INDIANAPOLIS — Finally, Portage senior Kris Rumph was ready to eat.
“I’m going to the hotel and eating a whole box of pizza by myself,” he said.
It was a fitting reward after Rumph had satisfied another appetite by winning the state title at 138 pounds during Saturday’s state finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse . He was one of four state champs from Northwest Indiana.
Rumph won 9-6 over Cathedral’s Zach Melloh, avenging a December loss and erasing the bitter memory of 2017’s runner-up finish.
“Last year, my emotions got the best of me,” Rumph said. “This year, I was used to being under the lights and I was calmer. I couldn’t let people down. There were a lot of people saying I was going to win a state title, and I had to live up to their expectations.”
Portage junior Jacob Moran was just as hungry for a state title at 106 after taking in the last two championship rounds as a spectator. Moran finished eighth at state as a freshman and then sat out his sophomore season following his transfer from Crown Point.
“Having that year taken away from me hurt a lot,” Moran said. “And I left here with a sour taste in my mouth after my freshman year. This makes it all worth it, though.”
Moran dominated Perry Meridian’s Alex Cottey en route to a 9-1 decision.
More Top Picks Best Golf Balls For Seniors
“As soon as I got that first takedown, I just let it fly,” he said. “That’s the best I’ve wrestled in a few months.”
The Region’s two other state champions came from Chesterton. Senior Lucas Davison, a Northwestern recruit, also bounced back from a runner-up finish last season with a 19-7 decision over Roncalli’s Sam Hansen.
“Last year, I struggled in big matches because I didn’t shoot enough,” Davison said. “I did everything in my power to make sure I wasn’t losing because I wasn’t on offense enough. I wanted to control as much of my fate as I could to get that state title and join the club.”
That club Davison referenced is the family tradition of state champion wrestlers. His brother Andrew won at 195 last season before heading to Michigan, and his father, Keith, won titles in 1988 and 1989.
“It’s a happy exclamation point to my high school career,” Davison said.
Junior Eli Pokorney has another high school chapter left, but he ended this one with a state title: a 3-1 overtime victory over South Bend Washington’s Isaiah McWilliams.
“It was more about my confidence than anything else,” Pokorney said. “There were all of these excuses in my head last year. This year, if someone scored, I’d just come back and score again.”
Pokorney finished fourth at 220 last season but built that inner belief through a rigorous offseason, which included multiple national tournaments.
“This hasn’t really set in yet,” Pokorney said. “But it’s a pretty sweet feeling right now.”
Merrillville senior Brandon Streck finished as the runner-up at 220, losing to three-time state champion Mason Parris of Lawrenceburg.
Indianapolis Cathedral won the team title with 108 points. Portage topped local teams in fourth place with 67.5, followed by Chesterton in sixth with 57.
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.