Senior Lucas Anderson peaks in time to not only qualify for state wrestling championships at Gainbridge Fieldhouse but enters as semi-state champion

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Even an athlete as accomplished and strong, mentally and physically, as Chesterton senior wrestler Lucas Anderson had to wonder when he reached the low point if this just wasn’t his year.
Fresh off an outstanding football season highlighted by his three defensive touchdowns in one game, things weren’t going as well as a year ago for him wrestling at 175 pounds.
Anderson studied the potential semi-state fields at 175 and 190, and had discussions with his father and his coaches to see what weight made the most sense for him to try to attain his goal of wrestling at the state championships in Gainbridge Coliseum.
They decided 190 was the way to go. So, he entered the prestigious Al Smith Invitational at Mishawaka at the higher weight.
Anderson acknowledged in an interview before practice this week that it took him all of one day to second-guess his decision. He didn’t make it to the second day of Al Smith.
“That was rough,” Anderson said before practice this week. “I lost to some people I shouldn’t have lost to.”
And then last Saturday in one day at the East Chicago Central semi-state he erased that and any other negative thoughts from the year. After finishing third in the regional, Anderson won the semi-state 190 title and is headed to state for the first time.
An up and down season turns into a great one the second a high school wrestler qualifies for state, especially for those who set themselves up with the best seeds they could land by grabbing the semi-state title.
He ranked making it to state ahead of even his three-TD night.
“I mean, the touchdowns, you could go all season without one and still have a good season,” he said. “But making it to state is something you’ve worked for since you can remember. It just feels a lot better achieving it.”
In the final, Anderson defeated the same wrestler, Lowell’s Caden Yuran, who had scored a major decision over him, 12-3, in the regional semifinal. This time, Anderson prevailed, 10-9.
“I always wrestled stupid at regionals,” Anderson said, then explained what he meant. “Didn’t stand up, rolled around, tried to do moves I didn’t even do, made myself tired.”
As for how he turned it around the next time they wrestled, Anderson said, “I just stopped rolling around, got up, stayed smart.”
Anderson lost in the ticket round at semi-state as both a sophomore and junior. He said it took him a while to make the adjustment to 190 this season.
In contrast to football players, not all wrestlers believe in doing a lot of film study. Anderson, perhaps because he sees how beneficial it is in football, said he takes the same approach to wrestling. It helped him to understand how to attack Yuran when he faced him a week after losing to him: “I just learned that he shoots, doesn’t really engage, and is really heavy on his lead foot.”
Knowledge is power, which is why Anderson (33-8) was trying to find video to study his Friday opponent at Gainbridge, Spencer Fain (29-6) of Floyd Central, the fourth-place finisher in the Evansville semi-state. The three wrestlers who finished ahead of Fain at semi-state were ranked in the top five in the state in Indianamat.com’s final regular season rankings. Fain is ranked 18th. Anderson did not appear in Indianamat.com’s top 30, but three wrestlers at his semi-state appeared in the top 16. He faced two of them in East Chicago and won 2 of 3 against the other this year.
In defeating Crown Point’s Calvin Stewart in the semifinal, Anderson ran his career record against him to 7-0. He faced a tough row of opponents and knocked them off one by one. Now his goal is to get to Saturday.
“One match at a time,” Anderson said.
Only the first round takes place Friday and the rest of the tournament is Saturday. The Friday winners are guaranteed one of the first eight places in the state and the other half of the field is done wrestling.
Anderson wrestles in the fifth of seven matches that start at 2 p.m. CT Friday. Wrestling at 126, Chesterton junior Max Quiroz (45-2) competes in the fourth of seven matches that start at 5 p.m. and faces Qwanell Gabriel (37-9) of Lakeland.