{"id":11204,"date":"2023-12-28T08:52:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T13:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=11204"},"modified":"2023-12-28T08:52:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T13:52:21","slug":"braves-set-to-compete-in-ridiculous-al-smith-field-featuring-nine-1s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/28\/braves-set-to-compete-in-ridiculous-al-smith-field-featuring-nine-1s\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves set to compete in ridiculous Al Smith field featuring nine #1s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DANE FUELLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone knows how good the Al Smith at Mishawaka High School has become in terms of high-level individuals. Anyone who watches Big Ten wrestling on their television will recognize the names that once graced the center mat in the Cave just a year or two prior, but this year’s field is absolutely loaded and will feature two of the three contenders for this year’s IHSAA state title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coach Tim Myers and the Bellmont Braves finished in 14th place last year at the Al Smith in Mishawaka.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nine of the fourteen wrestlers ranked #1 in the state are likely to compete over the two-day event, which will once again feature 32 teams and utilize two gyms on opposite ends of the MHS campus. The team race is likely to be a competition between Center Grove and Crown Point, two teams that, along with Brownsburg, will be at the top of the leaderboard at this year’s State Finals in Evansville. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the Bellmont Braves, competing for a spot at the top of the team leaderboard is not likely, but the team has high hopes for several individuals. Those who haven’t placed before will look to survive the first day and reach the final eight in their weight. That group includes Sam Wolpert, Blake Luginbill and Xavior Palacios, who should all threaten to reach the blood round at the end of the first day where anything can happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blake Luginbill won two matches at last year’s Al Smith, but will hope to reach the second day in his senior season and finish in the top eight at 150 pounds. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Braves also have returning placers in Gavin Davis, Duke Myers and Keagan Martin. All three will hope to reach the semifinals by winning three matches on the first day to set up a run at the team’s first individual Al Smith title in over a decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Davis, the field is immensely difficult and could be a preview of the second day of the State Finals in Evansville as nearly the entire top eight in the state rankings are involved. Long-time nemesis Mitchell Betz of Western, ranked #1 by IndianaMat, headlines the field along with Beau Brabender of Mishawaka, who is #2 at 157. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis is ranked #7 at that weight but could be seeded as low as sixth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 165 the Braves have a good shot at the #1 seed with Duke Myers, who is undefeated so far in his senior season. He may receive a challenge at Thursday’s seeding meeting, though, by North Dakota state champ Waylon Cressell, who transferred this summer to Warren Central and is also undefeated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, neither wrestler is ranked #1 in the state, an honor that belongs to Crown Point’s Anthony Rinehart, who did not wrestle in last year’s state tournament. Those three are projected to reach the semifinals along with Bloomington South’s Evan Roudebush, who was a state qualifier two years ago for the Panthers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keagan Martin also faces a loaded field at 215, with defending state champion Will Clark headlining the field for the Bulldogs of Crown Point. There are a total of five returning state qualifiers and all five placed at the Al Smith last year. Martin is likely to be seeded fourth despite his stellar 23-0 record. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keagan Martin went 6-1 across the two days of last year’s Al Smith at 220 and finished in third place. He will look to reach the finals against a very difficult field this weekend. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WZBD will provide coverage of the tournament with an episode of High School Wrestling Weekly ahead of the opening whistle on the first day. That show will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday. Follow WZBD.com for coverage of the opening day with our Live Blog and join us on Saturday for live radio coverage of the Bellmont matches on the second day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DANE FUELLING WZBD.com Everyone knows how good the Al Smith at Mishawaka High School has become in terms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,15,26,12],"class_list":["post-11204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bellmont","tag-featured","tag-sports","tag-wrestling"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/C16B8090-9886-4E99-BE5C-D4D6CCFED3ED_1_201_a-DeNoiseAI-severe-noise-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1481&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}