The state qualifiers: Tearson Wolford

Junior is latest 215-pounder from Winamac to make state

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Tearson Wolford

Last year, it was Talen Garner. This year, it is Tearson Wolford.

Once again, a 215-pound wrestler from Winamac has made the IHSAA state finals.Wolford finished fourth at last week’s East Chicago semistate to make his first state finals appearance.

“It’s a great feeling,” Wolford said. “All the work that I put in since I was younger, going all over the state, going to a bunch of meets and stuff. … It’s just what I’ve worked for since I was young. I just finally made that main goal.”

Wolford said he has wrestled since he was 4 or 5 years old. He started at a club at Culver Community High School that Winamac actually started.

“I got in with some guys over there and wrestled quite a bit, and it’s always been a passion for me,” Wolford said.

Wolford was asked how watching Garner, his former practice partner, make state last year motivated him.

“Until last year, I hadn’t seen anybody move on,” Wolford said. “I hadn’t seen the feeling and the emotion. … Just watching him do it gave me a goal. Obviously, I had the goal to get here, but I didn’t have to goal to make it until I watched Talen do it.”

Making state is the latest accolade for Wolford, a junior. He also won the Plymouth sectional and Penn regional titles. Ranked 30th going into the state tournament, he already has pins over No. 15 Landon Reynolds of Penn in the regional final and No. 23 Martin Gazo of West Lafayette during his tournament run.

After beating Gazo in his semistate ticket match, he lost by fall to Crown Point’s top-ranked Ceasar Salas in the semifinals and to Munster’s Andrew Kooi in the third-place match and will carry a 40-4 record into the state finals. His other two losses are to conference rival Hartley Hoover of North Miami.

Wolford was a regional qualifier at 165 as a freshman and a semistate qualifier at 190 as a sophomore.

“So he’s been more patient as a wrestler,” Winamac coach Kullen Day said. “He has what they call wrestling flow. So he’s very knowledgeable, but he’s patient in his wrestling, and it pays off for him. … (Making state) is always a goal, but a lot of hard work, a lot of youth wrestling, a lot of things like that.”

Wolford drew Princeton’s Jaran Kerney in the first round of state at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis today. Wolford will wrestle in the afternoon session beginning at 3 p.m.

“Making it is good, but we’re going to see what we can on Friday,” Day said. “We’re not going to be content with just making it. We’re going to make some noise down there.”