North Miami at state: Hoover becomes first Warrior to make state title match, finishes 2nd; Moore, McIntire also place

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

North Miami senior Hartley Hoover shows off his state medal after finishing second at 215 pounds at the IHSAA boys state wrestling finals in Indianapolis Saturday. Hoover finished 47-1 with his only loss to Crown Point’s Ceasar Salas 7-0 in the state title match. Hoover, who was ranked No. 6 by IndianaMat.com coming into the state finals, became the first North Miami wrestler to ever make it to a state title match. Hoover was one of five North Miami wrestlers to make the state finals and one of three to place. North Miami finished in 12th place in the team standings with 36 points.

North Miami’s Hartley Hoover did not win a boys wrestling state championship at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Saturday, but the 215-pound senior’s runner-up performance is symbolic of a program’s long rise to the IHSAA elite.

Hoover’s first and only loss – he finished the season 47-1 – was a 7-0 decision to Crown Point sophomore Ceasar Salas in the state championship match. Salas, who is ranked No. 1 in the state per IndianaMat.com and No. 13 in the nation per si.com, got a double-leg takedown in the first period and an escape and another takedown on a counter in the second period.

“Very talented,” North Miami coach Bill Hoover said of Salas. “Very good on his feet. Hard to game-plan for a special athlete like he is.”

Hartley Hoover, who came in ranked No. 6 per IndianaMat, backed up his tech fall win over Franklin Central’s Andrew Harmon Friday with a 4-1 sudden victory win on a takedown with five seconds left over No. 3 Kellen Fellure of Franklin Community in the quarterfinals and a 13-5 win over Perry Meridian’s No. 4 Seer Godwise in the semifinals.

Neither Hartley Hoover nor Godwise scored in the first period, though it took some nifty scrambling from Hoover to keep the match scoreless. Hoover started on bottom in the second period and got a reversal for a 2-0 lead. He let Godwise up for an escape but got a takedown with 33 seconds left to lead 5-1.

Godwise got an escape to start the third period, but another Hoover takedown made it 8-2, and he continued to control Godwise from the top before putting Godwise to his back and getting four back points.

Hoover led 12-2. The match finished contentiously. Godwise got an escape and two stalling penalty points. Godwise was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct foul and received a point penalty as the match ended. The Perry Meridian team also received a three-point penalty after the match for Godwise’s continued unsportsmanlike conduct.

“He had a great tournament overall,” coach Hoover said of Hartley. “Beating two kids that were ranked above him, we knew it was going to be a tall task, but we knew we had the tools to do it. We put a game plan together. He executed it perfectly. Each match was different. Each game plan was different. He went out and executed and came through for us.”

Hoover; Rex Moore, who finished fourth at 126; and Braylon McIntire, who finished eighth at 120, are North Miami’s first state placers since coach Hoover climbed the podium in 1995.

Moore, who was eighth at 113 last year when he wrestled for Manchester and who also qualified for state in 2023 and 2024, started the day undefeated but finished 42-2. He defeated Tri-West’s Eli Ogle 14-5 in the quarterfinals to start his day but lost to eventual state champion Maximus Quiroz of Chesterton 6-2 in the semifinals and to Lowell’s Noel Verduzco 11-1 in the third-place match.

“Rex coming into our room helped our room obviously,” coach Hoover said. “But I think the guys that were in our room also helped him with Braylon McIntire also being a state qualifier in the room with him and then some of our coaches Dylan Stroud, a former state placer and state qualifier (from Manchester High School) in the room, just constantly grinding … That constant grind in the room, I think, brought Rex up another level.”

McIntire went 0-3 on the day and finished 44-4. Wrestling with a sleeve on his right knee after injuring it in his first-round 3-2 win against Rochester’s Jackson Robbins Friday, McIntire lost by tech fall (15-0) in 2:21 to eventual state champion Case Bell of Brownsburg in the quarterfinals, to Crown Point’s Jacob Powers 4-2 in the consolation round and to Merrillville’s Ethan Alvarez 9-4 in the seventh-place match.

