PREP WRESTLING: Wawasee's Salazar, Blair in semis of Al Smith

Austin Hough, Goshen News, Ind.
·3 min read

Dec. 30—MISHAWAKA — Two wrestlers from The Goshen News coverage area are still alive in the championship bracket of the 43rd annual Al Smith Classic Wrestling Invitational, and both of them are from Wawasee High School.

Juniors Kaleb Salazar (106 pounds) and Donovan Blair (195) advanced to the semifinals of their respective weight classes upon the conclusion of day one action Thursday at the 32-team invite at Mishawaka High School. The tournament concludes Friday, with wrestling starting at 9 a.m.

Salazar defeated Bellmont's Ethan Curtis, Chesterton's Blake Bryan and Mount Vernon Fortville's Connor Bayliss to bring his record to 18-2 on the season. He won the first two matches by pin fall before grinding out a 4-0 decision over Bayliss.

Salazar will face Fort Wayne Snider's Julianna Ocampo in the semifinals. The other semifinal match in the 106-pound weight class is Lake Central's Mason Jones against Bloomington South's Cameron Meier.

As for Blair, he won all three of his matches by decision Thursday. He defeated Warren Central's Brylin Smith 9-7, Elkhart's Nash Shupert 5-2 and NorthWood's Brady King 3-1. Blair (16-5) will have a tall task in his semifinal match Friday, as he goes up against unbeaten Christian Chavez from Mishawaka. The other semifinal at 195 pounds sees Center Grove's Kaden McConnell take on Merrillville's James Veal.

As a team, Wawasee is 10th in the standings with 77 points scored. The only other Warrior wrestler to reach the quarterfinals was senior Hunter Miller at 152 pounds. Miller dropped his quarterfinal contest to Crown Point's Anthony Rinehart. Miller did win his consolation match over Plymouth's Caydn Smith, however, to stay alive on that side of the bracket.

Crown Point leads the way with 165.5 points, while Center Grove is second at 151.5. The rest of the teams are more than 50 points away from the top two.

Elkhart, Jimtown and NorthWood are also representing The Goshen News at the 43rd edition of the event. Elkhart had two wrestlers reach the quarterfinals in junior Ethan Freedline (170) and senior Brayden Jellison (285). Freedline then lost to Zymarion Hollyfield from Penn, while Jellison dropped his match to Plymouth's Anthony Popi.

Jellison rebounded to win his consolation match, while Freedline lost to Mishawaka's Isaac Valdez.

For Jimtown, senior Mikey Kallimani reached the quarterfinals at the 132-pound weight class before losing to Chesterton's Hayden Demarco. Kallimani won his consolation match, though, to stay alive for a third-place finish potentially.

Along with Brady King, NorthWood senior Kaden Lone was also a quarterfinalist for his team, losing to unbeaten Mike Durham from Warren Central in that round of the 182-pound weight class. Like Kallimani and Jellison, Lone won his consolation match, advancing him to Friday's action. King lost his to Lowell's Trent Kersey.

Full results from day one of the 43rd Annual Al Smith Classic Wrestling Invitational can be found online at trackwrestling.com. Click on "Browse," followed by "Tournaments." Then, under the "Search Events" tab, search "Al Smith."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.