As the 2023-2024 wrestling season is coming to an end, Lewis Cass has one athlete advancing to the Semi-State. After sectionals, Lewis Cass advanced four wrestlers to regionals: Elliot Grist, Eli Bowyer, Nick Park, and Elijah Martin, and one wrestler advancing to Semi-State Eli Bowyer. In the regional, Eli had two wins and one loss placing him second in the regional. Bowyer now prepares to attempt two wins to advance to the State Finals.
Head coach Nate Burrous said, ”I thought most people performed well in the state series (which starts with sectional). Going into the sectional, I expected five to qualify for regionals and a few others had a chance. Unfortunately, one of the people I expected to qualify was unable to wrestle due to unforeseen circumstances. I hoped a couple of the maybes would get through, but they came up a little short.”
When asked about next year’s team and who is returning Burrous said, ”We are returning our one semi-state qualifier and all but one of our regional guys.” Burrous hopes that the regional and semi-state returners can take the next step in the following year making it to semi-state and on to state.
In the off-season, most of the returning Cass wrestling team plans on competing in club wrestling. “That is the quickest way to get better at wrestling,” Burrous says. Coach Burrous hopes for Eli Grist and Nick Park to advance to semi-state and Eli Bowyer to state. Having a state qualifier at Lewis Cass has been rare in its wrestling history. In Cass’s history, it has had a total of five wrestlers advance to the state. The wrestlers were Marshall Watson 215 (1997), Chris Moulton 189 6th place (2002), Joe Griffin 215 (2004), Brady Jones 215 (2006), Jarrett Carden 133 (2015). Burrous also says, ”I think we will see a big jump in regional and semi-state qualifiers next year.”
Bowyer moved from Eastern High School to Cass last year after the wrestling season, but he grew up as a Comet. Bowyer has adapted well to the team change and school change and has definitely connected to the team. This year at Cass, Bowyer has shown improvement from the past two years at Eastern. Bowyer Says, ”The last two years, as a wrestler from Eastern, I went to regionals and lost both times in the first round. This year, as a wrestler at Lewis Cass, I made it to semi-state, and I’m hoping to make it further. I would say that the main areas I’ve progressed in are strength and conditioning.” The improvement Bowyer shows may be because of age and experience or it may be the different culture Lewis Cass has in its sports. When adapting to the new team, Bowyer has made some very good memories. He says his favorite memory is when the other regional qualifiers and he got to dye their hair black. When looking into the semi-state tournament, Bowyer says, ”My sectional placement put me in a great spot in the bracket to wrestle at regionals, but my regional placement didn’t help me very much at semi-state. Most wrestlers at the semi-state level are high-level wrestlers who have impressive records. I think I might be able to make it to state if I catch my opponent off guard, but semi-state is a whole different level, which I’ve never experienced.”
Come support your King and watch Eli Bowyer wrestle in semi-state when he competes on February 10, at the Fort Wayne Coliseum at 8:30 am.
