Junior Max Quiroz aiming to finish one step higher on the state wrestling medal stand than his brother Anthony reached as a freshman in 2009

Junior Max Quiroz aiming to finish one step higher on the state wrestling podium than his brother Anthony reached as a freshman in 2009

Chesterton junior Max Quiroz takes control of his Crown Point regional title match vs. the Bulldogs’ Colin Strayer.

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com
The West wall of the wrestling room at Chesterton lists the school’s athletes who made it to the state tournament. The East wall is reserved for the 10 state champions, a giant photo of each as the current wrestlers grind away.
1981: Jim Popp (31-3); 1982: John DeHart (32-1); 1988: Keith Davison (37-2); 1989: Keith Davison (38-0); 2017: Andrew Davison (42-0); 2018: Lucas Davison (52-0), Eli Pokorney (42-0); 2020: Evan Bates (41-1); 2021: Sergio Lemley (37-1); 2023: Aidan Torres (52-0).
There is no special wall for near misses, but if there were, Anthony Quiroz would be on it. As a freshman in 2009, Quiroz had the misfortune of running into Portage junior Sean McMurray, who went 91-0 in his final two seasons. Rare was the wrestler who could give McMurray the sort of six minutes Quiroz gave him, losing 8-5, as the state runner-up at 152 pounds.
Anthony’s much younger brother Max, a Chesterton junior, earned the honor of making it to the West wall and is aiming for the East wall in the room.
Max and fellow semi-state champion Lucas Anderson leave for Indianapolis at 8:30 Friday morning, arriving in time to check into an Airbnb and head to Gainbridge Coliseum to get loose for their first-round matches, Anderson’s in mid-afternoon, Quiroz’s early in the evening.
Both wrestlers are making their first trips to state, yet all season, Quiroz never talked about that being the goal. He always said it was to win state, and in a wide-open 126-pound division, his chances are as good as anybody’s.
Quiroz brings a 45-2 record into his first match and both losses came at 132 pounds to Crown Point’s Gavin Lewis. Quiroz (45-2) dropped to 126 pounds and is 20-0 since making the move. The only undefeated wrestler in the weight division is North Miami’s Rex Moore (40-0). If they both win their first two matches they would meet in a Saturday semifinal.
The decade-and-a-half age gap between Anthony and Maximus Quiroz means Max doesn’t remember what role, if any, Anthony had in getting him started.
“It was never really a thought for me not to wrestle,” Max said.
Basically, he’s been wrestling for as long as he can remember. Cutting to 126 proved a good move, but that doesn’t mean it was easy.
“It’s been pretty tough,” Max said. “I can’t lie, especially last weekend. It was probably the worst cut of my life. I let myself get too heavy.”
When his season ends and he’s eating a big meal, he hopes it’s the feast of a champion.
“It’s going to be a huge meal, a nice meal,” he said. “My parents better treat me.”
As a sophomore, Quiroz came as close as a wrestler can to making it to state when he lost in overtime in the ticket round to Merrillville senior Matthew Maldonado.
Max has attended state meets, he suspects, since longer than he can remember. Anthony competed in three of them.
“I’m pretty sure I was there, but I was probably just a baby,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I was there though.”
He definitely was there for Torres’ 145-pound state title in 2023, Chesterton’s most recent state title, and he will try to make Torres the second-most recent champion from his high school.