Rochester has 5 champions, finishes 2nd to Penn at regional

L. Horn wins 4th regional, joins Beck, Gard, Robbins, Holloway, Winamac’s Wolford as champs

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Layne Brant Declan Grant Jackson

Horn Beck Gard Holloway Robbins

MISHAWAKA — Led by four-time regional champion Layne Horn and three-time champion Brant Beck, the Rochester boys wrestling team scored 168.5 points and finished second out of 17 teams at the Penn regional Saturday.

Penn scored 206 points to win its sixth consecutive regional on its home mats.

Rochester had nine semistate qualifiers, five of whom were regional champions.

The regional champions included Jackson Robbins (120), Grant Holloway (126), Horn (132), Beck (165) and Declan Gard (HWT).

Horn needed only 2:02 of mat time to pin three opponents. None of his matches lasted longer than 55 seconds.

Beck subdued South Bend Adams’ Delton Swiscz by technical fall (18-2) in 3:42 to earn his fourth semistate ticket. He then pinned Warsaw’s Enrique Silva in 50 seconds in the semifinals and Triton’s Gage Peltz in 1:27 in the final.

Peltz is 29-4 on the season: He is 0-3 against Beck, including losses in both the sectional final and regional, and 29-1 against everybody else.

Robbins, Holloway and Gard are first-time regional champions.

Like Horn, Robbins and Gard had three falls each. Holloway had two falls and a tech fall.

Other Zebra semistate qualifiers included Kale Shotts, who was second at 175; Derek Wortley, who was third at 190; Mason Hisey, who was third at 215; and Tanner Horn, who was fourth at 113.

Clarence Garrett (157) did not place. Braxton Hester, the Plymouth sectional champion at 106, was not at the regional.

The top four in each weight class advanced to the semistate, which East Chicago Central will host at 10 a.m. Eastern this Saturday.

Robbins, a junior, who participated at the Penn regional in 2024 representing Caston, pinned South Bend Riley’s Joshua Raabe in 2:52 in his ticket match and Warsaw’s Alex Vallejo in 2:53 in the semifinals. He then pinned Bremen’s Nic Slusser in 1:32 for the title.

Slusser is 23-2 with both of his losses coming to Robbins in the last two weeks.

Gard pinned South Bend St. Joe’s Andrew McKee in 1:21, put down Penn’s undersized Jonathan Searfoss in 3:18 and then pinned South Bend Riley’s mountainous Damon Stearns in 1:43 for the title.

Holloway had a blink-and-you-missed-it 14-second pin of Mishawaka freshman Brylen Swiger in his ticket match and followed it with a fall in 2:45 over Warsaw’s Gabriel Veit in the semifinals. He then beat Penn senior Aidan Diaz by tech fall (17-2) in 6:00, getting back points before the final buzzer to earn the team bonus points.

The match against Diaz was a rematch of the third-place regional match at 106 in 2024, which Holloway also won 5-2.

Shotts, who has a background in Greco-Roman wrestling, overwhelmed LaVille’s Carter Lewandowski in 39 seconds in the ticket round and needed only 57 seconds to get a tech fall (15-0) of South Bend Riley’s Adin Norton in the semifinals. Shotts then lost by tech fall (17-1) to Penn’s Vinny Freeman in the final. Freeman, a Cornell University signee and the son of Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, won his fourth regional title.

Wortley needed only 1:50 to pin Mishawaka’s Jonathan Parker to earn his second semistate ticket in as many years. Facing Penn’s 11th-ranked Alessio Retzloff for the second straight year in the regional semifinals, he got the first takedown before losing by fall in 3:40. Wortley bounced back to pin South Bend Riley’s Noah Forray in 39 seconds in the third-place match. Forray earned his ticket with an 8-7 win over Bremen’s Derek Miller, who beat Wortley in the sectional final at Plymouth the previous week.

Hisey, a senior, claimed his first semistate ticket with a fall over South Bend Washington’s Jalil Neeley in 3:47. He then lost to Penn’s Landon Reynolds in 33 seconds in the semifinals before coming back to win 8-4 over Bremen freshman Brenden Rice in the third-place match.

Tanner Horn was ahead the entire match against South Bend Washington’s Samuel Malstaff before earning a fall in 5:25 in the ticket round. He then lost to South Bend Riley’s Roman Marquez 19-11 in the semifinals and to Warsaw’s Ivahn Martinez 1-0 in the third-place match.

Martinez received a stalling warning in the second period from the top position, and while Horn could get to his feet, he could not unlock Martinez’s grip and get an escape.

Martinez would score the only point on an escape in the third period.

Garrett lost by tech fall (17-2) to Mishawaka’s Colby Smith with just nine seconds left.

Winamac

Winamac finished with 43.5 points, good for seventh place.

Of Winamac’s seven regional qualifiers, three moved on to semistate.