“At the end of his match (against Robbins), they were in a little bit of a scramble position, and I think the whistle blew, and Braylon relaxed maybe a tad too early, and the Rochester kid continued to roll through and twisted his knee at the end,” coach Hoover said. “I don’t think there was any ill will. But he tweaked his knee, and he has a Grade 2 LCL strain. So he was limping. He was definitely not 100 percent, but he gutted it out his best today.”

Two other North Miami wrestlers, Jordan Simon (190) and Logan Smith (HWT), lost in their first-round matches Friday. Smith is expected back next year along with fellow junior Hunter Duncan, a semistate qualifier.

“Jordan Simon in particular has been wrestling along with Hartley and Braylon since they were in kindergarten,” coach Hoover said. “Jordan and Hartley are practice partners, and for them to be able to push each other along with coach Quentin Moore, jumping in with them, they are the face of our program. For our young guys to see the success that they’ve had has just been critical.

“Logan Smith, he got a late start, but again, in the room with our guys and soaking up all of this knowledge, he’s made leaps. About two years ago, Logan Smith was 11-22, and this year, he’s a state qualifier. That’s just amazing.”

North Miami scored 36 points and finished 12th out of 96 teams that sent at least one wrestler to state. Center Grove won with 137 points.

The state finals capped a season in which North Miami won their second straight Class Team State Duals title along with conference, sectional and regional titles. They also placed second at the Fort Wayne semistate.

So how does a school with an enrollment of approximately 255 students become one of the state’s elite wrestling powerhouses?

“It’s a lot of hard work,” coach Hoover said. “We started a wrestling club 13 years ago. So when the current seniors were in kindergarten, we started a wrestling club. We went and traveled almost every weekend and put them into tournaments. They took their lumps until they started getting better. They finally got good enough to win, and it’s paid off in spades for sure.”

Coach Hoover was asked about community support.

“We’ve had the best support,” coach Hoover said. “Every tournament we’ve been to, we’ve been the loudest in the stands. Nothing but full support from all of our fans and all of our parents.”

IHSAA BOYS WRESTLING STATE FINALS RESULTS SATURDAY (TOP 15 TEAMS): 1. Center Grove 137, 2. Brownsburg 133.5, 3. Crown Point 86.5, 4. Lowell 73.5, 5. Delta 71, 6. New Prairie 68, 7. Avon 61.5, 8. Columbus East 48.5, 9. Indianapolis Cathedral 47.5, 10. Evansville Mater Dei 40.5, 11. New Palestine 38.5, 12. NORTH MIAMI 36, 13. Rochester 29, 14. Westfield 28, 15. Chesterton 27.5

Rochester individual results

120 – Jackson Robbins – DNP, 132 – Layne Horn – fourth, 165 – Brant Beck – third, HWT – Declan Gard – DNP

WINAMAC INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

215 – Tearson Wolford – DNP

NORTH MIAMI INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

120 – Braylon McIntire – eighth, 126 – Rex Moore – fourth, 190 – Jordan Simon – DNP, 215 – Hartley Hoover – second, HWT – Logan Smith – DNP

IHSAA STATE CHAMPIONS

106 – Connor Maddox (Westfield), 113 – Traevon Ducking (Brownsburg), 120 – Case Bell (Brownsburg), 126 – Maximus Quiroz (Chesterton), 132 – Nate Rioux (Avon), 138 – Evan Stanley (Lowell), 144 – Braylon Reynolds (Brownsburg), 150 – Clinton Shepherd (Crown Point), 157 – Linkin Carter (Eastside), 165 – Matthew Staples (New Prairie), 175 – Sean Breedlove (Center Grove), 190 – Michael White (Lawrence North), 215 – Ceasar Salas (Crown Point), HWT – Kameron Hazelett (Lowell)