BOYS WRESTLING Lake County Tourney 2026

Up to nineteen teams participated today in the 2026 Lake County Wrestling Tourney. Many of the wrestlers decided to take a break from preparations and seriousness, had some fun and played a giant game of duck-duck-goose in between bouts during break time where wrestlers dove, tagged, and ran!

“My game plan right now is that I need to work on some strong ties and to work on what I know and not do anything I’m unfamiliar with. I have to work on what I know and if I try and do some special moves that I saw on the internet, then I’m going to lose it all. I’m working strong here and I have to finish strong and I have to be aggressive. I can’t let these kids bully me and I’m a smaller kid from my weight class…I’ll switch my shot and if he doesn’t react, I’ll go for my shot as I did my first match and I’ll get that double perfect!” -Nathaniel Drowns (River Forest HS)

“Well, I mainly try and focis on what I’ve been practicing. I’m not really trying to look for the win because this is my first year. I’m trying to practice as much as I can, not perfect but get something great that I can work with so I keep winning more matches, build my defense up, and just keep trying over and over again. I’m not trying to look for the win more, I’m trying to see how I can better myself, my teammates, and everyone around me and to make everyone better. That’s the only goal right now.” -Zerrick Duffy (Hanover Central)

“The first who started it? (Impromptu duck-duck-goose) Ethan Alvarez. I said “We’re gonna play a little game…duck-duck-goose.” and everyone started joining in with getting more people and then everybody joined in. It’s a way to kill time but it’s more of a way to bring everybody together in a type of way, to keep the rest of the environment up and keep the spirits high. It never hurt anybody but some people might get tired which is a little tactic, or they may slip and hurt themselves. If we play, we play and it’s just to keep it fun and nice.” -Warren Brown III (Merrillville HS)