51st Annual Little State Brackets

MANCHESTER, Ind.- Nick Walpole headlined the efforts of UIndy wrestling team at the 51st annual Little State tournament, with the senior taking top honors in the 157 bracket. Seventeen of the 21 UIndy grapplers in the tournament placed.

Walpole went 4-0 over the two-day event with a pair of falls to take the championship. He bested Elias Larson of Trine, 3-0, in the championship bout.

"It was nice to get a win at 157 with Walpole," UIndy Head Coach Jason Warthan said. "He is wrestling pretty well right now. He is one guy that knows where he wants the match to go and sticks to the things he does well. "

Ethan Harris started a parade of second-place finishes by the Greyhounds, going 2-1 for second at 133. Harris lost 4-0 to top-seeded Nathan Fitzenreider of North Central College. Top-seeded Matt Irwin went 3-1 in the 141 bracket, taking second. Irwin lost in the championship bout to North Central's Andrew Zobac 5-4.

Jeff Weiss also took a second place finish for UIndy, going 3-1 in the 165 bracket. The second-seeded Weiss lost 7-3 to Wabash's Jake Moore in the championship  bout.

"Freshman Jeff Weiss is another one of our kids that looked good over the two days," Warthan said. "He is going to be a great one for us. He has a huge gas tank."

Jake Holler was the fourth Greyhound to finish as runner-up, taking second in the 174 bracket to Trine's George Markou.

Evan Wooding also finished second at the tournament, in the 285 bracket. He went 3-1 over the two-day event, losing to top-seeded James Zarate of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the championship bout.

"Today we wrestled pretty well until the final round," Warthan said. "We qualified six in the finals and had one champion.  I think we wrestled more to the situation than sticking to being aggressive. Because it was the finals we backed off the gas. We were waiting for our opponents. to make mistakes."

George Lopez was the lone third-place finisher for UIndy, going 5-1 through the 184 bracket. Lopez defeated Jason Alber of Trine in the third-place bout, winning 3-2.

Shelby Mappes took fourth in the 174 class, going 2-1 on the tournament. He lost North Central's Greg Schroeder, the bracket's No. 2 seed, in the third-place bout 5-4.

Josh Williams fifth at 141, going 4-2. Williams bested his teammate Wade Thiel, who went 2-3 on the tournament, in the fifth-place match via a 9-0 major decision.

Cody Wittkamp took fifth in the 184 class, going 2-2 in the tournament. He won a tight match to take fifth place, defeating Wisconsin-Whitewater's Andrew Petit on riding time 5-4 in the second tie-breaker.

Keith Smith went 3-2 over the two days, taking fifth in the 197 bracket. He won over North Central's Andrew Bradley via a medical forfeit in the fifth-place bout.

Second-seeded Kyle Conners took sixth in the 285 bracket, going 3-3 for the tournament.

Fourth-seeded Steven Sandefer took sixth in the 149 bracket, finishing the tournament 2-3. Weston Davis also competed in the 149 class, going 3-3 to take eighth overall in the bracket.

Brock Sempsrott went 2-2 in the tournament to take eighth place at 125. Marcus Watson also took an eighth-place finish, going 1-3 in the 174 bracket.

UIndy competes in its first dual meet of the season Tuesday, as the Greyhounds head to Trine for a 7:00 p.m. tilt with the Thunder.

"We have to bounce back on Tuesday to wrestle Trine at their place," Warthan said. "We have a few guys sick and banged up so we need to get healthy in a hurry. I'm looking forward to the dual."