Jordan Lear aims for state motivated by West Lafayette wrestling's past

WEST LAFAYETTE − The wall decorations in West Lafayette's wrestling room are reserved for the most elite of Red Devil wrestlers.

Jordan Lear certainly deserves to be in that company, but as of yet hasn't earned his spot there.

The plaques are for state qualifiers, of which West Lafayette has had 17.

Lear is entering his fourth and final semistate hoping to be the next in line of recent tradition, which includes four state place winners in the past four seasons.

"I always fall short by a match or two," Lear said. "Hopefully this year with me staying in peak condition and working out as hard as I am with the people I am, hopefully I make it and progress to state."

Lear enters on the backs of sectional and regional championships, but his path to a state berth won't be easy.

Not at all, in fact.

If Lear defeats his opening-round opponent, Plymouth's Seth Wright, he'll likely face the No. 1-ranked 138-pound wrestler in Indiana, Kankakee Valley's Cole Solomey, who is a three-time state place winner and last year's 138-pound runner-up.

"You look at the three losses he's had this year, all to highly-ranked guys," West Lafayette wrestling coach Rick Roseman said. "The Western loss was kind of a bad loss for him to be honest. That might have helped him refocus and regroup and get back to the drawing board and go back to I need a win a sectional, I need to win a regional and ultimately want to punch his ticket to the state championships."

Lear fell one match short as a junior, losing to Penn's Wesley Harper in the ticket round. As a freshman and sophomore, Lear lost in the first match at semistate.

It's brought a new fire to him knowing this is his last chance.

That wrestling room with all the decorative plaques of state qualifiers from the past staring down at him has motivated him to hone his craft, working daily with assistant coach Travis Ford-Melton, a former Purdue wrestler.

There's been a payoff to that.

In the regional final, Lear pinned West Central's Drake Fritz, previously undefeated this season and a former state qualifier.

Lear celebrated in his typical fiery fashion, letting out a roar that showed off his chiseled frame abnormal for a 138-pounder.

He's stronger than most he takes the mat with, but he'd prefer to win with skill.

"Frankly, I don’t like using my strength, I would rather use my technique," Lear said. "Technique is what is going to win you matches, but strength is good to have."

To get through at least two matches on Saturday in East Chicago, which would qualify him for the following week's state finals, he'll need both strength and technical ability.

Tall task, but Roseman isn't counting out the senior.

"I would easily say he's one of the hardest working kids on our team. He is such an intense kid," Roseman said. "He takes every loss so much to heart and tries to work on correcting whatever mistakes he made.

"Even in some of his wins he's not satisfied with the way he wrestled and it's back to the drawing board with him."

And, hopefully, that means his name on a plaque for future Red Devils to see.

Lear wants it not for himself, but to further motivate those who come after him, much like Connor Barket, Mariere Omonode, Joey Kidwell, John Duvall, Cortlan Booker, David Chalmers, Mike Minnick, Keith Clannin and Bill Ayers − all state place winners from West Lafayette − did for Lear.

"I hope our future athletes at West Lafayette, our wrestlers, keep that tradition going and want to strive to be good at the sport," Lear said.

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

East Chicago Semistate

Time: 9 a.m. Saturday

Advancement: The top four individuals in each weight class advance to the state finals.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lear aims for state motivated by West Lafayette wrestling's past