Photo by Rudy Marquez
Plymouth duo punch their ticket for state wrestling final
EAST CHICAGO — The Plymouth Wrestling Team qualified eight Rockie Wrestlers into the 2019-20 IHSAA Semi-State Tournament. After a very long, but exciting day, the Rockies will have 2 representatives heading to Indianapolis next week.
Senior Graham Calhoun stayed unbeaten as he continued his drive to a state championship with a first-place finish in the 170-pound weight class. Graham had an outstanding day of wrestling and finished 4-0 for the event.
Calhoun was happy with the next step in his quest.
“Yeah it’s great. It’s a part of the process that you got to go through,” he said. “I think I’m wrestling really well right now. I just got to keep getting into my offense. I thought overall I wrestled really well and I’m really excited for next week.”
Calhoun says it will be business as usual next week under the spotlight at Indy.
“I’m good. I’m just happy. I’m more satisfied with where I’m at right now than I have in the past,” he said. “I just feel like I’m wrestling at a different level than I ever have before. So I’m really excited. I’m happy. I’m confident and I’m really looking forward to next week.”
Senior Andrew Himes will join Calhoun on the trek to Indianapolis next week as he finished in fourth place in the 285-pound weight class.
Andrew finished 2-2 on the day and had two very convincing wins to begin the day.
At the end of the semi-state round, Plymouth’s eight qualifying wrestlers had a combined season record of 200-69 with Calhoun and Himes hoping to improve that mark next week.
Individual results:
120
Max Howard (21-18)
Round 1 – Ty Haskins (Portage) 27-7 won by fall over Max Howard (Plymouth) (Fall 1:44)
126
Dominic Smith (33-8)
Round 1 – Nathan Schammert (Hobart) 30-9 won by fall over Dominic Smith (Plymouth) (Fall 3:38)
138
Jordan Howard (21-12)
Round 1 – Alex Cornejo (Portage) 28-13 won by tech fall over Jordan Howard (Plymouth) (TF-1.5 4:00)
145
Tyler Richey (25-13)
Round 1 – Keegan Adams (West Lafayette) 31-11 won by fall over Tyler Richey (Plymouth (Fall 3:32)
152
Bradey Pittman (9-5)
Round 1 – Cade Johnson (Chesterton) 40-7 won by fall over Bradey Pittman (Plymouth) (Fall 3:09)
170
Graham Calhoun (43-0) placed 1st and scored 26.5 team points.
Round 1 – Graham Calhoun (Plymouth) won by fall over Caleb Thornberry (Portage) 14-17 (Fall 1:17)
Quarterfinal – Graham Calhoun (Plymouth) won by tech fall over aiden sneed (Kankakee Valley) 37-5 (TF-1.5 3:49 (20-4))
Semifinal – Graham Calhoun (Plymouth) won by fall over Gavin Layman (Chesterton) 37-6 (Fall 1:11)
1st Place Match – Graham Calhoun (Plymouth) won by major decision over Braden Welch (Culver Academies) 27-4 (MD 19-8)
220
Diego Garcia (28-6)
Round 1 – Evan Bates (Chesterton) 37-1 won by fall over Diego Garcia (Plymouth) (Fall 0:25)
285
Andrew Himes (20-7) placed 4th and scored 12.0 team points.
Round 1 – Andrew Himes (Plymouth) won by fall over Zack Velazquez (Valparaiso) 23-14 (Fall 2:23)
Quarterfinal – Andrew Himes (Plymouth) won by fall over Chad McLean (Hobart) 29-12 (Fall 3:23)
Semifinal – Damari Dancy (Portage) 34-2 won by fall over Andrew Himes (Plymouth) (Fall 3:48)
3rd Place Match – Andres Larios (Hammond Clark) 27-6 won by fall over Andrew Himes (Plymouth) (Fall 2:09)
