Madison-Grant United School Corporation

Love, who reached the ticket round before falling as a freshman, left no doubt about making his maiden voyage to state on Saturday by dominating his way to the 126 pound championship.

Meanwhile, Haisley became just the third M-G wrestler in history to reach state after finishing fourth in the 132-pound division.

Love was improved to 43-1 after allowing his four opponents to score just three points combined on his way to winning the title. He opened up with a 17-0 tech fall over Northridge senior, Braxton Lechlitner, then earned a 16-0 tech fall over Homestead senior, Kaeden Benedict in the ticket round, aka quarterfinals.

Love then battled to an 8-3 decision win over New Haven sophomore, Sean Harris in the semifinals. In the championship, Love took down North Miami senior, Jordan Korreckt, by a 12-0 major decision.

Love is the first Giant wrester to win a semi-state championship since Darryn Scott won at 189 pounds in 2010. He is the first Marion wrestler to reach the state finals since Je’kwan Williams, who finished fourth in the 182-pound class in the 2021 Fort Wayne Semi-State.

Love is the first Grant County wrestler to win a semi-state title since Oak Hill’s Brody Arthur (138) and Aidan Hardcastle (152) won their respective weight classes in 2021 and helped the Golden Eagles become the first semi-state team champion in Grant County history.

Haisley began his journey to state with a 10-3 decision over sophomore Landon Wade of Northridge. He then punched his ticket to Indianapolis with a 9-3 decision over Fort Wayne Snider junior, Deacon Rhodes in the 132-pound quarterfinals.

Haisley dropped a hard-fought, 4-2 decision to DeKalb senior, Drew Waldron in the semifinals and fell to 19-3 tech fall to Hunter Douglas, a junior from Homestead, in the consolation match.

Haisley becomes the first wrestler since AJ Jones (285) in 2019 to represent Madison-Grant at the state finals. Three other Grant County wrestlers won their first match of the day, but had their seasons end just one win from reaching the state finals.

Mississinewa sophomore Ian McVicker scored an opening round win via 1:41 pin of Wes-Del senior Zac Reno at 113 pounds. McVicker battled gamely in the quarterfinals before dropping a heartbreaking, 9-7 decision to New Haven sophomore, Bakari Cooper, who went on to win the 113-pound championship.

Oak Hill senior RJ Trevino earned a 19-6 major decision win over junior A.J. Shefferly in the first round at 190 pounds. Trevino lost a tough, 5-2 decision to Northridge senior, Austin Parks in the quarterfinals.

Madison-Grant senior Boston Caudell pinned Fort Wayne North senior, Sahsovion Harris in 1:38 to win his opening round match at 215 pounds. However, Caudell was pinned by eventual 190-pound champion, senior Travis Henke of Northridge, in 1:18 in the quarterfinals.

Oak Hill sophomore Manny Mora (113), senior Colin Tarlton (120), sophomore Brayd Arthur (138), sophomore Cayden Jones (150) and junior Thane Jones, along with Madison-Grant junior Grant Howard (157), Marion junior Shaun Caldwell (165) and Eastbrook freshman Fabien Zamudio-Gibson (190) were all defeated in the opening round of competition on Saturday.

Love and Haisley will begin their pursuit of state finals glory Friday afternoon in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The first round of competition for the 106- through the 144-pound weight classes begins at 3 p.m. while the 150- through 285-pound classes will start at 6 p.m.

A win on Friday guarantees wrestlers a state medal.

The quarterfinals and semis for all weight classes starts up at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The consolation rounds begin at 4:30 p.m. and state championship matches will start at 7:30 p.m.

Love (43-1) will battle Monrovia senior Isaac Ash (29-5) in the first round at 126 pounds.

Haisley (40-4) is set to meet junior Layne Horn (46-0) of Rochester in the first match at 132 pounds.

Tickets are $15 per session or $30 for all three sessions (Friday session 1, Saturday sessions 2 and 3) and are reserved seating only. All-session tickets are available for purchase until 1 p.m. on Friday. From that point on, only single-session tickets will be sold.

All session tickets can be purchased via a link found at https://www.ihsaa.org/sports/boys/wrestling/2024-25-tournament?round=state-finals. Single session tickets can be purchased starting Friday at 1 p.m. through either Ticketmaster.com or at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse Box Office.

Full brackets for each weight class can be found at TrackWrestling.com, search IHSAA State Championships. All matches will be live-streamed via pay-per-view on IHSAA.tv.org.