Offseason tournaments help wrestlers prepare
Falcons hope this saying is true for them: ‘Summer wrestling makes winter champs’
By Steve Brooks
Star correspondent
Officially, the high school wrestling season ends at the end of February. Unofficially, it’s still going on for many area wrestlers, a trend unlikely to end any time soon.
Thirteen Perry Meridian wrestlers are participating in Team Indiana training camp this week at St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer in preparation for the USA Wrestling Cadet & Junior Nationals tournament this month in Fargo, N.D.
That came on the heels of the Falcons putting together full varsity and reserve teams to compete in the Disney Duals in Orlando, Fla., where the Falcons placed 15th among 50 teams, losing three close dual meets.
“We didn’t take any of our state placers to that tournament, “Perry Meridian coach Jim Tonte said. “We took what we basically figured would be our team this season. We have 13 kids up here this week, and no other school has that amount. Our kids have just bought into our offseason approach. We have a saying that summer wrestling makes winter champs.”
The Falcons are coming off a 29-1 season that ended in the state quarterfinals with a 25-23 loss to eventual champ Evansville Mater Dei. That alone is motivation enough to work hard in the offseason, said Perry Meridian senior Kyle Adams.
“That’s something that we really talk about every day, “said Adams, who was 23-6 a year ago wrestling at 160 pounds. “That loss still makes us mad. We’ve tried to wrestle as much as possible so we’re ready if we get a chance to wrestle them again. That’s what the offseason is about. I think, after we lost to Mater Dei on Saturday, on Sunday we were down in Beech Grove for a tournament. It takes that kind of commitment.”
Tonte said he hasn’t had to use the Mater Dei loss as motivation too many times.
“Once in awhile, if a kid is doing something he shouldn’t be doing, we remind him of that loss, “Tonte said. “But it’s not something we really have to talk about. We know it’s something burning inside of them. We’ve been knocking on that state-championship door (two runner-up finishes since 2002), and we want to get through.”
Tonte said he doesn’t want these wrestlers giving up other sports in the process.
“Unfortunately, it’s getting to a point where kids are specializing in one sport, no matter what that sport is, “Tonte said. “I’m not sure that’s the way you want it, but that is the reality. But on our team last year, we had a lot of kids who were on the football team, too, and Nick Walpole — who won a state championship — was a three-sport standout. We don’t want our kids focusing on wrestling 365 days a year.”
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