At Pendleton Heights on Feb. 8, the Irish wrestlers took the mat at Regional , looking to advance as many wrestlers as possible, and tat’s exactly what they did.

All 14 Irish wrestlers advanced to Semistate with eight coming out as Regional champion. Those who advanced were Evan Dickey, Aden Reyes, Zeke Seltzer, Luke Gonzalez, Andrew Wilson, Logan Bailey, Garrett Stewart, Ulrik Urasky, Elliott Rodgers, Tyler Wagner, Johnny Parker, Jacob Huffman, David Guhl and Holden Parsons.

Those who won Regional in their respective weight classes were Dickey, Seltzer, Bailey, Rodgers, Wagner, Parker, Huffman and Parsons.

Head Coach Mr. Sean McGinley ’88 said, “It was a goal for us. Looking at the draws, we thought it was obtainable if we wrestled well, but sending through everyone wouldn’t matter much if we didn’t wrestle well (at Semistate), which I think we did.”

When asked about how he felt about their chances to repeat as State champions for a third year in a row, McGinley said, “We did very well to set ourselves up to repeat. Getting everyone through was very important, and we really just want the most people wrestling for us when we go to Bankers Life.”

The team first has to get through the Semistate, which will take place on Feb. 15 at New Castle High School. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the State Finals on Feb. 21 and Feb. 22.