All Zack Fattore wanted was some birthday food.
Two years ago, as a freshman at Hobart, Fattore wrestled at 138 pounds.
“It was my birthday and I couldn’t eat,” he said. “I was cutting so much weight that year. It was a struggle, and I wasn’t having fun with it.”
The seasonlong stress of maintaining that weight, combined with the typical of burdens of being a high school freshman, was too much for Fattore to handle. So he quit the wrestling team in mid-January.
Two years later, Fattore is back in a big way for Hobart. He begins the postseason this weekend ranked seventh in the state at 170 pounds, following a regular season that saw him post a 26-2 record.
But wrestling wasn’t on his mind after leaving the team as a freshman.
“There was no doubt he was one of the best wrestlers in the state,” Hobart coach Alex Ramos said. “But he was being pulled in a lot of directions.”
Fattore avoided wrestling until the start of the next season, when a few practice sessions and conversations with his coaches brought him back.
“I’ve never regretted stopping wrestling,” Fattore said. “Because I think I learned more from that.”
But Fattore’s sophomore season also was cut short. He reaggravated a shoulder injury suffered in a moped accident during his wrestling hiatus and was shut down in December to begin physical therapy.
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After wrestling through his first full regular season this winter, Fattore has been fulfilling the potential he displayed during his first two seasons, when he lost only one match per year.
“My technique’s been good,” Fattore said. “I feel like I can be better at technique than anybody at any weight. But I’ve made some mistakes in my last matches where my conditioning wasn’t the best.”
In school, Fattore ranks in the top five of his class with a 5.33 GPA thanks to a schedule loaded with honors classes. And that intelligence comes across in his wrestling style, too.
“He’s hard to shake,” Ramos said. “He anticipates so much, there aren’t many things that come unexpected. He’s so cognizant out there.”
Fattore and the rest of the Brickies will begin the postseason this Saturday at the Calumet Sectional. And though it’s his first time as a participant, Fattore said he won’t be intimidated.
“It is a different experience,” he said. “I’m just going to go in relaxed and not worry about it too much. I still have next year, too.”
Calumet’s Clark wins state: She had to wait an extra week, but Calumet junior Caitlin Clark got her championship by winning the 120-pound title at Friday’s Indiana girls wrestling state meet.
Clark used a front headlock to pin Avon’s Sophia Thompson in the first period of her championship match.
“I looked at the ref and was like, ‘Is this really happening?'” Clark said.
After winning the regional on Jan. 6, Clark waited an extra seven days for the state meet after weather concerns postponed the meet on Jan. 13. But Clark said she was unfazed by the delay.
“It’s not just good for me, it’s good for my school, too,” she said.
Michigan City junior Jael Martin finished as the runner-up at 132.
Hobart defends home turf at Burkhart: In the final weekend of the regular season, Hobart and Lowell squared off as part of the seven-team field at Saturday’s Garry Burkhart Invitational.
The host Brickies topped Lowell 261-242 to win the meet, led by six individual champions: Fattore, Tylor Triana (120), Diego Gomez (132), Dante Colza (145), Matt Burns (152) and Angelo Guarnero (160).
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. Lowell (3)
4. Hobart (4)
5. Merrillville (5)
Wrestler of the Week: Morton junior Erion Hogan improved his record to 20-4 after finishing first at 195 pounds during Saturday’s Garry Burkhart Invitational at Hobart.