verbally commit to Wabash College

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Declan Gard Brant Beck Mason Hisey

Layne Horn Clarence Garrett Braddock Behling

Seniors on the Rochester boys wrestling team showed off a career’s worth of excellence in a 74-6 win over visiting Triton at the RHS gym Thursday.

The non-seniors also showed their superiority.

Braxton Hester (106), Layne Horn (132), Clarence Garrett (157), Brant Beck (165), Derek Wortley (190), Mason Hisey (215) and Declan Gard (HWT) all won by fall for the Zebras.

In addition, Carlisle Clark (150) and Kale Shotts (175) won by technical fall, and Tanner Horn (113) won by major decision.

In addition, Jackson Robbins (120), Grant Holloway (126) and Caden Biernacki (144) won by forfeit.

Layne Horn, Garrett, Beck, Hisey and Gard are all seniors wrestling their final regular season home matches. Braddock Behling was out due to an undisclosed injury, and Clark filled in for him.

Horn used a cradle to pin Rylan Stetzel in 34 seconds and record his 164th career win and his 122nd pin.

Beck got his 160th win and his 75th pin when he took care of Gage Peltz, the Hoosier North champion at 165, in 1:44.

Gard got his 114th career win and passed his brother Greyson on the career wins list with a fall in 1:37 over Greg Bradley.

Garrett needed only 1:03 to bag Zagan Horter.

Hisey finished the night with a 53-second pin over Franklin Sullivan.

Beck and Hisey both made news before the meet when they announced they would both attend Wabash College as part of senior introductions. Beck will wrestle there while Hisey, a star discus thrower, will be on the track team. Gard has already signed with Wabash for wrestling.

“They can’t do one thing without the other,” Rochester coach Tristan Wilson said of Beck and Gard, lifelong friends. “They’re both going – great program, great facilities, great academics. I’m happy for them.”

Layne Horn announced he will join the workforce after graduation.

As for the non-seniors, Hester got three takedowns before finally pinning Julien Mitterling in 59 seconds.

Wortley, a sophomore, gave up first takedown to senior Colton Reynolds but came back to lead 4-3 after two periods. He would build the lead to 7-3, give up a penalty point and an escape to make it 7-5 before pinning Reynolds in 4:53.

Both Rochester and Triton will compete at the Plymouth sectional, and Wortley’s win might have been the most significant of the night when it comes to sectional seeding.

“It was important,” Wilson said. “That kid’s a solid wrestler. He went with Derek all three periods until the very end. So yeah, it was a lot more important than I initially thought. … He wrestled well and gutted it out. We had a good week of practice, and he looked good.”

Rochester was wrestling for the first time in 12 days. They finished fourth out of 12 teams at the Class 1A Team State Duals at Franklin Jan. 10.

Wilson called Team State Duals a “tough day.” Rochester started with a win over Northfield to get to the semifinals but then followed with losses to eventual champion North Miami and Southmont. He called the team “tough, gritty and ready to go.”

Then comes a week of preparation before the Plymouth sectional.

“We needed to kind of reset as a team a little bit,” Wilson said. “We had a lot on Team State. So now that’s over, we’re just focused on postseason. So a lot more individual-specific things or some certain things I’m working with small groups on around the room.”

The Three Rivers Conference meet is at Maconaquah at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Sectionals follow a week later.

“I would think so,” Wilson said, when asked if Rochester has a chance for greater postseason success this year as compared to last year. “I would assume. I’m not looking ahead of anything. Conference is a weird tournament because everyone’s kind of at the same level, so it’s a little harder to win it. But for sectional … we should have a lot more success – returning three state medalists and then on top of that adding Jackson, Grant, Kale and everyone on another year (like) Clarence and Big Guy (Hisey).”

Rochester wrestling notes

Addie Coria, Lilly Gerald and Laine Peppler, seniors from the Rochester girls wrestling team, were also recognized in prematch ceremonies. Peppler finished third at 170 at the state finals Jan. 16. Gerald was a state placer in both 2023 and 2025.
David Rowe scored Triton’s only points on a first-period fall over Ayden Smith at 138.
Rochester’s Navan Goodman defeated Triton’s Aiden Emkow on a technical fall (20-4) at 175 in the night’s only JV match.
Latest state rankings, per IndianaMat: Robbins No. 20 at 120; Holloway No. 26 at 126; Layne Horn No. 3 at 132; Beck No. 2 at 165; Shotts No. 16 at 175; Gard No. 12 at heavyweight.

Rochester 74, Triton 6

HWT – Declan Gard (RHS) def. Greg Bradley (TRI), fall, 1:37

106 – Braxton Hester (RHS) def. Julien Mitterling (TRI), fall, 0:59

113 – Tanner Horn (RHS) def. Grant Williams (TRI), 12-0

120 – Jackson Robbins (RHS) wins by forfeit.

126 – Grant Holloway (RHS) wins by forfeit.

132 – Layne Horn (RHS) def. Rylan Stetzel (TRI), fall, 0:34

138 – David Rowe (TRI) def. Ayden Smith (RHS), fall, 1:38

144 – Caden Biernacki (RHS) wins by forfeit.

150 – Carlisle Clark (RHS) def. Kyle Cummins (TRI), technical fall, 21-6, 2:37

157 – Clarence Garrett (RHS) def. Zagan Horter (TRI), fall, 1:03

165 – Brant Beck (RHS) def. Gage Peltz (TRI), fall, 1:44