Pioneer’s Guffey earns trip to East Chicago semistate

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Boys wrestling

Pioneer junior Eli Guffey finished third at 157 pounds at the Logansport regional at the Berry Bowl Saturday to earn a semistate berth.

Guffey began his day with a fall in 3:13 over Seeger’s Alex Woo in the ticket round. He then lost by fall in 1:51 to Harrison (West Lafayette)’s Carter Heriges in the semifinals before bouncing back to beat West Lafayette’s Ethan Clampitt-Morales on an injury default in the third-place match.

The top four in each weight class advanced to semistate.

Guffey will be making his first semistate appearance. Start time for the semistate is 10 a.m. Eastern Saturday at East Chicago Central. Guffey was making his third consecutive regional appearance.

Guffey is the first Pioneer wrestler to advance to semistate since Tyler Schnurpel and Logan Smith both made it in 2022.

The other Pioneer wrestlers at Logansport both lost in the first round. Freshman John Abadines (106) lost by fall in 3:37 to Carroll (Flora)’s Dixon Ayres. Junior Noah VanMeter (165) lost an 8-2 decision to Seeger’s Tucker Herndon.

As a team, Pioneer scored 13 points and finished in a tie for 16th place. Harrison (West Lafayette) won their second straight regional with 161 points.

LOGANSPORT BOYS WRESTLING REGIONAL RESULTS: Harrison (West Lafayette) 161, Rensselaer 106, Benton Central 65, North White 63.5, Seeger 48.5, Lafayette Jeff 42.5, Faith Christian 41.5, Logansport 41, West Central 37.5, McCutcheon 36, West Lafayette 35, Tri-County 31, Frontier 21, Attica 18, Carroll (Flora) 18, PIONEER 13, Lafayette Central Catholic 13, Delphi 8, Twin Lakes 8

PIONEER INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

106 – John Abadines – DNP, 157 – Eli Guffey – third, 165 – Noah VanMeter – DNP

LOGANSPORT REGIONAL INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS

106 – Reid Hayworth (Harrison (West Lafayette)), 113 – Cameron Nuest (West Central), 120 – Joseph Mendoza (Benton Central), 126 – Kayden Stonebraker (Seeger), 132 – Sol Siburcrist (North White), 138 – Tiernen Tuttle (Harrison (West Lafayette)), 144 – Lincoln White (North White), 150 – Cayden Webb (Rensselaer), 157 – Carter Heriges (Harrison (West Lafayette)), 165 – Kevin Martinez (Tri-County), 175 – Carter Ogborn (Rensselaer), 190 – Ronald Jenkins (Benton Central), 215 – Owen Pearson (Benton Central), HWT – Alex Luna (McCutcheon)

PIONEER  FIRST-ROUND SEMISTATE MATCHES

157 – Eli Guffey vs. Griffin Van Tichelt (Crown Point)