Senior Lucas Anderson and junior Max Quiroz qualify for state wrestling championship for the first time on a day Chesterton finished eighth out of 50 teams at East Chicago semi-state

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton has two wrestlers heading to Gainbridge Fieldhouse this weekend for the state wrestling championships and both are riding the momentum of winning a semi-state title.
Both wrestlers, junior Max Quiroz (126 pounds) and senior Lucas Anderson (190), switched their weight divisions midway through the season and are heading to state for the first time. They are Chesterton’s first wrestlers to advance to state since Hayden DeMarco was runner-up at 132 pounds in 2024, when he entered the final undefeated. The Trojans’ last state champion was Aidan Torres (52-0) at 145 pounds in 2023, when Anderson was a freshman wrestling JV and Quiroz was in middle school.
Max Quiroz (45-2), undefeated since dropping from 132 pounds to 126 pounds, won the championship by winning a 7-4 decision against Lowell’s Noel Verduzco (31-6) in the final match Saturday at East Chicago Central.
Quiroz also won DAC, sectional and regional championships this season and defeated Verduzco in overtime in a regional semi.
Quiroz (45-2) dominated en route to his final match Saturday. First, he defeated Merrillville’s Marion McClain (22-16) by technical fall 17-0 in 2:00. Next, it took Quiroz 3:33 to score an 18-3 tech fall over West Central’s Cameron Nuest (35-7).
In the semifinal, Quiroz defeated Lake Central’s Luke Nied (33-10) by major decision, 10-2. He faced a tougher opponent in each round, which is the way tournaments are supposed to work.
Anderson, who moved up from 175 pounds to 190 after failing to make it to the second day of the Al Smith Invitational, avenged a regional semifinal loss to Lowell’s Cayden Yuran in the championship match Saturday, defeating him 10-9. Yuran scored a major decision over Anderson at the Crown Point regional.
Anderson (33-8) opened the day by dominating a wrestler with a better record than his, for what that’s worth. He scored a 16-0 technical fall in 3:08 over West Lafayette Harrison’s Tramel Quadhamer (39-4).
In the ticket round, Anderson again scored a tech fall, this time over Munster’s Wesaal Wardak (27-9), 25-9 in 4:26, guaranteeing himself his first trip to state. Anderson pinned Crown Point’s Calvin Stewart (26-9) in 3:42 in the semifinal to set up his chance at revenge against Yuran.
Crown Point placed first among the 50 schools with at least one wrestler at the semi-state tournament with 236.5 points. The rest of the top 10: 2. Lowell (147), New Prairie third (112.5), 4. Hanover Central (99), 5. Rochester (94), 6. Merrillville (76), 7. Penn (64), 8. Chesterton (60.4), 9. Lafayette Jefferson (41), 10. Lake Central (37).
Other DAC schools: 14. Portage (28), 15. Michigan City (26), 20. Valparaiso (17.5). LaPorte had two wrestlers competing but did not score any points.
Only four schools at the semi-state meet had multiple champions. Crown Point and New Prairie each won three weight divisions and Chesterton and Lowell won two apiece.
The Trojans had five wrestlers competing at East Chicago Central.
Senior Greyson Strickland (31-9) came extremely close to advancing to what would have been his first state experience.After pinning Rensselaer Central’s Ryder Woodke in the first round, Strickland lost an 8-7 match to Hobart’s Hayden Mancilla in the ticket round.
Wrestling at 215, senior Keegan Gibbons (31-15) also fell one round short of joining teammates Anderson and Quiroz in Indianapolis. Riding the momentum of a runner-up finish at the regional, Gibbons defeated Rochester’s Mason Hisey (25-15) to set up a ticket-round match with Munster’s Andrew Kooi (37-7), who defeated him with a tech fall, 19-4 in 3:50.
Trojans senior Patrick Mochen (28-12) lost his opening-round match to Rochester’s Kale Shotts (38-6).
So, for the day Chesterton wrestlers had a 10-3 combined record in a season of steady improvement for the program.
Sixteen wrestlers in each of the 14 weight divisions begin wrestling Friday with first-round matches. The action starts at 2 p.m. CT with, featuring weight divisions 150 pounds through 285 pounds. Weights 106 through 144 are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. CT.
The winners of those matches advance to Saturday morning’s quarterfinals. The gates open at 7 a.m. and the matches start at 8 a.m., followed by semifinal matches.
Gates reopen for the final session of the championship at 2:30 and consolation matches start at 3:30. At 6 p.m., the 28 athletes wrestling in championship matches are introduced two at a time under the spotlight and they meet for a quick handshake in the middle of the mat.
The championship matches begin at 6:30 p.m.
Anderson faces Floyd Central’s Spencer Fain (29-6), the fourth-place finisher at the Evansville semi-state, in his first-round match Friday afternoon. Later in the day, Quiroz opposes Qwanell Gabriel (37-9) of Lakeland, the fourth-place finisher at the Fort Wayne semi-state.