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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Three Tippecanoe Valley wrestlers advanced to semistate from the regional at Penn High School Saturday.
Galvin Shambaugh finished third at 132 pounds, Bazle Owens was second at 195, and Dalton Alber was second at 220.
The top four in each weight class advanced to the East Chicago semistate at 10 a.m. Eastern this Saturday.
As a team, Valley scored 45 points and finished fifth out of 16 teams. Penn won the regional on their home mats with 197.5 points. It’s Penn’s third straight regional title and their 19th regional title in school history.
Shambaugh, a senior, earned his semistate spot with a fall over South Bend Riley’s Ben Walatka in 2:52. He then lost to Mishawaka’s Eleazar Walker by fall in 2:58 in the semifinals before coming back to beat Wawasee’s Titus Taylor 14-10 in the third-place match.
Owens reached the final with falls over Penn senior Samuel Sullivan in 1:50 and LaVille’s Paul DeWitt in 6:00. He then suffered a 14-6 loss to Mishawaka’s undefeated Christian Chavez, who is ranked No. 5 in the state, in the final.
Alber, the Plymouth sectional champion, began his day with a fall in 3:05 over South Bend Riley’s Deanthony Johnson to punch his semistate ticket. He then edged Penn’s Josiah Williams 7-4 to reach the final before losing by fall in 25 seconds to LaVille sophomore Jonathan Neese in the final.
Neese, ranked No. 13, avenged a loss to Alber at the sectional.
Three other Valley wrestlers lost their ticket matches at the regional and were eliminated. Freshman Thad Shambaugh (113) lost by fall in 45 seconds to Mishawaka’s Joshua Kite, sophomore Joseph Lybarger (120) lost by fall in 1:09 to Mishawaka’s Gunnar Sandefur, and Remington Rickel (138) lost by fall in 48 seconds to Penn’s Wesley Harper.
Looking ahead to semistate
Shambaugh could advance to state without having to face a state-ranked opponent.
Owens drew River Forest’s De’Aris Beason. If he beats Beason, a matchup with Harrison (West Lafayette)’s Joshua McKelvin, who is ranked No. 7 among wrestlers who feed into East Chicago, is a possibility.
Alber will face Jordan Scowden of Lafayette Jeff in the ticket round. A ticket match against top-ranked Will Clark of Crown Point is possible.
Penn wrestling regional results: Penn 197.5, Mishawaka 192.5, Wawasee 129, Plymouth 92.5, Valley 45, Warsaw 39, South Bend Riley 33, LaVille 32, Bremen 30, Culver Academy 14, Triton 11, South Bend St. Joe 8, Culver 0, Mishawaka Marian 0, South Bend Adams 0, South Bend Washington 0
Valley results
113 – Thad Shambaugh – did not place
lost to Kite (MISH), fall, 0:45
120 – Joseph Lybarger – did not place
lost to Sandefur (MISH), fall, 1:09
132 – Galvin Shambaugh – third
def. Walatka (SBR), fall, 2:52
lost to Walker (MISH), fall, 2:58
def. Taylor (WAW), 14-10
138 – Remington Rickel – did not place
lost to Harper (PENN), fall, 0:48
195 – Bazle Owens – second
def. Sullivan (PENN), fall, 1:50
def. DeWitt (LV), fall, 6:00
lost to Chavez (MISH), 14-6
220 – Dalton Alber – second
def. Johnson (SBR), fall, 3:05
def. Williams (PENN), 7-4
lost to Neese (LV), fall, 0:25
Penn regional champions
106 – Kaleb Salazar (Wawasee), 113 – Cameron Senter (Wawasee), 120 – Gunnar Sandefur (Mishawaka), 126 – Will Mason (Mishawaka), 132 – Eleazar Walker (Mishawaka), 138 – Wesley Harper (Penn), 145 – Wesley Smith (Plymouth), 152 – Bryce Denton (Penn), 160 – A.J. Steenbeke (Penn), 170 – Isaac Valdez (Mishawaka), 182 – Vincent Freeman (Penn), 195 – Christian Chavez (Mishawaka), 220 – Jonathan Neese (LaVille), HWT – Anthony Popi (Plymouth)
Valley first-round semistate matchups
132 – Galvin Shambaugh vs. Ezekiel Gomez (Munster)
195 – Bazle Owens vs. De’Aris Beason (River Forest)
220 – Dalton Alber vs. Jordan Scowden (Lafayette Jeff)
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