Chesterton seniors Chris Katsafaros and Ryley Harlow saw their outstanding wrestling careers end Friday night on the State’s biggest stage.

Katsafaros dropped a 4-1 decision to eventual state champion Neal Malloy of Danville, while Harlow fell by fall to Jay County’s Eric Hemmelgam.

“I thought both guys gave outstanding effort tonight,” Chesterton coach Chris Joll said. “They don’t have any reason to hang their heads. They made the Chesterton wrestling community very proud.”

Katsafaros gave up an early takedown, but escaped to cut the lead to 2-1.

“He had a hard time getting away,” Joll said. “I thought we did a real nice job in the second period against the state champ. He didn’t attack us the way we thought he would and that hurt our offense a little bit.”

Another takedown by Malloy set the final score.

“Four-time Sectional champ, two-time Regional champ and a three-time State qualifier for Chris,” Joll said. “That’s pretty good. There aren’t very many people up on the board in our room that has better credentials than that. He’s one of the best we’ve had come through here.”

Harlow wrestled a great first period against Hemmelgam as neither scored in the first two minutes.

“He had a nice first period and we pushed the kid around a little bit,” Joll said. “We have trouble once we get someone bigger than us on top of us. That kid clearly has wrestled before, he was third in the State last year.”

And that’s what happened as Hemmelgam got a takedown and eventually turned Harlow and secured the fall.

“In reality, he’s had about nine months of practice with the injuries he’s had to fight through the last couple of years,” Joll said. “I’m glad he decided to take the step into wrestling and I think he’s proven he’s every bit as good a wrestler as he is a football player.

“He’s a tough kid that just made CHS and his family really proud of him.”

1. Perry Meridian 102.5, 2. Yorktown 62, 3. Mishawaka 53, 4. Indianapolis Cathedral 45, 5. Franklin 41, 6. Warren Central 40, 7. (tie) New Palestine and Fishers 36, 9. (tie) Bloomington South and Merrillville 31, 11. (tie) Danville and Hanover Central 30, 13. East Noble 26, 14. Muncie Southside 24, 15. Greenfield Central 23, 16. Lake Central 21, 17. (tie) Culver Community, Hamilton Southeastern, Lowell and Jimtown 20, 21. (tie) Carroll (Fort Wayne), Kokomo, Rushville, South Bend Clay 18, 25. Penn 17.

106 -- Chad Red (New Palestine, 48-0) d. Garrett Pepple (East Noble, 47-2) 4-0. 113 -- Stevan Micic (Hanover Central, 48-0) d. Zachary Davis (Penn, 45-7) 9-7. 120 -- Deondre Wilson (Warren Central, 38-0) d. Drew Hughes (Lowell, 39-2) 6-2. 126 -- Nick Crume (Jimtown, 38-0) d. Luke Welch (Castle, 47-2) 3-1 (OT). 132 -- Cody LeCount (Perry Meridian, 40-0) p. Grant Martsoff (Mishawaka, 40-7) 4:26. 138 -- Tommy Forte (Mishawaka, 46-0) d. Luke Blanton (Alexandria, 51-1) 12-7. 145 -- Neal Molloy (Danville, 43-0) d. Eli Walker (Yorktown, 43-2) 4-3. 152 -- Josh Farrell (Greenfield Central, 48-0) d. Vinny Corsaro (Indianapolis Cathedral, 46-4) 3-2. 160 -- Riley McClurg (Perry Meridian, 37-3) d. Austin McCloskey (Western Boone, 45-2) 2-1 (OT). 170 -- Bobby Steveson (Merrillville, 39-0) d. Riley Lefever (Carroll/Fort Wayne, 46-1) 5-4. 182 -- Matt Hurford (Culver Community, 48-0) Jake Massengale (Perry Meridian, 40-3) 9-4. 195 -- Mitch Sliga (Fishers, 49-0) p. Jaylin Allen (South Bend Clay, 45-8) 0:31. 220 -- Gelen Robinson (Lake Central, 49-0) d. Fletcher Miller (Kokomo, 50-1) 7-2. 285 -- Donte Whitfield (Perry Meridian, 41-2) d. Joseph Garland (Rushville, 39-4) 5-1.

Third-Place Matches

106 -- D.J. Smith (Franklin, 41-6) d. Cael McCormick (Yorktown, 41-7) 5-0. 113 -- Sawyer Miller (South Adams, 43-3) d. Connor Knapp (East Noble, 42-2) 5-3. 120 -- Schuyler Phillips (Yorktown, 48-3) d. Bailey LaHue (Corydon Central, 40-4) 7-4. 126 -- Ben Harvey (Indianapolis Cathedral, 42-7) d. Tom Gettinger (Connersville, 47-3) 3-3 (ultimate tiebreaker). 132 -- Skyler Lykins (Franklin, 42-7) d. Hugo Perez (Frankfort, 42-4) 18-6. 138 -- Tyler Hupp (Indian Creek, 42-2) d. Chandler Carroll (Yorktown, 42-3) 6-5 (OT). 145 -- Tristan Macri (Mishawaka, 45-2) d. Brandon Kelley (Evansville Central, 39-3) 3-1. 152 -- Isaiah Bradley (Muncie Southside, 37-1) won by injury default over Connor Brummett (DeKalb, 35-6). 160 -- Rhett Hiestand (Yorktown, 47-3) p. Mark Maldonado (Highland, 38-3) 2:42. 170 -- Anthony Linnear (Fort Wayne North, 35-5) p. Jacob Reed (Muncie Southside, 30-10) 4:27. 182 -- Brian Wagner (New Palestine, 41-6) p. Seth Riley (Fishers, 40-8) 2:19. 195 -- Clayton Fiddler (Bloomington South, 47-1) p. Kalob Salkill (South Spencer, 49-3) 4:27. 220 -- Max Hernandez (Warren Central, 40-2) d. Connor Tolley (Franklin, 40-5) 6-1. 285 -- Wesley Bernard (Indianapolis Cathedral, 49-2) p. Austin Little (North Posey, 41-5) 0:59.

　Posted 2/18/2013