Chesterton boys take third place at DAC wrestling championships and Max Quiroz and Greyson Strickland take home individual titles

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Wrestling does not treat novices so kindly. The younger an aspiring athlete takes it up, the greater the advantage, even more so than in most sports.
As a rule, the wrestlers crowned at the DAC championship started grappling when they weren’t allowed to cross the street without holding a parent’s hand.
Every rule has an exception, and Chesterton senior Greyson Strickland is one. He didn’t start wrestling until his freshman year, yet there he was, his hand raised in the 165-pound DAC championship match Saturday at Portage. Strickland defeated Crown Point sophomore Ben Clark, 10-4, in the title match. Clark is ranked No. 14 in the state by Indianamat.com.
Strickland had a tougher time in the semifinal round, where he needed all six minutes to edge Michigan City sophomore Charles Barnes, 9-8, after falling behind him, 7-0. Strickland didn’t get ahead of Barnes until very close to the end of the match and then just “had to ride him out for a few seconds.”
Strickland and 126-pound champion Max Quiroz led the Trojans to a third-place finish, behind only champion Crown Point and runner-up Merrillville. Others helping Chesterton to edge fourth-place Valparaiso and fifth-place Portage included Patrick Mochen, who placed second at 175, and third-place finishers Luke Johnson (138) and Lucas Anderson (190). Tyler Santiago (144), Caden Mahaffey (150) and Connor Olson (285) finished fourth and Emmet Burkus (120) and Keegan Gibbons (215) were fifth-place finishers.
Strickland’s championship might have surprised some, but his fellow Chesterton champ was not among them.
“He’s just a hard worker, that’s it. That’s all there is to it,” Quiroz said. “He’s always there. He’s always getting the work in. Whenever we do privates with Coach (Nicholas) Chavez, he’s always there.”
Strickland has made the wrestling room at Chesterton his home away from home. He and Quiroz were the only Chesterton wrestlers to make it to the second day of the prestigious Al Smith Classic, where Strickland finished seventh and fell out of Indianamat’s rankings after climbing as high as 17th. Strickland lost to Clark at Al Smith, 11-7.
Strickland said that once the scheduled dual with Valparaiso last Tuesday was postponed by a week because of slick roads, he locked in on the DAC meet.
“DAC champion, that sounds kind of nice,” Strickland told Coach Andrew Trevino during an SRT period last week.
“I believe it,” Trevino responded.
The coach believed it and the wrestler achieved it.
“I was nervous going into that match in the semifinals, but after that it was like nothing to lose because I had already lost to Clark,” Strickland said.
He scored the first takedown, which he called, “huge.”
“If you get the first takedown, you’re happy, you’re up in points,” Strickland said. “But if you get the first takedown on you, it’s so much worse to come back from. … The first takedown is definitely huge for me.”
A year ago, Strickland lost a wrestle-off at 165 for a postseason roster spot, then asked if he could wrestle off for the 190 spot. He defeated Mochen, who also was underweight.
As a freshman, Strickland said he didn’t do very well as a JV wrestler, then spent most of his sophomore season wrestling in JV matches. His improvement each year led to standing on the top step Saturday.
Anderson’s move from 175 to 190 has enabled Mochen to wrestle at his natural weight, where he has looked much better. Mochen’s day started with a pin in 1:20 of Valparaiso’s Hunter Kneifel. Mochen then won a major decision, 15-6 over Portage’s Daniel Warmick to advance to the championship match.
“Mochen isn’t Superman and he isn’t a dud,” Trevino said. “You have a team full of wrestlers like Mochen, you’re going to be OK.”
Griffin Van Tichelt of Crown Point, who will join Purdue’s wrestling program next season, was waiting for Mochen in the title match. Ranked No. 2 in the state, Griffin The Great needed 2:23 to score a technical fall, 19-4, against Mochen.
So that evens the score between the two since Mochen sprinted from way behind and cut the right angle to catch up to Van Tichelt and bring him to the ground to deny him from scoring a touchdown in Crown Point’s 48-10 football victory. So Mochen got Van Tichelt in football and Van Tichelt got Mochen in wrestling.
Right, Patrick?
Wrong.
“I wouldn’t exactly say I got him in football,” Mochen said. “I think there was more than one play when we were on the field together. I remember getting hit by him during the game. It didn’t feel too good.”
Mochen’s second-place points were big in holding off Valparaiso and Portage in the team standings: 1. Crown Point 282.5, 2. Merrillville 196, 3. Chesterton 154.5, 4. Valparaiso 146.5, 5. Portage 143, 6. Lake Central 119.5, 7. LaPorte 113, 8. Michigan City 70.