Two weeks since a solid showing at the state track meet, Bellmont’s Alexis Harvey was still in shape, and it showed in the Midwest Meet of Champions all-star meet at Northrop.
FORT WAYNE – One day during preseason wrestling practice, DeKalb junior Zach Krumlauf took a break from his preparations to ask his coach a question.
But the query wasn’t about moves, technique, weight issues or anything at all to do with being on the mat.
“He is conscience grade-wise,” DeKalb coach Jason Hunter said. “He came up to me and asked me what was the GPA (grade-point average) that it took to get Academic All-State (it’s 2.5). That really stuck with me.
“His goal is to be a state champion, and he comes up to you when you are working and drilling and doing all this to make him a better athlete and asks me about Academic All-State. He finally gets it, and he realizes what it is all about.”
On and off the mat, Krumlauf is making a name for himself.
He is undefeated (31-0) at 132 pounds and is ranked No. 4 in the state as sectionals begin Saturday. In the classroom, he has a 3.4 GPA on a 4.0 scale and is ranked 91st in his class of 308. While Krumlauf would like to be recognized for his grades as well, it is his prowess on the mat that could make him a state champion next month at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“I am going for the state title that I have trained so hard for,” Krumlauf said of personal goals. “My teammate, (senior) Connor Brummett, and I train hard every day in practice to be down at state under the lights.”
Krumlauf is the top seed at 132 at the Westview Sectional.
“His goal is state champ,” Hunter said. “He won’t accept anything less. The way he is wrestling right now, I don’t see any reason why he can’t be state champion. He is the right weight, and he feels great right now. He is firing on full cylinders. You look at his goals, and that it is it – to be a state champion. It has been that way since he was a freshman. It’s here, and he is ready.”
Krumlauf started wrestling at age 5 in the DeKalb Baron Wrestling Club youth program, where he now helps coach.
In the summer, he trains with Indiana Extreme and also goes to Indiana Tech’s open mats. Krumlauf figures he wrestled in more than 400 matches before he even got to high school.
As a freshman, Krumlauf was 34-12 and finished eighth at state and was 34-4 last year but lost in the first round at the state finals.
He recently got his 100th career win and is a two-time NHC champion already.
“There was no learning curve,” Hunter said of Krumlauf.
“Usually you are going to have as many downs as you will ups. Zach’s one that he has been winning from the very beginning. Everything he has went to, he has had a lot of success. (Krumlauf) had all this success at the youth level and gets to the high school level, and this is when it really counts, when it really pays off.
“It is just clicking for him. It is nice to see him having success.”
