Wheeler junior Jose Diaz rarely stops wrestling.
He spends his weekdays at practice and his weekends at meets. He spends the remaining time working on his setup of mats in the living room at his house.
“Oh yeah, all the time,” he said with a laugh.
“Even when I’m not home?” asked his father, Jose Diaz Sr.
The younger Diaz just laughed again and nodded his head.
His father started laughing, too, adding: “You guys would practice for real if I were there.”
It’s this total commitment to the sport that has helped Diaz become one of the top wrestlers for a Wheeler program that’s still in its infancy.
As a freshman in 2014-15, Diaz went 34-6 at 106 pounds, becoming the first Wheeler wrestler to qualify for semistate. He took it a step further last season as the school’s first state finalist.
But Diaz lost in the first round at the 2016 state meet, falling well short of his expectations and capping his sophomore year at 34-5.
“My goal was to win state,” Diaz said. “It made me want to work harder.”
And that’s what he did in the offseason, although his father tried to keep things light in the wrestling room.
“We decided to let him wrestle for fun,” Diaz Sr. said. “I had to pull him back a bit because he’d wrestle every day if he could.”
This season, wrestling is even more of a group effort for the Diaz family. While Diaz Sr. is an assistant coach at Wheeler, Jose’s younger brother, Giovanni, is competing at 106 as a freshman.
“We are a wrestling family,” Diaz Sr. said. “The wife may not enjoy it quite as much as we enjoy it, but that’s why he has the character he has. He has those wrestling ethics. The hard work and dedication go into everything he does. And his brother has that as well.”
Speaking after winning the 113-pound title at Saturday’s Lake County Tournament, Diaz said one aspect of his summer practices could pay off in the upcoming postseason that begins in a few weeks.
“My neutral game,” he said. “That was from my offseason workouts.”
And his father thinks it comes down to a simple mental battle.
“He has all of the technique,” Diaz Sr. said. “He just has to believe in what he does.”
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Playing the heavy: The majority of top wrestlers in Northwest Indiana have come at the lower weights, but Kankakee Valley’s roster features several standouts at the other end of the roster.
Senior Logan Nowak has a 26-1 record at 182, junior Nick Schoonveld is 23-3 at 195 and senior Aron Ceglarek is 24-4 at 285.
“Year in and year out, that’s where we’re pretty strong,” Kougars coach Brad Burvan said. “That’s where we score a lot of our points.”
Looking ahead: Several conference championship titles will be on the line Saturday as the wrestling postseason inches closer. The Duneland Athletic meet will take place at Chesterton, The Northwest Crossroads championship will be decided at Lowell and Hanover Central will host the Greater South Shore championship.
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
TOP 5
With last week’s rankings in parentheses
1. Portage (1)
2. Chesterton (2)
3. Hobart (3)
4. Merrillville (4)
5. Lowell (5)
Wrestler of the Week: Calumet sophomore AJ Fowler added to the family legacy by winning the 195-pound title at Saturday’s Lake County Tournament.