Rochester boys wrestling roundup: Zebras win pool, but settles for 4th at Traicoff tournament

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brant Beck Layne Horn Kale Shotts

The Rochester boys wrestling team went 2-3 and finished fourth out of 16 teams at the Chris Traicoff Memorial Duals at Calumet New Tech High School in Gary Saturday.

Rochester began by beating Calumet 69-12 and Lowell 42-37 to win their pool. 

Rochester then lost to Hanover Central 52-23, to Fishers 39-32 and to Portage 51-25 in the place rounds.

Rochester wrestlers going undefeated for the tournament included Layne Horn (132), who went 5-0 with five falls, and Declan Gard (HWT), who went 4-0 with three falls, an overtime decision and a forfeit.

Jackson Robbins (120), Brant Beck (165) and Kale Shotts (175) lost only once each. Beck suffered his first loss of the season on an injury disqualification to Javeon Burney of Calumet.

Rochester goes 9-0 at TRC Super Duals

BUNKER HILL — The Rochester boys wrestling team went 9-0 and won the Three Rivers Conference Super Duals at Maconaquah Dec. 5-6.

They defeated Lewis Cass 66-12, Wabash 68-12 and Northfield 63-15 on Dec. 5. The following day, they beat Southwood 55-12, Manchester 78-0, Maconaquah 47-27, Whitko 71-6, Northwestern 77-0 and Peru 57-24.

Tanner Horn (113), Jackson Robbins (120), Grant Holloway (126), Layne Horn (132), Brant Beck (165), Kale Shotts (175), Mason Hisey (215) and Declan Gard (HWT) all went 9-0, and Braddock Behling (150), still recovering from an undisclosed injury, went 6-0.

Derek Wortley (190) lost just once, and Braxton Hester (106) lost just twice. Clarence Garrett (157) went 6-3 but had to default after suffering an apparent sprained ankle in his ninth match. Ayden Smith (138) also went 6-3.

“Our guys,” Rochester coach Tristan Wilson said when asked who impressed him. “All of them. Every single one of them. We came in with a couple of freshmen. Unfortunately, we were down one weight class, and everyone battled. Even when it didn’t look like we were in a good spot, they continued to battle. Every single one of our guys here, and even Caden Biernacki, who can’t make it right now due to a little injury… everybody. Everybody.”

Holloway and Shotts did not wrestle last season after both wrestled two years ago as freshmen. Holloway was a state qualifier in 2024, and he might have had one of the biggest wins of the day when he pinned Peru’s Kwynn Allen Boggs in 1:10 in his last match of the tournament.

Boggs came into the match 8-0 with six falls in the tournament.

“Grant Holloway and Kale Shotts, they know how to wrestle,” Wilson said. “It took a little bit of them getting their footing, but they started training this summer. They’ve had live matches. Since they both went to wrestling camp with us, it’s not like they have not been on a mat. They were just not a mat for last season. … Those two look like they haven’t skipped a beat, and again, they were both in great condition.”

Horn moved up to 138 for his final match of the tournament and pinned Peru’s Glen Baldwin in 1:07. Baldwin also had been 8-0 on the tournament going into the match. Horn is ranked No. 5 in the state at 132, per IndianaMat.com.

Wilson said the team practices “way harder” than they did last season, Wilson’s first as head coach.

“And I think most of the guys on the team would also agree to that too,” Wilson added. “We take our practices very seriously. We have a lot of a lot of really experienced kids on our team, so I have to make the practices harder. I have to set the bar, and then everyone else has to climb it and get on that same level too.”

Wilson also talked about preparing wrestlers for the long haul of the season.

“We don’t make sure our bodies are ready for every single competition,” Wilson said. “We train through a lot. We’ve been training through all of these beginning dual meets that we’ve had. So this is a good test for us, this tournament. … It is a test for the McKee Memorial next weekend.”