That included Wolford, who won his first career regional with a fall in 1:23 over Penn’s Reynolds. Wolford, who made semistate after finishing fourth at 190 at last year’s regional, was more dominant this time, pinning Mishawaka’s Giovanni Ordaz in 26 seconds for his 100th career win in the ticket round and then beating Bremen’s Rice by tech fall (20-3) in 3:11 in the semifinals before dismissing Penn’s Reynolds in 1:23 in the final.

The others advancing included Asher Jones, who was third at 150; and Rian Shell, who was fourth at 157.

Jones secured his regional ticket with a 13-2 major decision over Mishawaka’s Brayden Reed before losing by fall to Penn’s Ryan Hall in 1:50 in the semifinals. He then won on a forfeit over South Bend Riley’s Maxum Kotinek in the third-place match.

Shell won by fall in 1:09 over Mishawaka Marian’s Jude Burton in the ticket round but lost by tech fall (18-0) in 2:43 to Penn’s Aiden Whitten in the semifinals. Shell then lost by fall in 3:41 to North Judson’s Jerimiah McKinney in the third-place match.

Justin Housinger (106) lost by tech fall to fellow freshman Levi Laidig of Penn. Hayden Taylor (138) led for much of his match to South Bend Riley’s Manuel White before losing 17-14. Charles Cottrell (144) lost by fall in 1:07 to Mishawaka’s Corey Gardner in the ticket round. Broderick Reutebuch (165), appearing in his first regional, lost by fall in 3:27 to Penn’s Alex Skrzeszewski. 

Culver

Culver’s three wrestlers all lost in the ticket round, and a one-point sportsmanship penalty left them with -1 points and a 17th place showing for the tournament.

Kael Buschman (144) was called for an illegal hold late in the third period against South Bend Riley’s Trevor Crump and eventually lost 6-5. Theron Carrington (175) dropped a 13-9 decision to Mishawaka’s Kadyn O’Neal in his final prep match. Isaiah Milam (215), a freshman, lost by fall in 1:08 to Penn’s Reynolds in the ticket round.

PENN BOYS WRESTLING REGIONAL RESULTS SATURDAY: Penn 206, ROCHESTER 168.5, South Bend Riley 111.5, Mishawaka 96, Bremen 66.5, Warsaw 62, WINAMAC 43.5, Triton 32.5, LaVille 16, North Judson 12, Culver Academy 10.5, Plymouth 0, South Bend St. Joe 0, South Bend Washington 0, Mishawaka Marian 0, South Bend Adams 0, CULVER -1

ROCHESTER INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

106 – Braxton Hester – DNP, 113 – Tanner Horn – fourth, 120 – Jackson Robbins – champion, 126 – Grant Holloway – champion, 132 – Layne Horn – champion, 157 – Clarence Garrett – DNP, 165 – Brant Beck – champion, 175 – Kale Shotts – second, 190 – Derek Wortley – third, 215 – Mason Hisey – third, HWT – Declan Gard – champion

WINAMAC INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

106 – Justin Housinger – DNP, 138 – Hayden Taylor – DNP, 144 – Charles Cottrell – DNP, 150 – Asher Jones – third, 157 – Rian Shell – fourth, 165 – Broderick Reutebuch – DNP, 215 – Tearson Wolford – champion

CULVER INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

144 – Kael Buschman – DNP, 175 – Theron Carrington – DNP, 215 – Isaiah Milam – DNP

PENN REGIONAL INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS

106 – Vince McCoy (South Bend Riley), 113 – Brody Blevins (Mishawaka), 120 – JACKSON ROBBINS (ROCHESTER), 126 – GRANT HOLLOWAY (ROCHESTER), 132 – LAYNE HORN (ROCHESTER), 138 – Angelo Vargo (Penn), 144 – Hudson Odle (Penn), 150 – Ryan Hall (Penn), 157 – Aiden Whitten (Penn), 165 – BRANT BECK (ROCHESTER), 175 – Vinny Freeman (Penn), 190 – Alessio Retzloff (Penn), 215 – Tearson Wolford (Winamac), HWT – DECLAN GARD (ROCHESTER)

EAST CHICAGO SEMISTATE FIRST ROUND MATCHES

ROCHESTER

113 – Tanner Horn vs. Cruz Orueta (Lake Central)

120 – Jackson Robbins vs. Parker Barnard (Lafayette Jeff)

126 – Grant Holloway vs. Bricen Kirk-Banks (McCutcheon)

132 – Layne Horn vs. Colton Newgent (New Prairie)

165 – Brant Beck vs. Kaleb Moore (Munster)

175 – Kale Shotts vs. Patrick Mochen (Chesterton)

190 – Derek Wortley vs. Bryce Montgomery (Merrillville)

215 – Mason Hisey vs. Keegan Gibbons (Chesterton)

HWT – Declan Gard vs. Deshawn Jackson (Andrean)

WINAMAC

150 – Asher Jones vs. Cayden Webb (Rensselaer)

157 – Rian Shell vs. Justin Hettinger (Harrison (West Lafayette))

215 – Tearson Wolford vs. Lucas Marshall (LaPorte)